Your Complete Blueboard Review For Employee Recognition: Overview & Main Features

Employee recognition done right increases employee satisfaction, productivity, and employee retention. 

Spa days, concerts, surf lessons, or bucket list travel adventures. Some companies believe that experiences are the best way to recognize and incentivize your team. And Blueboard is one of them.

If you want to reward your employees with personalized and memorable experiences, Blueboard may be the right employee rewards program for you. 

Find out everything you need to know in this Blueboard review so that you can make the right decision when choosing an employee rewards and recognition platform. 

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What Is Blueboard?

Blueboard takes a different approach from many other employee recognition platforms. Rather than providing employees with a range of gift cards or vouchers for products, it offers a wide range of experiences.

This is because Blueboard believes that a thrilling experience is more memorable and has a more significant impact than a physical gift. These experiences cover travel, sporting activities, leisure pursuits, and more. 

In theory, this will offer the same degree of variety as other platforms' rewards. However, this is not strictly true. 

While many employees may love the thrill of a new destination or life experience, just as many also appreciate being able to choose physical products. The flexibility to be able to choose between physical items, gift cards, and experiences means that employees can choose a reward that they truly want or would benefit from. 

It all comes down to what your employees value most, and only they would know what that is. 

The Main Benefits and Features Of Blueboard

Blueboard markets its experience-centered employee recognition program as suitable for the whole gamut of rewards and recognition. This includes sales incentives, referral incentives, company awards, onboarding gifts, spot rewards, and work anniversaries. 

Its main features include:

Planning & Management

If you need help planning or managing a range of experiences for employee rewards and recognition, Blueboard can help. You’ll have access to recognition program planning guides, as well as the assistance of an account management team. 

Budgeting

The cost is one of the most critical factors in setting up a rewards and recognition program for your business. For your system to be truly effective, you must be realistic about your budget. Blueboard’s recognition budget calculators can help you outline a program that meets your specific budget.

Support & Insights

Another top feature is that you’ll have the help of a support team to implement and launch your recognition program. Blueboard also provides feedback and insights on your recognition and rewards program.

Integrations

Make your employee recognition a part of your existing communication channels. You can broadcast their Blueboard rewards activities through convenient Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations.

Pros And Cons Of Blueboard

Let’s take a look at the main pros and cons of using Blueboard for employee recognition:

Pros

• Experiences can offer superb employee engagement opportunities because of their innate, memorable quality. 

• Employers can award spot rewards in just fifteen seconds from a curated menu.

• High-end experiences are ideal for corporate gifting when you're out to impress, and the usual gift ideas won’t fit the occasion.

• You raise your company's public image by using experiences rather than conventional gifts for recognition. New applicants may now see you as a more exciting company to work for.

Cons

• While there are experiences of all costs, it is still a far pricier way to go than platforms offering gift cards and physical products.

• It’s not ideal when looking for a comprehensive program offering smaller, less expensive rewards.

• Rewards are limited to experiences. There is no option for cash or gift rewards.

• There is no option to reward company swag.

• The platform can be a little confusing and overwhelming to use. It can be difficult to filter options, coordinate dates, and view balances. 

• Experiences offered may be limited in certain areas where employees live.

• Time constraints may prevent employees from scheduling an experience. 

• It can take several weeks to deliver the experience.

  
  

Is Blueboard The Right Employee Recognition Platform For Your Company?

Blueboard offers a fresh take on employee recognition, but the concept is not unique. Many rewards platforms offer experiences as part of a more comprehensive rewards system. However, they don’t focus on experiences over products, gift cards, and vouchers like Blueboard does.

Blueboard may not be ideal for everybody. In our years of experience with employee rewards and recognition, we’ve discovered that employees prize freedom of choice above all else. It’s not about the type of recognition offered but more about the freedom to choose their own rewards.

If you want to start your own rewards and recognition program but find that Blueboard doesn’t fit the bill, we recommend reading our guide on the best Blueboard competitors and alternatives.

Who Is Blueboard Best Suited For?

With all of that in mind, who is Blueboard right for? It’s more a question of what Blueboard is right for. 

An offer of an experience as a form of recognition or reward might work in virtually any industry. However, it may not be the best choice for spot rewards and new employee welcome gifts, where smaller rewards of physical products are generally favored. 

Also, experiences usually cost more than products or gift cards.

So when deciding whether or not to use Blueboard for your rewards and recognition, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I plan to use my employee rewards and recognition program mostly for new employee welcome gifts, spot rewards, and general engagement? If yes, you may find that gift cards, physical products, or hampers are a better match.

2. Do I plan to use my employee rewards and recognition program mostly for performance rewards, management-level perks, and milestone celebrations? If yes, Blueboard’s focus on experiences could be suitable.

Blueboard may be better suited to the corporate environment, especially companies with a larger budget for employee recognition.

Key Takeaways

We agree with Blueboard about one thing. Experiences do make a lasting impact. This is why we incorporate them in the range of rewards here at PerkUp. But because we understand that the most important thing for employers and employees is choice, we don’t focus on one type of reward.

We offer a wide spectrum of rewards and recognition, including gift cards, cash cards, physical products, company swag, and experiences. This way, you know that all your employee's needs are met. 

Want to see how PerkUp can satisfy your company’s employee recognition needs? Book a free demo today.