Updated May 1, 2024
Encouraging employee wellness is essential for any company, but healthcare employees, especially nurses, deserve special appreciation for their commitment to helping patients. Nurses work long, stress-filled hours to ensure everyone has access to quality medical care, so gifts that encourage physical and mental wellness can be meaningful employee rewards.
Nurses Day is on May 6 every year, kicking off a week of recognition for nurses and student nurses. Keep reading to learn why (and how) you should participate in National Nurses Day, along with which digital rewards nurses love most!
According to a Mental Health America survey, 93% of healthcare workers reported regular stress on the job, and nurses were more likely than any other position to feel exhausted after work.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, nursing turnover has spiked, and clinics and hospitals are experiencing shortages that add to the remaining nurses’ workload, leading to more stress and potential burnout.
Of course, nurses work hard every day. That's why many Human resources (HR) teams in healthcare organizations show gratitude to their hard working nurses by creating an employee reward program, rewarding nurses for outstanding patient care, work anniversaries, birthdays, training, etc.
While a $10 Starbucks gift card doesn’t seem like much of a reward in exchange for the intensive work nurses do, getting their favorite coffee for free can be a much-needed bright spot in the middle of a taxing 12-hour shift.
Rewards are excellent for boosting employee engagement and reducing turnover, but what kind of rewards do employees want?
A survey on employee incentive preferences found that 41% of employees want gift cards or prepaid cards, third only to bonuses and time off work.
So if you want to give your nurses rewards they’ll love, consider the following digital gift card ideas: