The Effects of Saying “Thank You” [INFOGRAPHIC]

Quantifying happiness might be a challenge, but it’s one the Blueboard team was glad to accept (we’re in the business, after all). That’s why we conducted a survey this past year that asked participants how they felt about their workplaces after completing their Blueboard experiential rewards. 365 days of spa visits, wine country tours and sunset cruises later, the results were staggering.

While participating companies had rewarded the respondents for various reasons, like breaking a sales record or celebrating a work anniversary, the happiness factor was consistent across the board. So why does this matter? Employee morale is a huge factor in any company’s success. As Peter Drucker once said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”—and the research agrees. A company that cares about its employee engagement rate also cares about the bottom line.

Bad workplace culture leads to high turnover. In fact, a lack of employee recognition is a major reason why employees leave their jobs. And that gets expensive; it costs upwards of 150 percent of a mid-level employee’s annual salary to replace them, and even up to 400 percent for senior-level employees. The savings won by tipping your hat to a job well done goes even further: a study by Bersin and Associates found that, in organizations where employees are recognized for their work, there’s a 14% improvement in productivity and customer service and a 31% decrease in voluntary turnover.

So why can’t a nice cash bonus do the job? The answer is simple: that’s not what people want. While millennials in particular tend to value experiences over money (a whopping 78%), the rest of us feel that way, too.

Motivating your employees certainly pays off: a Tempkin Employee Engagement Survey showed that engaged workers are more than twice as likely to go above and beyond what’s required of them. What does that really mean for company growth?  Well, the companies listed on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” enjoyed an average revenue increase of 22.2% in 2014. (To no surprise, employee motivation was a big factor in the scoring algorithm.) In the long run, companies with engaged workers can expect to see a total shareholder return five times higher than their disengaged competitors.

With Blueboard’s offerings starting at just $150 per employee for everything from cooking classes to kayaking trips, impressive ROI is undeniable. The math shows that the cost of creating a positive company culture by saying “thank you” pales in comparison to not doing so, and participants unanimously agree that Blueboard’s 150+ unique experience gifts for employees stem burnout and improve motivation in culture. Hey, numbers don’t lie.

If you’d like to learn more about offering Blueboard employee rewards to your team, drop us a line at Blueboard.com. Think back to the first time you braved a rollercoaster. On a scale of 1 to 10, how did you feel when you stepped off the ride? Happy, excited, removing your heart from your throat, or maybe just glad to have survived?