A lot of companies allowed employees to work from home — and, as a result, switched to digital rewards — during the pandemic. Now that the COVID-19 emergency is officially over, though, many businesses are returning to in-person workplace models, with old-school perks for employees: free snacks in the break room, a team lunch, a raid of the swag closet. After all, why would you send a virtual prepaid card to someone in the same building?
If your business is one of those whose office is bustling once again, it may seem like a good idea to go back to the traditional ways of rewarding employees. But in reality, there are lots of reasons that virtual prepaid cards are still the best way to honor top performers, recognize milestones, celebrate goal achievement, and more.
Here are three reasons not to abandon your digital incentives just yet — or to switch now, if you haven’t already.
READ MORE: Great Ways to Recognize Employees, According to Employees
In BHN’s 2022 employee appreciation research, only 40% cited in-office perks such as social events and food as their preferred reward. Even fewer — 34% — said they wanted clothing. The most requested rewards, by a long shot, were gift cards and prepaid rewards, which were preferred by 90% of respondents.
In addition to the popularity of virtual prepaid rewards, the desire for digital payments and transactions is also growing exponentially. There’s endless research showing that all kinds of consumers (including your employees!) want to use mobile wallets and online payments.
Even if most of your team members have started working in-person regularly, that may include employees across multiple offices in multiple countries. Any office perks will need to be arranged in each location, and physical rewards must be shipped to those facilities, which gets even more complicated for international companies.
Many businesses also have at least a small portion of their team that is fully remote for various reasons. They may already feel a little left out, since they’re missing the daily conversations and face-to-face interactions. So for them, rewards aren’t necessarily about the perk itself, it’s about being included and engaged as part of the team. And nothing makes you feel more like an outsider than watching all your colleagues chow down on a fancy catered lunch in a big conference room, while you sit and watch on Microsoft Teams or Zoom, eating your usual turkey sandwich in your home office.
For both international and remote employees, it’s important to make sure they are included in any kind of rewards program. Consider that nearly 40% of hybrid employees and 30% of remote employees feel less recognized than their onsite counterparts, according to a 2022 Workhuman survey. By continuing (or starting!) to send a virtual prepaid card to each recipient, you make your recognition programs and team appreciation efforts equal across all employees.
How many human resources and marketing teams have been given the laborious task of managing rewards like onsite perks or swag? They might have collected the T-shirt sizes of every employee. Had to order, organize, and ship out gifts to other offices or individual remote workers. Tried to set up catering or events from afar, going back and forth by phone or email. And, of course, heard all the complaints or requests for something different.
Physical gift cards are easier to ship, but they still have their own potential challenges. You have to make sure you offer rewards for retailers that are available in the other office locations or remote employees’ countries. Not to mention there’s the danger of address errors and things getting lost in the mail.
If you used digital rewards during the pandemic, you should already know how much time and money you can save, since you don’t have to pack up or ship a virtual prepaid card. Opting for a virtual prepaid card also has the advantage of flexibility, since it can be used at almost any online retailer and many brick-and-mortar stores and restaurants. No more Googling about what’s available near each office or home address, and then placing separate gift card orders from each retailer.
By using a platform like BHN Rewards, you’ll also enjoy better tracking and reporting with just a few clicks, as well as the ability to empower managers to handle their own rewarding. Budget groups, user permissions, and workspaces make BHN Rewards perfect for multiple teams.
Is most or all of your team still working remotely? See how you can make virtual gifts more special so even a virtual prepaid card has a big impact!
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
