That's a manager's battle cry that will never die.

Even successful companies continuously search for creative and effective ways to energize their work force.

Indeed, a focus on employee engagement and motivation is a significant reason why companies are successful.

In determining what incentives work best, experts agree that a good start is to determine what's hot in the consumer world, which explains the continued dramatic increase in gift card use in employee incentive and reward programs.

Once an upstart merely looking for a piece of the incentive market pie, gift cards have ballooned into the most frequently used type of corporate award, according to a 2005 Incentive Federation Study. Almost six in 10 respondents stated that they are likely to use gift cards in their next sales incentive program. (Gift cards also received top nod in dealer incentives, non-sales incentive campaigns and consumer promotions.) The reasons for their popularity are clear: Gift cards are easy to administer and provide flexibility in terms of award choice to recipients.

Managers, meanwhile, appreciate the turnkey aspects of these programs, as well as their instant recognition capability - or what is often referred to as the "surprise and delight factor." "Managers are using them as spot rewards, and then the dads are turning around and rewarding mom and the kids by taking them out to dinner," says Rich Killian, president and founder of Orlando, Fla.- based RK Incentives (www.incentivesalesconsulting.com), which specializes in sales and marketing consulting.

"They're providing freedom of choice while maintaining trophy value."

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