There’s been a lot of talk about the environment, global warming, and the need to reduce our carbon footprint. Many businesses take this talk seriously and want to help reverse the crisis.
Where does that leave you and your employee recognition efforts? Are there sustainable ways to appreciate your team? Also, what’s a carbon footprint and how do traditional and electronic cards fit the puzzle? We answer these questions (and more) in this article. Let’s dive in!
What’s a Carbon Footprint and Why Does it Matter?
The term “carbon footprint” refers to the total number of greenhouse gases (GHGs) an individual or company releases into the atmosphere via daily fossil fuel consumption. Common GHGs include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
An individual who invests in solar panels for their home, bikes to work, and eats a plant-based diet will have a small carbon footprint. A company that burns a lot of fossil fuels and/or produces harmful chemicals during its manufacturing process will have a large carbon footprint.
Why does any of this matter? Scientists believe GHGs lead to global warming. If global warming isn’t curbed, humans could experience a cataclysmic event within the next few decades. In other words, GHGs are a serious problem and everyone should work to avoid them.
Believe it or not, you can help limit GHGs in our atmosphere. All you have to do is make sustainable choices regarding your employee appreciation and recognition strategy.
For example, should you send your team a traditional, paper-based greeting card to congratulate them on a job well done? Or would a digital ecard be a better choice? Let’s see…
What’s the Carbon Footprint of a Traditional Greeting Card?
The carbon footprint of a traditional greeting card depends on a variety of factors:
Where was the card produced? What kind of paper was it printed on? How far did it have to travel to reach its intended recipient? And what kind of vehicle was used during transportation?
Best estimates, made by WAY more qualified people, put the carbon footprint of a traditional greeting card at 140g CO2e. This figure accounts for paper production, printing, and postage.
What’s the Carbon Footprint of a Digital Greeting Card?
Contrary to popular belief, digital greeting cards, often referred to as online cards, digital e cards, or just ecards, also release carbon into the atmosphere. The question is, how much?
See, the electronic devices we use to work, communicate, and surf the internet require energy. So do the servers our connected technology runs on. Companies typically burn fossil fuels to create this energy, which produces a carbon footprint. Fortunately, said footprint is pretty small.
Research suggests the carbon footprint of a digital greeting card is 50g CO2e. (This figure accounts for large images. If your ecard is less flamboyant, it’ll have a smaller carbon footprint.)
At the end of the day, even the flashiest ecard has a smaller carbon footprint than a traditional greeting card. This makes ecards a greener, more sustainable tool for employee recognition.
🌳 Sustainable recognition starts here 🌳
How to Make Your Employee Recognition Efforts More Green
Looking to bolster your employee appreciation strategy and save the planet? This five-step process will help you delight your team via sustainable recognition practices:
1. Choose a Virtual Greeting Card Tool
There are a bunch of paperless greeting card tools on the market.
Some are free to use, but only give you access to a limited feature set. Others cost a small fee, but allow you to create eye-catching cards that make employees really “feel the love.“
The tool you use depends on your needs. Here are five solid options:
Kudoboard
Kudoboard makes it easy to create ecards—especially those that are signed by multiple people.
Simply choose a template, create your message, ask other employees to participate, and send it to your intended recipient on their birthday or to celebrate another special event.
For example, you could send employees ecards to celebrate Earth Day. Or host an in-office competition right on Kudoboard to see which employee can minimize their carbon footprint the most.
You can also schedule ecards for the future, attach monetary rewards to ecards, and access detailed analytics on every ecard they create. As such, it’s perfect for ongoing digital employee recognition programs and one-off scenarios. How you use it is up to you.
JibJab
Looking for a fun, video-based ecard option? JibJab might be the perfect fit.
Users can insert photos into silly music videos and scenes to create a one-of-a-kind greeting card experience. For example, you could layer a picture of your face over a video of funny animals singing songs. The result is almost guaranteed to make your intended recipient laugh.
While JibJab isn’t perfect for every situation, it’s a unique option that makes a strong impression. Consider it for fun-loving employees on less-than-serious occasions.
American Greetings
American Greetings has been around for a long time—and has a classic style to match. If you want traditional-looking cards sent via email, take a serious look at American Greetings.
One of the best things about this ecard maker is its celebrity videos option. Choose a pre-shot video with your recipient’s favorite public figure and add custom text.
Just know, American Greetings doesn’t offer a ton of personalization options. Those looking for a strong feature set and complete control over their ecards should look elsewhere.
Jacquie Lawson
Every card produced by Jacquie Lawson is beautiful and unique. Some even include custom songs, so you can serenade your recipients while they few your online greetings.
On the downside, Jacquie Lawson doesn’t offer a lot of customization options. But if you don’t mind this limitations and love the distinctive art style, give Jacquie Lawson a shot.
2. Design Digital Ecards Employees Want to Receive
Once you choose a virtual greeting card tool, you can start designing your ecards. Don’t get overwhelmed, you only need to complete three steps. They are:
Choose a Template
Most tools—even the ones that let you create free online greeting cards—offer card templates. This is good news for all of us design-challenged folks. We need help making beautiful ecards!
Kudoboard offers dozens of professionally designed templates for every occasion. Whether you want to celebrate an employee’s birthday, congratulate them on a professional or personal milestone, or offer well wishes to a departing colleague, we have top-level designs for you.
To choose the right template, select the appropriate occasion. Then pick a design that matches your recipient’s personal taste and sensibilities. That’s all there is to it.
Write a Personalized Message
You could send a generic “Happy Birthday!” or “Congratulations!” message, but we don’t recommend it. The best ecards include personalized messages.
Sending a birthday ecard to an employee? Say something like, “Happy birthday, Jim! I appreciate your hard work and positive attitude. You make the days around here a whole lot more fun. Here’s to another great year—both professionally and personally!”
Sending an employee award? You could say, “Congratulations, Maria! The work you did on [Project X] was truly spectacular—our clients are still talking about it. The way you go above and beyond is genuinely appreciated. Now, enjoy being employee of the month. You earned it!“
Personalized messages hit harder because they make people feel like… well, people. In many cases, a little customization is all it will take to ensure your employees feel valued.
Add Fun Visual Elements
Traditional greeting cards can’t compete with ecards.
As mentioned, they release more GHGs into the atmosphere, which is bad for the environment. They don’t handle visual elements very well either. Seriously, static images are way old school.
With Kudoboard, you can add fun animations, fan favorite memes, and custom videos to every ecard. You could even record a personalized song if you’re one of those musical types. Whatever you decide, the end result will be way better than another paper card—boring!
3. Ask Coworkers to Contribute to Every Online Greeting
Top-down appreciation is all well and good. But if you really want to engage, motivate, and retain your team, ask your employees to contribute to their coworker’s ecard.
Research suggests that peer-to-peer recognition is 35.7% more likely to produce positive financial results than manager-only recognition. And to think, all you have to do to facilitate peer-to-peer shoutouts is ask employees to sign the occasional ecard. Seems like a no-brainer!
We know what you’re thinking, “That sounds great. But I don’t have time to track down signatures. I’m busy enough as it is.” We totally get it. With Kudoboard, you don’t have to track down anything. You simply invite colleges to contribute to your ecard. They’ll then have digital access and can sign their names or offer well wishes whenever they have time. Piece of cake.
3. Ask Coworkers to Contribute to Every Online Greeting
Top-down appreciation is all well and good. But if you really want to engage, motivate, and retain your team, ask your employees to contribute to their coworker’s ecard.
Research suggests that peer-to-peer recognition is 35.7% more likely to produce positive financial results than manager-only recognition. And to think, all you have to do to facilitate peer-to-peer shoutouts is ask employees to sign the occasional ecard. Seems like a no-brainer!
We know what you’re thinking, “That sounds great. But I don’t have time to track down signatures. I’m busy enough as it is.” We totally get it. With Kudoboard, you don’t have to track down anything. You simply invite colleges to contribute to your ecard. They’ll then have digital access and can sign their names or offer well wishes whenever they have time. Piece of cake.
4. Pair Your Online Cards With Other Green Gift Ideas
A digital note is perfect for most occasions. Especially if you personalize your message to the recipient. But there will be times when you’ll want to do more.
Fortunately, ecards can be paired with a variety of other green gifts to make sure your employees feel valued. Here are seven of our favorite ideas in this regard:
Gift Cards
A digital gift card isn’t the most creative gift option in the world, but it is incredibly useful.
As long as you purchase the right gift card, AKA a gift card to your recipient’s favorite store or restaurant, they’ll appreciate the thought—and importantly, actually use the gift.
Kudoboard lets users attach gift cards to all ecards. Funds are either pulled from company funds or raised via employee donations. Either way, recipients will receive a lump sum they can then exchange for a gift card of their choice. Kudoboard currently partners with hundreds of popular stores and restaurants, so your recipient is sure to find something they’re excited about.
Office Plants
Office plants can reduce employee stress, increase happiness, and supercharge productivity. (They’re also the greenest gift you can give, since they are, in fact, totally green.)
Ask yourself, “What kind of plants do my employees enjoy?” Common in-office species include Bird of Paradise, Zanzibar Gem, or the Snake Plant. (Don’t worry, the last one isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds.) Choose one your team will like and give it to them along with your ecard.
Organic Foods
Whether you stock the break room with healthy snacks or purchase an organic food subscription for individual employees, your team will certainly appreciate this gift.
Bonus: organic food supports sustainable agriculture, a key component of the world’s fight against global warming. So this gift helps individual people and humanity at large.
In a similar vein, you could give employees beeswax food wraps or bamboo cutlery sets instead of food. Both make a positive environmental impact, and last longer than a few munchies.
Reusable Water Bottles
Single-use water bottles damage the environment and leach microplastics into human bodies. That sounds pretty terrible, which is why reusable water bottles make great employee gifts.
Stainless steel water bottles, for example, are both clean and stylish. Your team will love toting them around the office, their homes, and everywhere else to stay hydrated. You can even slap a company logo on each bottle and enjoy a bit of free marketing—nice!
Note: Insulated travel mugs and glass coffee cups fall into this category as well. If your employees prefer hot drinks, consider one of these options instead of a water bottle.
Recycled Clothing and Bags
You have to be careful with this one. Everyone has their own style and it can be hard to know if someone will wear a piece of clothing or use a particular accessory.
Still, if you know your employees well, or know how to contact their loved ones, consider gifting your team a recycled shirt, hat, or tote bag. (To be clear, recycled clothes and accessories are not pre-owned. They’re made from recycled materials and are eco-friendly.)
Consider upcycled products as well. Wallets made from tires, notebooks made from circuit boards, and bags made from billboard vinyl fit the bill and offer a unique, creative vibe.
Energy Efficient Tech Accessories
As mentioned earlier, modern technology isn’t as good for the environment as people think. So, tech accessories that minimize energy usage are better for the planet. Hello, green gift idea!
What if you gave your employees a solar-powered charger? That way, they don’t have to plug their phones into the wall outlet. How about a smart light bulb that automatically turns on and off based on a predetermined schedule to help prevent unnecessary energy usage?
Sustainable Packaging Materials
While not a gift, do your best to wrap employee awards and presents in sustainable packaging materials. Just say no to single-use bags, bubble wrap, and those pesky packing peanuts.
Instead, wrap gifts in paper made from either recycled materials or readily renewable fibers.
You could even go the extra mile and use plantable seed paper. After the gift is opened, the wrapping paper can be planted in the ground. A while later, herbs, vegetables, or flowers will bloom. How cool is that? You can make your employees and the earth smile at the same time.
5. Send Ecards to Their Lucky Recipients!
There’s only one more thing to do: Send your ecards (and the green gifts that accompany them) to your employees to celebrate their special day or to recognize a significant achievement.
Once you do, your staff will be able to look at their ecards on any internet-capable device. And because they’re digital, they won’t have to worry about them deteriorating.
But what if your team wants a physical greeting card they can hold in their hands? Kudoboard enables users to turn ecards into beautiful hardbound books and posters. This is a perfect way to turn important events into indelible memories your employees will cherish forever.
Kudoboard: Sustainable Employee Recognition for All
Ecards are more sustainable than traditional, paper-based greeting cards because the process of making them releases fewer GHGs into the atmosphere. Ecards are also easier to create and distribute to employees. It’s not hard to see why companies around the world send ecards!
Of course, to make stunning ecards in an efficient manner, you need access to a trusted tool like Kudoboard. Our platform is both easy to use and powerful. With it, you’ll be able to create ecards in minutes, ask other people to contribute, and track how each ecard performs.
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