About four times a year, we busy ourselves creating catalogs that feature our new and bestselling products. We do this because we know that, in your hands, our products can bring value to you and help you create a positive and rewarding environment for your team.

But, one day we asked ourselves, “What more can we do? Above and beyond our products, how can we engage with our customers in an informative and thoughtful way?”

The result of this pondering became RecogNation: a quarterly supplement to our catalog, written by recognition experts, that addresses a common workplace concern with a variety of articles on that topic. In addition, this publication features an interview with an up-and-coming CEO, whose success on the current issue’s topic offers inspiration and insight to our readers.

Our first issue is all about building stronger teams and is just days away from hitting mailboxes everywhere. Sound interesting to you? You don’t have to wait: you can download it now for free from our Recognition Resource Center!

Take a few minutes to give it a read, and if any of this hits home with you, tell us about it—we’d love to hear!
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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 four years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 19 years. Before becoming a professional writer 12 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!  


During the holidays, we often take the time to express our thanks and appreciation to key individuals who make our days go smoothly. We often show appreciation for newspaper delivery staff, mail carrier, childcare provider, teacher, caregiver, and more.

Do you take the time to thank your team, too?

It’s easy to fall into the belief that employees don’t need recognition because they earn a pay check all year. But showing your appreciation for their efforts can go a long way in terms of motivation, dedication, and engagement. Take the time to recognize every member of your team during the holidays. I guarantee you won’t regret it!

At Baudville, our team turns to recognition themes to make appreciation easy. We carefully craft sentiments, messages, and artwork that will express your thanks in a fun way. Our four new holiday recognition themes are full of employee recognition ideas that you can use for the entire team or each individual. Choose your favorite and plan your appreciation early for a low-stress holiday season.

Snowman: Thanks for Making Our Season Bright
Our most whimsical holiday theme, gifts from the Snowman collection are great for thanking teachers and peers. Present the snow globe photo frame, and the recipient will bring it out year after year as part of their holiday décor. It will serve as a lasting reminder of your appreciation! 



Snowflake: You’re One of a Kind
One of our most popular holiday recognition themes, Snowflake: You’re One of a Kind allows you to recognize your entire team while speaking to their individual contributions. One of my favorite employee recognition ideas for this theme is presenting the Spinner Ornament with the recipient's name engraved on the back.



Candy Canes: We Truly Appreciate You
The straight forward message of appreciation in the Candy Cane theme makes it an easy choice for recognizing a group of staff members or volunteers. Hand out the Twist Top Tumbler filled with peppermint candies for a sweet and thoughtful gift of appreciation.



Reindeer: You’re Essential to Our Team
This theme is designed to provide you with employee recognition ideas for your entire team. The team message acknowledges the importance of working together and gives you the perfect opportunity to talk about the major accomplishments you achieved as a team. Present each team member with a travel mug that they can use to keep their favorite beverages hot during the cold weather. Add a little something extra by including a couple packets of hot chocolate or a gift card to a local coffee shop.

 

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Is the fourth quarter a busy time of year at your company? It certainly is for us here at Baudville! We’re launching new products, taking orders for employee Christmas gifts, engraving trophies for award ceremonies, and getting ready for the start of the New Year!

With so much going on, it’s easy to forget to say thank you and appreciate your team’s efforts. It’s important to remember that when we’re really busy, appreciation is more important than ever! Recognition and praise can keep employees engaged, productive, and happy at work.

Managers can’t let recognition fall by the wayside just because things are busy!

To help managers appreciate their team during the busy season, we’re just released four new recognition themes and over forty new employee gifts. Our new recognition themes give managers fresh ways of expressing their appreciation and inspiring staff, and each has unique employee gifts that you’re going to love!

The new themes are each very different and are best used in different situations. Here are my recommendations and new product picks!

The new “You are a Star” recognition theme is great for recognizing employees for their unique contributions. I recommend the colorful on-the-spot items that you can use to encourage your team on the fly. For the most motivation for your money, create a stockpile of memo clips, fun pin packs, and Pocket Praise mini-note cards. These items are all around $3 each or less!

To honor an individual or team at the end of a big project, choose a gift from the “Thanks for Making a Difference” recognition theme. This theme acknowledges all the small acts that go into a big goal, and provides an important reminder to look for the little things that make a big difference in accomplishing your goals. My favorite new gift in this theme is a sleek silver kaleidoscope. Not only is it a unique employee gift, but you can personalize it with up to three lines of engraving!

A new theme for recognizing teamwork, “Supreme Team” should be used to encourage teams during a busy season in business. Pass out water bottles or Twist Top Tumblers, pens, and wrist bands to your team at the start of a busy week to promote teamwork, remind the group of important goals, and let them know you appreciate everything they do!

It’s important to recognize managers, too. The new “Leadership Begins with You” recognition theme is perfect for thanking the individuals who lead teams.  If your managers don’t feel appreciated and receive positive feedback for their performance, they won’t be able to effectively praise their employees.

When you make recognition and appreciation a part of your work routine, you have the ability to influence employee and company performance through increased engagement and productivity. Use one of these new recognition themes and their corresponding employee gifts to show teams appreciation and keep them motivated during the busy fourth quarter!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

I don’t know how it is in your neck of the world; but in ours it has been consistently hot and practically devoid of moisture—except for all the sweating we’ve all been doing, that is. We had a brief tease from a 15-minute downpour this week; but otherwise it’s been nothing but dry on top of dry.

If you’re getting thirsty just reading this, then I have good news! All new Twist Top Tumblers are here and ready to cool off and refresh you and your team!

We couldn’t forecast this weather; but the increasing popularity of our existing Twist Top Tumblers did help us predict that making more would probably make everyone happy. We also thought giving you some creative ideas on how to present them would be a nice bonus.

Here are our top five ideas for you:

1. Put one at each guest’s seat at your summer picnic. Place cards are so last century! If you want to set a great table, employ Twist Top Tumblers as your ice-breaking ambassadors. Go with a traditional expression of thanks with our We Appreciate You theme, or give some high-energy props with our You Rock theme.
   
   
2. Fill them with treats and present them at your next team meeting. Want to pep up your next meeting with your team? We find that a little fuel in the snack form helps with that. Fill our The Power of Team Twist Top Tumblers with a variety of edible goodies and you’ll keep everyone alert and focused for the duration.
   
   
3. Give them out at a project kickoff event as a reminder of your goals. Whenever you have a new company initiative, you want to put energy behind it and get everyone on the same wavelength with your mission. Our One Team, One Goal theme sends a positive message of unity and cooperation that will set your project on a course for success.
   
   
4. Pair them with a cooler bag for a complete gift they’ll use every day. You don’t need a special occasion to recognize your team. Surprise each team member with a gift of our Imagine Believe Achieve Twist Top Tumbler and Cooler Bag just because. The inspiring message on these gifts will last long after the day you present them.
   
   
5. Use them as giveaways to promote a company-wide wellness program. Health and Wellness is a big topic in the workplace today. You can encourage healthier habits, like drinking the daily recommendation of water, with You Radiate Pure Awesome Twist Top Tumblers. You’ll give your team an extra incentive, while reminding them that their wellness radiates from within.

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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 three years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 18 years. Before becoming a professional writer 11 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!  

In Michigan, though we never seem to fall short of ways to joke about the weather fluctuations, we can usually count on January to be consistently cold and snowy. Yet, somehow, the thermometer has peaked at nearly 50 degrees several days this week. The forecast for the rest of the week? Between 8-10 inches of the fluffy white stuff! There’s nothing like the unpredictable to overcomplicate getting dressed for the work day—as well as our commute to start or end the day.

It’s definitely nice to have options when Mother Nature throws a curve ball, and my co-workers and I are really happy that we’ve earned new Take a Casual Day and Take a Free Hour tokens that we can cash in for just these occasions. (In anticipation, I'm using one of mine today, by the way!)

These new products are part of our new Token Super Bundle that was designed with save and redeem employee recognition programs in mind.

Here’s what’s in the bundle and what you can do with them:

Star and Kudos Point Tokens: Hand out these tokens on the spot when you see everyday greatness in action. These are meant to be casual forms of recognition, so think small: maybe James helped Laura fix a paper jam just in time to get her printout for an important meeting. Or, Melissa stayed late one evening to finish a project.   
Employees can collect them to cash in for prizes of your choosing, or save and redeem them for other tokens in the bundle, like:

Take a Casual Day and Take a Free Hour Tokens: What’s better than a low cost employee reward that has a really high value to the members of your team? In a bundle, tokens are just under $1.25 each and the rewards themselves cost you little or nothing. Use them in conjunction with the other tokens, or on their own for bigger recognition moments. But, remember, they’re still informal for day-to-day, so don’t wait until someone solves world peace to give one out!   

Have a Treat on Me Tokens: I like these tokens for giving your employees a little face time. When you award one of these tokens, make it special by doing something as simple as having a nice chat with your team member as you walk to the vending machine. Or, make it more official by setting up a time to take a short coffee or snack break together. They’ll enjoy the free treat as well as the personal one-on-one time that shows you care. Plus, who doesn’t need a warm bevvie to perk up the day? (Especially us Michiganders!)

If you’re looking for small, affordable ways to engage your team and motivate them to go above and beyond, Tokens of Appreciation are your ticket. Incorporate them into a save and redeem program to create an added incentive and you’ll see everyone stepping up their game!

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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 three years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 18 years. Before becoming a professional writer 11 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!