GiftCard Partners Blog

eGift Cards, or digital gift cards, are a fast and convenient gift option for employee and corporate gifts or as a reward option for your incentive programs. eGift gift cards offer the option to instantly send gift cards directly to a recipient's  inbox or via text message. They are also easy to redeem with many merchants allowing them to be used in-store or online.

Most companies are now in the planning season for 2023, but uncertainty about the economy, continued labor shortages and stubborn inflation are posing unique challenges to planning and forecasting budgets. Given these challenges, initiatives like employee engagement may not seem like an executive-level priority, but the risks of continued high turnover, paired with high onboarding costs for new employees are far greater than the cost of a coordinated employee engagement program that helps retain key members of your team. 

Open enrollment is defined as the annual period in which employees can make changes to their benefits for themselves and their dependents. For many companies, this period occurs at the end of the calendar year for the following year. Despite the fact that this enrollment period is a mechanism by which employees can take advantage (or fuller advantage) of employer subsidized benefits, HR teams still face challenges in getting employees to participate in the open enrollment period and often turn to enrollment incentives to encourage employees to participate, and do so on time.

Maintaining an engaged workforce is top of mind for many employers in today’s competitive job market. Implementing effective employee reward and incentive programs with gift cards is a flexible, easy way to keep employees happy and provide positive reinforcement that fits any budget. When selecting the gift cards to use in your program you can select either prepaid cards or branded gift cards. Prepaid cards are retailer agnostic and come primarily from VISA^® and Mastercard^® while branded gift cards are usable at one specific retailer. Both products offer flexibility, easy delivery and convenience for program administrators and program participants alike.

As Americans get used to the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, what is to become of the way we work? We are over 2 years into a world of remote, hybrid and flexible work, and workforce trends indicate that this is the way work will be for the foreseeable future. Workforces of all kinds have proven that they can do their jobs remotely, that productivity doesn’t suffer, and that employee experience improves. As employees are challenged with communicating, and staying motivated working remotely, employers need to adapt employee engagement programs to address these new conditions.

Employee engagement programs are more important now than ever in order to boost morale, facilitate open communication, and maintain motivation within your newly remote organization.

Based on our experience of being a remote organization for almost 20 years, we’ve identified several successful strategies to implement as you adapt your employee engagement program for a remote workforce.