An Employee Recognition Blog

Posts by Allison

Allison is currently living out the elaborate fantasy she described to her now-former staff and colleagues in early 2001. With a hearty dose of courage and absolutely no plan of action, she abruptly left her middle-management job to become a writer—and today she is doing just that in her role as Baudville's Senior Content Writer. She's here to tell you everything she's learned in her 20-years+ professional life, plus a lot more. She's wordy like that!

Getting to know the Baudville Team: Meet Melissa!

Baudville is no ordinary place to work – we drop our executives into dunk tanks, pour our hearts into philanthropic ventures together, and wear jeans for a good cause. For these reasons, our team members are no plain Janes or even Stevens either – they're super stellar rock stars! Get to know them one-by-one and we're certain you'll agree.

Celebrate National Compliment Day, January 24, 2014!

I start almost every work day feeding my brain with all kinds of content to inspire me to start on the right foot. A chosen article from Elephant Journal will set me on a solid emotional path, a post from Fast Company Co.Exist gets me thinking innovative thoughts, a provocative question from Good.Co puts me in the positive culture mindframe, This Is Colossal never fails to straight up blow my mind, and good ol' Harvard Business Review helps me look smarter in meetings.

When is Employee Appreciation Day 2014?

If you only celebrate one employee recognition holiday this year, hands down it should be Employee Appreciation Day! It occurs yearly on the first Friday in March, and this year it's March 7th.

Why is Employee Appreciation Day so important? Well, if you're in business, there's a pretty good chance that you have employees. If you have employees, they are likely keeping your business running. If your business is running well, then you have reason to celebrate. And it's pretty much a no-brainer that what you should celebrate is the people who have made it all happen. Right? Right!

It will be here before you know it, so it's time to start planning today! A successful Employee Appreciation Day has these three elements:

Activities. These don't have to be all-day activities; after all, you still need to keep that business running! But, if you plan for a few throughout the day, you'll make your Employee Appreciation Day fun and memorable without being too disruptive to your regular flow. Need ideas? Check out our free Fun at Work eBook for inspiration!

Edibles. We all need to eat, so why not plan a catered lunch for your team? It can be as simple as a boxed lunch from a favorite local deli or more elaborate, like a full buffet with all the fixins. Or, if you want to really knock their socks off, hire a food truck to park in your lot and let your employees get their lunch to order! At Baudville, when "What the Truck" pulls up to our loading dock, we know we're in for an extra-special treat.

Appreciation. The most important part of Employee Appreciation Day is right in the title. Take this opportunity to give a heartfelt thanks to your team, with a meaningful gift and a sincere note. Choose our new Positively Awesome Theme, then fill a Tote Bag with a Value Tumbler and Goofy Guy Note Cube—all lasting gifts they'll use every day. Don't forget to write a personal note to each individual that expresses your appreciation for all they do throughout the year.

That's all you need to pull off a "Wow, that was awesome!" Employee Appreciation Day. Sound like a plan, but need help planning? We have a whole team of super-friendly (plus helpful and knowledgeable) recognition specialists who are just a call or chat away—just holler!

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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She's been writing for Baudville for five years and has worked in a variety of business settings for 20 years. Before becoming a professional writer 13 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She's what we call a true believer!

More than 250 New Products Will Bring Positive Mojo to your 2014!

The turn of the new year is a time for making fresh starts, gaining new perspectives, and setting strategic goals for the months to come. And, we have a wealth of new products (more than 250, actually!) to help you kick off your year right. What have you resolved to do this year?

Have More Fun. This may seem like an unusual goal, but, knowing that happy employees are 31% more productive, fun should be a priority on everyone's list. I'm not necessarily talking about goofing off, though I have made a pretty good case for it in the past...but more about adding more light-heartedness, joy, and humor to our days. We developed the Positively Awesome theme for exactly this purpose. It's impossible not to smile when you're giving these bright and happy employee gifts.

Try Something Different. I'm not talking about Cronuts (though I could probably spend an entire day talking about them...), but I am talking about all-new looks. Like glitter. And PVC. And magnets. And springs. These might not be new to the world, but they are new to lapel pins—and since those haven't changed in about 150 years, this is pretty exciting news. Out of all of our new designs, Success Magnets™ are the ones I'm most excited about. The lapel pin is magnetic, and the cool card it sticks to is, too, giving the recipient a pin to wear and card to display!

Learn Something New. We know that it can be tough finding fresh and affordable ways to engage and motivate your team, so we conjured up the Idea Genie to help. If you're a busy manager, you'll learn a few tricks from our Easy Genie. If you're on a tight budget, you'll learn how to save some green from our thrifty Dollar Genie. If you need tips on how to make your team feel genuinely appreciated, you'll be grateful for our Thanks Genie. Need more ideas? Stay tuned!

Be Decisive. We realized that this is harder than it sounds, which is why we developed the Rock-Paper-Scissors Gift Sets. No matter which you choose, each has a sticky note pad, holder, and scissors, so you'll have a winning employee gift with all the elements needed for a hyper-productive day.

These are a few good ways to get started, but if you want to see more, check out our entire collection of new products here!

Cheers to a happy and prosperous 2014!

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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She's been writing for Baudville for five years and has worked in a variety of business settings for 20 years. Before becoming a professional writer 13 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She's what we call a true believer!