At Baudville, we’re fortunate enough to be hiring right now, which means we have all kinds of new faces walking our hallways. Whenever we have new employees on board, we always take a few minutes at our all-staff meetings to introduce them to everyone. There’s a fair amount of hoopla at these meetings, and I think a lot of our newbies leave them with their hair blown back a little. (I still remember my first one!) But, we only have these meetings periodically, so sometimes new team members can be here for weeks or even a few months before they get that big shebang welcome.

This got me wondering… about our new hires’ impressions of us and also about what we, as a company or as individuals, do to make people feel welcome here on a day-to-day basis. So, I asked them!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and the best Valentine’s Day includes a small amount of planning and preparation. There’s nothing worse than waiting until Valentine’s Day and finding that all the restaurants are booked and every florist has sold out of flowers. 

Although you don’t have to take your team out to dinner on Valentine’s Day, celebrating the holiday can be a great opportunity for fun and team building. Whether it’s bringing in a plate of cookies (find lots of great holiday recipes on our Pinterest page!) or one of our free Valentine's Day downloads, February 14th is a lovely day to make your team feel appreciated.

Employee Appreciation Day is March 2, 2012, so you have one month to plan a celebration for your team. If you’re looking for theme ideas, register for our upcoming Recognition TV webisode. Lindsay, Baudville Product Manager, will share her favorite Employee Appreciation Day themes in a video broadcast on Wednesday, February 15. She’ll probably share her picks for Employee Appreciation Day gifts this year, too. Don’t miss it!

Employee Appreciation Day is all about your employees. Celebrating the value they bring to your organization as individuals is a great way to increase employee engagement, commitment, and motivation.

ePraise ^® is Baudville's free recognition ecard tool that is an easy and fun way to incorporate daily recognition into your workplace. Our ecards are available in many of our popular recognition themes so you can easily coordinate with other gifts.


It's been a while since ePraise launched and it was about time to update it and make it even easier for you to find and send ecards!

Wow! Check out these great enhancements:

• Find the perfect card easily with the new selection layout
• Save time and schedule your ePraises with the new date and time scheduler
• Share ePraise with your colleagues, co-workers and friends to pass on the recognition with our easy to share buttons
• The recipient can easily print the ecard with a click of a button
• Easily allows the recipient to quickly send a special thank you ePraise to the ecard sender
• Quick links to top products and resources to help keep those recognition ideas flowing after you send your ecards

Also, just in case you didn't know, you can also...

• Sign in to your Baudville.com account to save your ePraise history
• Use the handy tips writing guide to help you write the perfect note on any ecard
• Know exactly when the recipient views the ecard with the automatic email that is sent to you after pick up

Tomorrow is National Compliment Day, and the day serves as a reminder of the power of positive words. When you give someone a compliment, you express appreciation for something that’s unique about them or something they did. Compliments can create a more positive work culture, improve relationships, and make your organization more successful.

This 2005 article from USA Today reminds us that compliments at work are not just about making us feel good, but it’s also “about company performance. Employees function better when their positive efforts are noticed and valued.” 

The truth is negative comments are much more prevalent in our world today, and they’re more powerful, too. Psychologists have found that it takes 10 positive comments to offset one negative comment. That means you’re going to need a lot of compliments in your workplace!

Make it a priority today to give five compliments to the people around you: your coworkers, boss, family, even the cashier at the grocery store. Here are five unique ways to give compliments and make someone’s day:

1. Send an ePraise. Browse our ePraise card collection and choose the ecard that is the best fit for your recipient. Add your compliment in the space available for a note and send. It’s a free, quick, and easy way to give a compliment.