Celebrate Nurses Day With Rewards They Actually Want

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!

Why celebrate nurses day?

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.

How to celebrate nurses day

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.

Top digital rewards to encourage wellness for nurses

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:

Food delivery options

Gift cards for romantic dinners and coffee dates can be thoughtful rewards for nurses who need more time with family and friends, however the best gift for a tired nurse is food delivery options. Nobody wants to cook dinner after a long nursing shift.

• Uber Eats
• Grubhub
• DoorDash 

Self-care

After long, hectic shifts, nurses need some rejuvenating self-care to feel confident and nurtured before returning to work. Encourage them to treat themselves with gift cards from brands like:

• Bed Bath & Beyond
• Bath & Body Works
• Spa & Wellness Gift Card by Spa Week
• Ulta Beauty 

Travel

Nurses should take time off work to give themselves mental health breaks and avoid burnout. Whether it’s for a family vacation or a weekend trip, you could pitch in with gift cards from brands like these:

• Uber
• Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
• Marriott
• Hotels.com 

Fitness & sports

Nursing can be physically taxing. If you have nursing staff that likes to keep fit, you could reward them with gift cards to the top athletic brands, such as:

• Athleta
• Nike
• Adidas
• Under Armour

Nutrition

Busy nurses might find it hard to eat healthy while working long hours. The following are brands that offer healthy diet supplements so nurses can get the vitamins they need to stay strong:

• The Vitamin Shoppe
• CVS Pharmacy
• Jamba Juice

Giftbit simplifies rewarding our heroes

With a simple API integration and more easy ways to send digital gift cards and a growing employee rewards catalog, Giftbit takes the legwork out of boosting employee engagement and rewarding your people.

Start rewarding your nurses now. Sign up for Giftbit now, and learn how to make your organization’s nurses feel special with personalized rewards.