Why we can’ t tickle ourselves or reward ourselves
Paul Herr, MS, MBA, author of Primal Management and inventor of The Horsepower System employee-engagement software
Human beings hunger for achievement, just like we hunger for food, water, and oxygen. This‘ appetite to achieve’ makes engineering sense. But sadly, any dopamine-fueled achievement pleasure we get is often short-lived, because we want to go achieve the next goal. And the next. This euphoria-of-a win is the same pleasure that causes Tiger Woods to pump his fist after sinking a 30-foot putt. It motivates high fives, chest butts, and a variety of hoots, hollers and related silliness. If a workplace does not reverberate with such exuberant demonstrations of success,‘ Houston, we have a problem – a motivational meltdown of disastrous proportions.’ Consider, for a moment, a world in which these natural, productive highs did not exist. In a blink of an eye, we would no longer care about being productive or achieving goals and the economy would crash. We would also stop watching competitive sports because winning or losing would feel the same. Seen from this perspective, the recognition industry is not only important, it is vital for a healthy economy, healthy minds and a vibrant society. The recognition industry is extra important when it seems managers and supervisors are stingy at handing out compliments. According to Gallup, one poll found that an astounding 65 % of Americans reported receiving NO recognition for their good work in the past year. This dearth of recognition wouldn’ t be a problem if employees could simply
recognize their own successes and give themselves a pat on the back. Unfortunately, this is not an option. Engineering logic dictates that we cannot recognize ourselves, any more than we can tickle ourselves. There’ s a reason tangible reminders like merchandise, plaques, and heartfelt notes from our bosses, which allow us to recall and re-live our past achievements are so successful in business – we thrive on recognition from others. Your assignment, should you chose to accept it, is to convince the business community you’ re in to‘ lighten up’, pay more attention to their hardworking employees and savour successes – all key in driving real workplace excellence.
SPONSORED FEATURE HANDS ON GIFTING
Think B & Q Gift Cards are‘ just for men?’ think again! With a range spanning DIY supplies, home furnishings and appliances, B & Q Gift Cards appeal to everyone! We caught up with Hayley Santus, Gift Card Manager at B & Q to discuss the changing gift card marketplace and why a B & Q Gift Card is the ideal choice for your next incentive, reward or gift.
“ B & Q is a traditionally male-focused brand, so we continually ask, how do we embrace the female consumer? How do we ensure we are relevant to the younger generation, to home movers and improvers, to renters? We do that by offering a diverse range of products in store and online, from the traditional DIY necessities like power tools, to the stylish home accessories like wall art, cushions, candles, throws and blankets. This ultimately appeals to such a wide range of people, that a B & Q Gift Card is a welcome treat in many areas such as reward and recognition, incentive and motivation, customer acquisition and retention.
The gifting market is currently booming! Gift Cards are a great universal product offering a tangible way to encourage motivation and loyalty amongst customers and staff.
Having been in the gift card industry for nearly 6 years, I have seen a clear acceleration in how consumers expect to be gifted to. Whether that is through their employee benefits scheme, through a loyalty channel, or via retention and acquisition. Instant rewards are expected and we have been working very hard to be able to offer this to our loyal B & Q customers and clients.
Our online ordering portal is a key tool in how we trade with our corporate clients. Our clients are able to instantly load and order physical gift cards, send out eGift Cards directly to their end customers and even link up via our API to offer instant eGift Cards through their own platform.
The gift card industry is worth over £ 6billion a year and so with that will naturally come a multitude of used plastic gift cards. At B & Q we have been working to become a more responsible retailer. We believe it is the responsibility of the retailer to ensure that the amount of plastic that gets sent to landfill as a result of our used gift cards is reduced. With some plastics taking 1000’ s of years to degrade and cardboard taking just 6 months, we took the decision in 2015 to remove all PVC gift cards from both our stores and online and replace them with a sustainable and recyclable board. Our PVC granules were turned into plant pots and pipes, a great way of closing the loop on recycling PVC.”
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Our gift cards can be used on over 40,000 products both at diy. com or in any of our 300 stores.
We allow customers to load anything from £ 1 up to £ 5000 on a single gift card, which we find really appeals to those consumers looking to do some big renovation work.
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B & Q Gift Cards come in values of £ 10, £ 25 and £ 50, open value gift cards and eGift Cards which can be scanned from your smart phone in store.
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