About the author: A seasoned technology and business executive focused on developing strategy and leading diverse, multi-disciplinary teams to create innovative products and elite customer-centric experiences, Jason oversees Product and Engineering at Blueboard. Jason speaks publicly at top universities and conferences and has appeared in Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Wired and other top technology publications.
The pandemic has had a profound impact on how we live and work, and employees are struggling to disconnect and recharge. At Blueboard, we recognize that investing in employees' satisfaction, personal growth, and wellbeing is not only the right thing to do, but also key to a successful business.
That's why we've been working tirelessly since 2014 to build the world's largest curated experiential marketplace for employee rewards and recognition. Our focus is on enabling companies to reward and recognize their employees with experiences that go beyond material objects. We believe that experiences deliver unique and memorable moments that improve employees' overall wellbeing, boost their motivation and job satisfaction, and foster stronger connections with their colleagues and loved ones.
We’ve empowered over 500 companies to send more than 100,000 people #blueboarding to over 125 countries, including for leading companies such as GoPro, Jumio, Mercedes Benz, Salesforce, Shake Shack, Teladoc Health, The Trade Desk, and many more. In doing so, we’ve partnered with our clients to celebrate their employees' curiosities, pursue their passions, and deepen their relationships with their family and their friends. And we’re able to deliver tangible ROI in the ways of enhanced employee engagement, retention, and recruitment.
As VP of Product and Engineering at Blueboard, I’m thrilled to announce exciting new enhancements to our platform that will make it even easier for companies to reward and recognize their employees with experiences over things, worldwide.
Rewarding employees with experiences is easier than ever.
These platform enhancements build upon our ongoing efforts to enable companies worldwide to reward and recognize their employees with meaningful experiences and meet the needs of an increasingly diverse, hybrid, and multi-generational workforce.
Our latest upgrades to the Blueboard admin experience include:
- Socialization enhancements that allow employees to capture and share videos of their experiences, creating a more memorable and shareable experience for the entire organization.
- Granular audience segmentation tools for Anniversary Programs, enabling companies to better celebrate their tenured employees with more meaningful experiences that resonate with those who receive them.
- New levels of customization for Incentives Programs, enabling companies to tailor their initiatives to drive positive business outcomes such as increased sales and improved organizational performance.
And our clients are excited about these enhancements, too—Megan Barbier, Global VP of People and Culture at Jumio, shares her thoughts on our latest platform upgrades:
“During the pandemic and now with the increasing gravity to virtually convey the employee experience to candidates, shareholders, and current team members, Blueboard provides an enhanced way to reward our employees and show how they celebrate and engage. We socialize their Blueboard experiences (photos and feedback) on our social media platforms to showcase our employees, their personalities, and our cultural ethos. The video feature is going to up our game on this forum with an additional layer of emotion and honesty, especially for those who can't always interview onsite or meet team members in person.” —Megan Barbier, Global VP of People and Culture at Jumio
Experiences support employees ready to connect in an increasingly disconnected world.
With impressive growth, significant customer expansions, and record renewals as social distancing rules lifted over the last two years, I’m thrilled to announce that we are seeing high demand as companies look for new, better ways to reconnect and recognize employees with more meaningful rewards.
At Blueboard, our experiential rewards platform has proven to be a game-changer for companies looking to offer their employees unique, personal, and unforgettable experiences at scale.
Unlike other employee rewards and recognition options that offer more transactional and monetary rewards like big-box retail goods, cash, points, and gift cards, Blueboard provides employees with personalized choices that cater to their interests.
From bucket-list trips to spa experiences, our global experience menu is curated to give employees an unforgettable experience, redeemable at local businesses just about anywhere on Earth.
To wrap a bow on this: I’m excited to highlight our celebrated Concierge service, which ensures every recipient feels appreciated, understood, and valued throughout the process of choosing and redeeming an experience. We take incredible pride in delivering personalized, meticulously planned, and stress-free experiences that surprise and delight our clients and our recipients.
And to accomplish all of this we leverage our proven, prescriptive approach to building employee recognition programs, The Blueboard Method™. This methodology provides step-by-step guidance for creating recognition programs, and a company culture of appreciation, that drive real results. Whether it's work anniversaries, sales incentives, or peer-to-peer spot recognition programs, Blueboard fosters excitement and better employee engagement and retention outcomes for all.
So what's new? Shareable videos, visual dashboard, and data intelligence to better socialize programs.
I’m excited to announce that we have enhanced our platform with new video features that enable employees to share videos, in addition to photos, of their Blueboard experiences. This feature creates shareable artifacts that demonstrate the lasting impact of a company’s recognition programs on their people and their culture.
In addition, we've introduced a new visual dashboard that showcases program leaderboards to make it easier for leaders to better manage their budget utilization. It even includes new automated reminders that make it easier to encourage redemption, participation, and feedback from employees.
Easily configured and customized employee incentive programs to drive outcomes.
Leveraging the Blueboard platform, companies can now consider using Blueboard incentives to drive employee performance and improve business outcomes for recognition program initiatives.
Unlike cash or gift cards, which often fail to motivate employees over the long-term, Blueboard offers a range of easily-configured and highly customizable experiential incentive programs that are proven to inspire and engage top performers. Frequent use cases include sales incentives to drive revenue and referral incentives to motivate top employees to refer the best talent.
With recent upgrades, our system has become even more customizable and manageable for administrators, making it easier to fully tailor a program that meets the unique needs of each of our clients.
Go a step further, and program participants can pre-select curated experiences to work towards to help motivate their performance. This delivers instant gratification and also drives engagement over the life of a program—all of which is visible to program admins.
Anniversary programs with new segmentation capabilities for global workforces.
I’m excited to share how we’re helping companies to go beyond traditional work anniversary gifts to show employees they're seen and highly valued.
With our new audience segmentation capabilities, companies can now customize rewards in their years-of-service recognition programs based on various criteria, such as:
- Department
- Location
- Job function
This segmentation ensures that employees receive personalized rewards that match their unique contributions, interests, and needs. For example, when an employee celebrates their 5-year anniversary, Blueboard’s Anniversary Engine enables clients to tailor reward tiers globally in the ways that make most sense for the business.
By automating the reward delivery process, clients can focus on building a culture of appreciation and recognition, ultimately leading to increased engagement and retention.
For truly meaningful rewards, experiences are greater than things.
When you reward employees with the opportunity to try new experiences, pursue a passion, or challenge their comfort zones, you don't have to settle for disengaged employees, high turnover, and missed opportunities for growth. With Blueboard’s latest platform upgrades, you can reward your team with meaningful experiences that go beyond material things.
Our platform enables you to create buzzworthy recognition programs that set your company culture apart, drive positive business outcomes, and meet the needs of a diverse and multi-generational workforce.
Schedule a demo today to learn more about how Blueboard can help you create a culture of appreciation and recognition in your organization.
About the author: A seasoned technology and business executive focused on developing strategy and leading diverse, multi-disciplinary teams to create innovative products and elite customer-centric experiences, Jason oversees Product and Engineering at Blueboard. Jason speaks publicly at top universities and conferences and has appeared in Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Wired and other top technology publications
