GiftCard Partners Blog

A new report from SHRM and Globoforce shows that employee turnover has usurped employee recognition as employers’ number one personnel concern. The job market currently favors employees, with more openings than workers, so employers have to get creative to keep their people happy and in their jobs. The survey also revealed that 68% of employers who run a value-based employee recognition program saw an improvement in employee retention. Here are three specific ways employee recognition reduces employee turnover and maintains (or increases!) employee happiness and satisfaction.

 When it comes to Papa John’s ingredients, their well-known slogan has said it all, “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John’s”. Now, the CEO and founder, John Schnatter, is looking to give that mantra a fresh new meaning as the company plans to launch a new campaign to further improve the quality of their ingredients by removing even more artificial ingredients from their pizza. The first step to this commitment is to give customers an illustration of which unwanted ingredients are currently being used, which are not used, and what will be removed by 2016. Papa John’s created a new web page in order to keep customers updated. The web page also compares Papa John’s ingredient scorecard with two industry leaders in removing artificial ingredients, Chipotle and Panera. By the end of the year, Papa John’s ingredients are expected to be on par with Chipotle, which has one of the cleanest labels. The company also plans on issuing a statement about not using artificial colors by the same deadline.
Papa John’s is no stranger to using quality, real ingredients in their pizza. Back in 1996, Schnatter specified to a sausage and beef plant that he did not want artificial ingredients or unsavory animal parts in his product. Though told the price of these quality ingredients were more, Schnatter said he was unwilling to compromise.

What are the best practices for employee wellness programs? How do you know you are administering your employee wellness program the “right” way? You might be giving financial incentives or started a lunchtime walking group, but how do you know your employee wellness program is working for both you and your employees?

Effective September 1^st, a new gift card cash back law will go into effect in the state of Texas.

Texans will be allowed to receive cash back on gift cards or gift certificates that have a balance of less than $2.50 starting September 1, 2015. In order to receive the remaining amount on the gift card, the transaction must take place in person. The law will not apply to prepaid calling cards, cards issued as part of a loyalty or rewards program, gift cards issued as a refund for returned merchandise (store credit), cards issued by a bank or an airline, and cards initially worth $5 that cannot have any value added to them. Republican State Representative and former business owner, Dwayne Bohac, was the law’s author and "...penned the bill to strike a balance between the rights of consumers and retailers."

Merchants are constantly trying to figure out how to create customer loyalty. In an age of digital price comparison where Amazon and Walmart usually win the day, businesses are trying to devise lasting strategies to ensure that they develop real customer loyalty and keep consumers coming back again and again.