GiftCard Partners Blog

Think of these 5 tips as your new year's resolutions as an employer. As 2012 goes into full swing and the economy and job market continues to struggle and maintain instability it is important for the success of your business and your employees that you keep employees motivated this year. 1. Act as a role model to employees, this will help inspire them and help employees realize their work passions. 2. Clearly define the organizational vision, mission and strategy as well as employee goals and objectives. This helps keep motivation specific and focused. 3. Delegate challenging and meaningful work. Minimizing busy work, and maximizing meaningful projects helps employees see their direct impact on the company. 4. Create individualized personal development plans with employees. This shows employer dedication and commitment to employees. 5. Monitor employees progress toward goals and reward good behavior. Rewards do not need to be big, a small denomination gift card can be just enough to reinforce the good behavior without costing the company too much.  
For more on how to motivate employees check out the Forbes.com article.

Customer loyalty is key in the market companies currently compete in. Not only is the economy still recovering from a major recession, but the pace of media messaging causes consumer fragmentation that has never been seen before. Maintaining customer loyalty can make or break companies and their bottom lines. Here are three ways companies often get customer loyalty and brand loyalty programs wrong:

The Citi Thank You Program is revolutionizing the use of rewards points. Imagine being able to share points with your friends to save up for a get-away weekend, or save up points with one friend for another friends' birthday present. Many people pool points for gift cards from retailers who partner with Citi to make their gift cards available through the Citi ThankYou program such as CVS/Pharmacy and Charming Shoppes stores. This allows consumers to use points for gift cards for themselves, or to use as gifts, giving the recipient of the gift a chance to choose their own gift. You could even pool points with friends and family to make a group contribution to a good cause. Well, now you can. The new Citi ThankYou Point Sharing App on Facebook allows groups of friends to pool points in order to redeem the value of the points for a bigger reward. This app is the beginning of a revolution in monetizing social media. This app is allowing users to move assets and share funds through Facebook, a social media platform. This app will soon promote itself, benefiting not just the Citi ThankYou Program, but its users and potential users as well. The more people use the Point Sharing App, the more people will post on Facebook about it, making the App and its use go viral across the platform. A rewards program that rewards itself, an incentive social media innovation.
For more information on the Citi ThankYou Points Sharing App check out the pymnts.com article.

Companies that prioritize employee well-being in 2025 are setting themselves apart by attracting and retaining top talent through innovative benefits like health and wellness programs. Offering a health and wellness program isn’t just a perk—it’s a strategic investment in your workforce that delivers measurable returns in productivity, employee satisfaction, and healthcare cost savings. With modern tools like the Engage2Reward™ Gift Card Ordering Platform, launching and maintaining an effective wellness initiative has never been easier.

As we enter the new year everyone is trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle, or shed those holiday pounds. Employees returning to work in the new year find their employer's health and wellness program to be beneficial, these programs work because they hold employees accountable for their behavior. Based on a new industry study 78% of employers offering wellness programs are using metrics, such as biometric testing or health risk assessments to make employees aware of their health status. This testing is meant as a tool to reward employees who improve their health, and penalize employees who consistently make bad health choices. Gift cards are a great way to reward employees for healthy choices. Retail outlets such as CVS/Pharmacy, which can help employees along their road to wellness, further encourage the desired behavior. These employee decisions affect the employers health care costs and so to ring in the new year employees are going to be increasingly held accountable for their health and wellness choices.  
To read more about trends in employee responsibility in health and wellness programs check out the Columbus Dispatch story.