Why Cash Rewards No Longer Work for Modern Companies in Egypt
Written by Ahmed Taha, Business Lead at Giftek
When we started working closely with HR and operations teams in Egypt, one pattern kept repeating. Most companies genuinely wanted to reward employees, but the way rewards were handled hadn’t changed in years. Cash envelopes, bank transfers, printed vouchers, and one-off bonuses were still the default. On paper, they seemed simple. In reality, they were costly, hard to track, and often failed to create real engagement.
The hidden problem with cash rewards in Egypt
Cash is flexible, but that’s also its weakness.
From what we observed, once cash is given, it disappears into everyday expenses. Employees rarely associate it with appreciation or recognition. HR teams also lose visibility the moment the transfer is done — no tracking, no insight, no learning.
In Egypt specifically, this problem is amplified by scale. Many mid-sized companies manage rewards for 100–1,000 employees across multiple branches and cities. Manual reward processes quickly turn into operational overhead.
Based on discussions with HR managers, reward cycles often involve:
- Manual approvals
- Spreadsheet tracking
- Physical distribution or bank coordination
- No confirmation that the reward achieved its purpose
What starts as a “simple reward” ends up consuming time, effort, and budget.
Engagement is not about money alone
One of the biggest misconceptions we encountered is that increasing the reward amount automatically increases employee motivation. In practice, that’s rarely true.
Employee engagement is driven by perceived value, not just monetary value.
In Egypt’s market, employees respond strongly to:
- Choice and flexibility
- Brands they already trust and use
- Rewards that feel personal, not generic
This explains why non-cash rewards — especially digital gift cards — are becoming increasingly relevant. They sit at the intersection of flexibility and intention. Employees choose how to use them, but they still feel distinct from salary.
The operational cost nobody calculates
There’s another side companies often overlook: operational cost.
From our experience, the true cost of traditional employee rewards isn’t just the budget allocated. It includes:
- HR and finance hours spent managing the process
- Errors in distribution or duplication
- Delays that reduce the impact of the reward
- Lack of reporting for leadership
In Egypt, where many companies operate with lean HR teams, these inefficiencies add up quickly.
Digital reward systems remove this layer entirely. Distribution becomes instant. Tracking becomes automatic. Reporting becomes part of the process instead of an afterthought.
Digital gift cards as an employee rewards solution in Egypt
Egypt’s market is ready for digital rewards:
- Smartphone penetration exceeds 70%
- Digital wallets and online payments are widely adopted
- Employees are already comfortable with digital consumption
Yet many reward programs still rely on outdated methods.
Digital gift cards in Egypt align naturally with how people already live and spend. They work across retail, food, entertainment, and lifestyle brands, and they scale without additional operational effort.
More importantly, they allow companies to:
- Track who received what and when
- Measure redemption and engagement
- Offer choice without complexity
This is a shift from simply rewarding employees to managing employee rewards strategically.
What companies actually need today
From everything we’ve seen, modern companies in Egypt are not looking for “more rewards.” They’re looking for better reward systems.
They want:
- Control without micromanagement
- Visibility without manual work
- Flexibility without chaos
This is where digital reward platforms come in — not as a replacement for appreciation, but as the infrastructure that supports it.
Why we built Giftek
These insights are exactly why we built Giftek.
We didn’t start with gift cards. We started with the problem: disconnected stakeholders, manual processes, and zero visibility.
Giftek was designed to serve all sides of the ecosystem:
- Companies managing employee rewards
- Merchants offering digital gift cards
- Employees receiving flexible, meaningful rewards
By digitizing the entire flow — from issuance to redemption — rewards stop being a headache and start becoming a strategic tool.
Looking ahead
Cash rewards won’t disappear overnight. But companies that rely on them alone will increasingly fall behind.
In a market like Egypt, where talent retention and engagement are becoming more critical every year, modern employee reward systems are no longer a luxury — they’re a necessity.
Digital gift cards are not the trend. They’re the transition.