GiftCard Partners Blog

It's the time of year for diets, gym membership renewals and for some, delusions of grandeur about a healthier year. The key is to turn that burst of enthusiasm into long-term healthy habits that help employees fall into routines that are here to stay for the long haul. Healthy employees miss less work, and are more productive, focused and hungrier to move up and improve.

According to a recent study from Quantum Workplace's Best Places to Work research panel, employee engagement is higher among those employees who participate in Fantasy Football with their coworkers.  With the Super Bowl coming up, it’s not too late to use this as an employee engagement opportunity! The analysis of the study revealed that employees participating in a fantasy football league with their coworkers had higher survey scores when it came to measuring teamwork and trust with their coworkers.  Workplaces that encourage employees playing and socializing together had higher results in overall workplace teamwork and considered their workplace a great work environment.  Employees at these 'best places to work' often feel a sense of “family” in the workplace.
Some key highlights from the study include: Of NFL fans surveyed, 75.3% were highly engaged employees compared to 63.8% of non-NFL fans.

The most effective employees are those that feel empowered to do their job and learn and grow into the best contributor they can, not those that feel caught up in a hierarchy or a corporate system. Although employee engagement and employee empowerment are important in creating a successful workforce,
according to a recent Inc.com article, emphasizing these two key components can actually be counter intuitive. Here are a few tips to creating employee empowerment and engagement without emphasizing it.

Our society, and our work standards, strive toward perfection. We sometimes feel we must be perfect, the perfect boss, the perfect employee, the perfect parent, etc. We may even think that making no mistakes is the best possible scenario and that a squeaky clean record at work, and in life, is what it's all about. Well let's think about challenging that notion. According to
Kate Hamill of the Freelancer's Union, weaknesses and mistakes can actually bring out some of our other strengths and can help harvest self-reflection that makes us, our staff, our managers and our organizations more successful. Your weaknesses are inextricably tied up in your strengths. Every cause has an effect and every action a reaction. If you invert your weaknesses, you will uncover your strengths. This is where employee imperfection is key. There is no way to invert perfection, nothing to learn from it. Employees can't grow from perfect, and frankly perfection is boring. There's no evolution or growth that comes from perfection and stagnation can be unfulfilling. When employee imperfection is embraced, it can lead to self-compassion. Employees who learn to give themselves a break, instead of getting frustrated, give themselves a chance to improve upon their discovered weaknesses and get a lot farther in their careers. Self-teaching and independent growth are valuable skills that breed great team members and hard workers. Weaknesses don't have to be negative, but rather should be looked at as the ultimate opportunity, not to achieve employee perfection, for employee growth potential.

We are just about halfway through the first month of 2015 and key indicators have the economy trending in a positive direction.  Consumer spending is rising, as are employee wages.  The #1 challenge that retailers will face in 2015 is consumer engagement:
How do you get your customers to stay loyal to your brand and spend their money in your store, instead of spending it elsewhere? In the past, consumer loyalty was based on four basic motivators:
convenience,
service,
pricing, and
brand identity.  While these motivators  still exist today, they have changed in rank and are different for every individual consumer.  Social media platforms and mobile apps also play a huge role in how your consumers identify with your brand.  Knowing where, when, and how your customers interact is crucial to keeping consumers engaged.  Brands can use these tools to listen to every one of their consumers and tailor offers to their specific needs and keep them engaged with your brand. Here are a few tips to help your consumer engagement in 2015: 1.
Reward More Than Just Purchases Loyalty programs were primarily based around purchase behavior.  The trend today is to reward a consumers
action.  Is your consumer checking-in to your store or event on Facebook?  Are they reviewing products or reading content regarding your brand?  Rewarding these actions can keep consumers engaged while providing them with meaningful incentives tailored specifically for them. 2.
Identify Your Most Passionate Customers Knowing your customer is an integral key to serving them better.  Some consumers become very passionate fans of your brand. Rewarding behaviors beyond customer spend will also give you access to valuable customer data.  These consumers should be rewarded for their insight into your brand as they often become your most vocal advocates and dedicated ambassadors. 3.
Stand For Something Sometimes a company needs to focus on more than just making the best product or having the best service, consumers are also looking for an emotional connection with your brand.  A perfect example: Nike and their swoosh logo.  Many consumers buy Nike sneakers because they want to be connected to everything that the swoosh represents - it's long history and connection to the world's most popular athletes.  Emotional connections are the main drivers of engagement, advocacy, and brand loyalty.
Read more about consumer engagement for 2015 along with some great industry examples here!