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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

Saving Money With Wellness Programs

Workplace wellness programs are beneficial to both employers and employees, but how much are wellness programs really adding to the bottom line? Many skeptics continue to argue that saving money on wellness programs is as plausible as finding that flying pig. But ROI is a narrow metric that doesn’t always portray the full story of a wellness program's success, not to mention the ROI debate has focused mainly on one type of wellness program, lifestyle management (think diet and exercise). Since ROI only tells half the story, how do we know what's working for our workplace wellness programs? Back in September, we discussed that
64% of corporate wellness administrators were using VOI to measure their program. While VOI has faced some scrutiny of its own, it measures the intangible benefits of wellness, such as employee morale, engagement, and productivity, in addition to hard ROI. More companies realize that increasing these intangibles can improve their culture and in turn increase their bottom line.

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Using Points and Miles to Take Customer Engagement and Rewards Farther

Almost everyone accrues points and miles one way or another. Whether it’s a credit card, an airline program, specific retailers, or an app, customer engagement and rewards elevate the relationships customers form with their vendors of choice. Here are three ways points or miles can help take customer engagement and rewards farther:

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3 Tips to Engage Remote Employees

Technology has made working from home a more common occurrence than ever before. Gallup’s 2015 annual Work and Education poll showed that 37 percent of U.S. workers indicated they have worked from home, up almost 30 percent since 1995. So how are you going to engage so many remote employees this year? With an increased number of companies providing flexible schedules and the ability for many employees to work remotely at least part of the time, it is important to have a plan to motivate, inform engage remote employees to ensure success.

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Motivating a Multi-Generational Workforce

When typing the word “motivation” into Amazon’s bookstore you’ll discover there are over 100,000 books related to motivation: The Motivation Manifesto77 Ways to Get MotivatedDrive: The Surprise Truth About What Motivates Us; the list goes on and on.

But all that helpful advice must be taken with a grain of salt now that managers are motivating a multi-generational workforce. Three generations now make up today’s workforce.

Look around the office and you’ll see Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and who could forget all those Millennials. According to Pew Research Center’s 2015 study, U.S. Labor Force by Generation, Baby Boomers make up 44.6 million, Generation Xers make up 52.7 million, and Millennials make up 53.5 million of the U.S. labor force.

So why is this so important? Because each generation is motivated by different values, work styles, communication tactics, job responsibilities, and rewards.

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Reducing Employee Stress in the Workplace

Stress in the workplace is costing U.S. employers a whopping $300 billion annually. The workplace is one of the most stressful environments for your employees and the World Health Organization has declared the negative consequences from stress a world-wide epidemic. Stress can be difficult to manage because there is no 'one-size fits all' solution for stress management. Stress is highly personalized and can vary widely, even in identical situations. Stress in the workplace can lead to accidents, absenteeism, employee turnover, and increased medical costs.

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