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Deborah Merkin

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Deborah Merkin, CEO and Founder of GiftCard Partners™, Inc. and Engage2Reward™ LLC, brings two decades of experience to the forefront of the gift card industry. Armed with a BS from University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MBA from Babson College, Deborah's career spans technology startups and corporate giants, including AT&T Capital and Staples. A pioneer in establishing and shaping lucrative new distribution channels, Deborah’s expertise grew through consultancy roles with Linens’N Things and CVS®. This journey marked her entrance into the gift card and incentives industry and ultimately laid the foundation for the conception of GiftCard Partners. A Certified Women Owned Business, GiftCard Partners was founded in 2005 and has received the prestigious Best and Brightest Company to Work For® Award for 10 years nationally. With a focus on assertiveness and balanced steadiness, Deborah continues to drive innovation and growth in the dynamic world of gift cards. Beyond her professional success, Deborah is deeply involved in community service, recently joining the board of JBBBS.org and previously serving on the board of JFSMW.org for 5 years.
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Recent Posts

Where is Gamification Going?

As gamification grows in the employee reward and incentive market, and across the marketing world in general it is important to look forward at where this growing trend is headed. There are all types of theories on where gamification is going, but either way one thing is for sure: gamification is here to stay.

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Gamification: How best to implement and leverage it in your workplace

Gamification is now being used across a wide range of organizations for a wide range of uses. Some organizations are using gamification like a loyalty program, the further employees progress in the game, the more bonus or reward points they earn, which they can then use for real workplace rewards, such as gift cards. Other organizations are using gamification to help employees manage health and wellness programs, placing employees on teams to create a healthy competitive atmosphere where employees can help push each other further down the path to a healthy lifestyle. Some employers are looking to make gamification fun, others are more focused on achieving the goals of the game. However you use gamification in your workplace it is important to offer real rewards to employees as a result of the game, so the motivator actually affects productivity, loyalty to the organization, and long-term retention rates. It is also important to use the metrics gamification systems offer to ensure the goals for your program are being met. There metrics prove the ROI for these employee incentive and rewards programs, and are what will make them sustainable into future years, and budgets.
For more information on maximizing gamification in a number of different ways, check out this article in Venture Beat.

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Gift Cards Used for Public Smoking Cessation Program

In an innovative use of gift cards as incentives came not in the workplace but in a public health and wellness initiative. As part of the Affordable Care Act California received $10 million to incentivize citizens who receive government subsidized health care. This grant is meant to help steer this population toward healthy behavior, including quitting smoking. The State of California has used part of this grant to provide gift cards to select individuals who participate in a smoking cessation program over the next five years. The program isa cutting edge smoking cessation trial, in which individuals are given $20 gift cards good at major retailers as a carrot for enrolling and participating in the program, and a larger pool will receive $10 gift cards to help relapse prevention. A pilot of  the program executed in the Sacramento area has shown positive results. The gift cards are a small but sufficient motivator to get people to sign up, and it is having an overall impact on the health of the city and state, and helping to control costs of Medi-Cal, California's public health assistance entity. The gift cards the grant is providing are proving to be a successful motivator on a large scale. These types of small but sufficient rewards can also be applied to smaller health and wellness reward executions, such as in an individual office. These programs will help the company manage healthcare costs as well as make the whole employee population healthier. These small rewards have an obvious ROI for employees and employers alike.  
For more information on the smoking cessation case study in California check out this article in the Sacramento Bee.

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4 Ways to Maintain Employee Engagement through Communication

Maintaining open communication with employees is crucial to a positive working environment and and engaging employees in the job roles. Creating open communication is a way to be open and honest with your employees, which provides them with meaning and a clear purpose for even seemingly mundane everyday tasks. Making employees feel a part of something greater than themselves is an easy and cost-free way to engage and retain employees. Providing a constant information flow both to and from employees regarding goals, company vision, desired company cultural aspects, and individual and team objectives are some of the ways to keep employees engaged. Also, communicating rewards and recognition for accomplishments of goals or exceptional contributions to the company are equally important. Rewards do not have to be big, small denomination gift cards and a team email is a great way to reward an employee's accomplishment, and recognize the accomplishment among the employee's peers. How do you communicate with your employees? How do you think your organization could improve their employee communication?

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3 Key Points to Gamifying Your Workforce

Gamification continues to grow in the workforce motivation realm. The gamification market was estimated at around $100 million a year ago, and is projected to from to $2.8 billion by 2016, according to M2 Research. Five years from now, every new employee entering the workforce will have grown up with mobile devices and Facebook, this means the demographic in the workforce is accustomed to constant gaming and media stimulation. To ensure your gamified employee motivation and recognition is executed properly follow these 3 easy steps:

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