GiftCard Partners Blog

The Incentive Research Foundation released an executive briefing entitled 
2012 Trends in Rewards and Recognition, which shows emerging trends for 2012. Some of the top trends include:

According to Gartner Inc., of Stamford, CT 70% of the top 2,000 publicly held companies will use game-like applications to engage and reward their employees by 2014. Gamification is changing the employee engagement and rewards landscape. Gamifying employee rewards falls in line with social media and the concept of social sharing to create brand awareness and positive brand image. Whether applications are used internally, based on employee performance or externally, rewarding employees for promoting the company and bringing in referral traffic, the trend is growing. Gamification can reward employees in a number of ways. Some applications are designed for employees to accrue points for larger rewards, but others reward employees more frequently with smaller rewards such as gift cards to a choice of retialers, allowing the employee to essentially choose their own gift. The combination of the social component of game-like applications and the rewards employees work toward through the use of the applications makes gamifying employee engagement productive for both the employer and employee.  
For more information on gamification and to check out some existing examples check out this article in "Entrepreneur."

Rewarding employees can become trite and lose its meaning. Sometimes coming up with interesting ways to recognize exceptional employees like presenting a public reward or giving an innovative gift such as a gift card, instead of cash can make the reward more meaningful. Here are a few quick criteria for keeping meaning in your employee rewards program.

Some interesting findings from our neighbors to the north. Striking data about the discrepancy between where companies see their health and wellness initiatives at the present versus where they think this programming needs to be to have a real effect on their company's bottom line. Do the following 3 areas apply to your health and wellness program? 1. While employers are articulate about what they want to accomplish with health and wellness programs...

According to the 
2011 Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report,conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management 83% of American employees are satisfied with their jobs. However, only 52% feel engaged at work, and 53% enjoy going above and beyond in their professional role. In order to keep employees feeling engaged and satisfied it is important to both engage their thoughts and opinions to improve your workplace and offer opportunities for training and advancement. Setting up both formal training and informal mentoring sessions keeps employees engaged and feeling as though their employer cares about their career path. Providing these opportunities for employees is productive, and can be paired well with spot rewards. For employees who achieve goals and milestones that are set in these types of sessions providing small rewards, like an afternoon off or a small denomination gift card goes one step above and beyond the role of the employer. Pairing these two employee engagement techniques allow employees to work toward personal achievements and become more committed to the company as the company allows and rewards them for growth. Engaging and rewarding your employees will improve not only their commitment to their job and the company but their dedication to their role and their willingness to go above and beyond the employers expectations.  
For more information on the SHRM survey or how to engage and incentivize your employees check out this "Small Business Trends" article.