GiftCard Partners Blog

Since health and wellness programs have shown impressive results in reducing employers' health benefit costs, small businesses have prioritized space in their budgets for health and wellness programs. A new Towers Watson/National Business Group survey has shown that "high performing firms" engaged in health and wellness programs have reduced their cost growth to 1% per year. The same survey also revealed that employees pay 20% less on average for health benefits at "high performing firms" than at "low performing firms" with no health and wellness programs. The return on investment of implementing these programs in companies of any size had proven consistent return on investment for both parties. As employers control health care costs; employees improve their health and engage in group programs and recieve rewards, such as small denomination gift cards, or preloaded debit cards. How does your small business use health and wellness programs?
For more information on small business use and benefits of health and wellness programs check out this Insurance News article.

Longtime Olympic sponsor Visa, and cell phone giant Samsung have combined forces to launch a mobile app that will allow for patrons at the 2012 London Olympics to pay for purchases with a wave of their hand. The Visa payWave technology uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to allow consumers to pay with a wave of their mobile phone, with an approved smartphone at a specially designed mobile payment terminal. Although the technology is limited to consumers who have the approved device, this technology is believed to take less time at POS than any credit card, debit card, or cash transaction. Additionally, statistics from credit card comapnies show that consumers tend to spend more per transaction at mobile payment terminals. This technology, if it catches on from the global exposure at the 2012 Summer Games, could revolutionize payment systems. Imagine being able to redeem a gift card with a wave of your hand, instead of waiting in line to redeem your gift. The time efficiency and convenience of payment could revolutionize payments, as well as change the way consumers handle their smartphones. Phones could turn into a consumer’s, phone, computer, wallet, and bank all tucked safely into their pocket.
How do you see Contactless Payment affecting credit, debit, and gift card use going forward? For more information check out this Point of Sale News article.

Rewards are great for keeping employees engaged at work, but Josh Strok, Director of Rewards, Talent and Communication, for Towers Watson has a much broader view of how to make your rewards dollars go much further. Creating Total Rewards Optimization, which includes not only rewards benefits such as bonuses or gift cards for engagement, but combines this with other elements such as health and wellness benefits, career development opportunities, trainings, and corporate social responsibility workshops. Putting all of these elements together, Strok believes, creates a total package for employees that not only help retain them, but can be used as a competitive edge to attract employees from other competing companies. Strok believes that Total Rewards Optimization will help attract and retain top performers in a corporate climate where work hours are increasing, and will continue to do so. It is important to build your Total Rewards Optimization program not only to fit your organizations budget, but to cater to the needs and wants of your employees. For example, if you have $100 to spend on employees, would they rather that go to a reward or loyalty program or would they rather have a lower insurance deductible? Would employees rather have a stronger retirement program or a better career development program? Finding out what employees are interested in and tailoring your organizations program to employee needs is critical to the success of your program and the investment of your rewards dollars. Total Rewards Optimization is a win-win for you and your employees when implemented successfully.  
For more information about Total Rewards Optimization programs check out this Smart Business Network article.

A recent research study conducted by TNS Employee Insights shows that engaging employees at work through programs like incentive rewards and loyalty programs, can improve the overall functionality and performance of a company by 20% points. MolsonCoors found that engaged employees were five times less likely than non-engaged employees to have a safety incident and seven times less likely to have a lost-time safety incident. Using these types of programs by giving small incentives such as a small denomination gift card, or larger gifts for bigger workplace milestones makes employees feel noticed. Employees who are engaged at work feel as though they have a meaningful voice within the organization, and recognize effective leadership more readily. They feel as though they are being noticed, invested in, and guided professionally. Employees who feel engaged are also more productive, which leads to greater company revenues and 87% reduction in likelihood of employee departure. Here are four ways to invest in employee engagement and increase performance. 1.    Link employee engagement to business objectives and measures of effectiveness. The more substantial the direct connection the more clearly employees can view their role. 2.    Invest in employee programs specifically designed to increase engagement by supporting business objectives. 3.    Establish a system of measuring engagement and the effectiveness of these programs. Getting employee feedback about the programs is the best way to gauge their success. 4.    Make adjustments based on the discernible results. Maintaining flexibility in employee engagement programming is key to a positive outcome for both employees and the employer.  
For more information on engaging your employees to improve your company's performance check out this PR Web Article in the San Francisco Chronicle.