GiftCard Partners Blog

Are you a retailer or merchant looking for the latest information on FinCEN’s final rule? Wayne Chatham, CEO of Card Compliant will be educating retailers, restaurants, merchants, and other card issuers on potential compliance solutions and exemptions to FinCEN’s requirements via a 1 hour webinar on February 29, 2012 at 1pm CT. “We are especially interested in having retailers and restaurants participate in the webinar as this may be the first time many have faced compliance issues generated by FinCEN,” states Chuck Rouse, Card Compliant’s Chairman.  “Among other topics, we will address FinCEN, the FinCEN rule on prepaid access, the closed-loop exemption to the rule, the $2,000 closed-loop value requirement, and the $10,000 seller requirement.” Join in on this learning and sharing session and register for the webinar at no cost: 
Are Your Pre-paid, Closed Loop Gift Cards FinCEN Compliant?  http://www.cardcompliant.com/FinCENwebinar.aspx

Many retailers and merchants decide to go it alone when it comes to creating or updating their customer loyalty program. But those who have an existing loyalty program still need to ensure it remains fresh and offers the best of what customers are expecting. Truly, you should be thinking about going beyond basic loyalty, to gain loyal customer and brand advocates. Here are some simple steps to take to update your program…and keep those customers coming back.

GiftCard Partners recently published our Gift Card Usage results white paper, which is chock full of ways employers are using gift cards to engage, motivate and reward employees.  Employers use incentives to promote all kinds of desired behaviors, but amongst the most important are for complying with safety regulations and precautions. A safer workplace leads to lower company healthcare insurance premiums, lower employee coverage contributions, less sick days, fewer short-term and long-term disabi
lity work outages, and increased productivity. Here are a few of our best safety program success stories involving gift cards as incentives. Motivate yourself to motivate your employees with these success stories! -  An electronics and process controls company plays “Safety Bingo” every month and they have been accident free for 15 years. “I use them as prizes, sometimes we will have 2 games going at one time like 4 corners and a regular Bingo, so I will give a $50 gift card for the 4 corners. Or I will surprise an employee who I catch using all their PPE (personal protective equipment) correctly. -  An off-highway vehicle manufacturer uses gift cards “as incentives for Safety (no accident) and also for project team participation gifts”. -  An engineering and remediation company created a "Spot Bonus plan where managers can reward an employee on the spot for doing a job exceptionally or safely.” -  A community hospital gives gift card incentives to “staff who use creative ideas in initiating safety activities such as promoting better hand hygiene, and appropriate use of personal  protective equipment for patients in isolation.” These employers and programs buy their gift cards in bulk to save money on their incentives. Want to read more Safety Blogs from GCP?
Click here for more on safety programs and safety incentives.

Using positive reinforcement to promote and reward for workplace safety guideline adherence is not a new concept. But what you choose to reward with can impact your program’s long term success and ROI. Do your employees really want more swag or tchotchkes? Really…not very likely. But, if employees are offered a choice of gift cards, combined with the choice of what they purchase with those gift cards puts the power of choice in their hands. This power of choice stays in the employee’s memory, and it’s tied in their mind to their employer’s generosity. It’s not just about what employees want. When employers offer “most wanted incentives” like gift  cards, their likelihood of realizing ROI in the short and long term increases. Offering flexible and coveted rewards offers workplace safety programs repeated adherence to safety precautions and sends the message that the employer cares as much about the employee as the ROI. Here are a few examples of our typical gift card customers’ workplace safety incentive programs: -          Measured accident reduction -          Safety awareness contributions -          Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) programs -          Increased productivity rewards -          Health and wellness programs, tailored to specific job functions -          Driver safety and incident reduction -          Training milestones
Check out America’s Most Wanted Gift Card Incentive Choices

The American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) has designated the week of March 11-17th, 2012 as THE week to recognize HR professionals in hospitals and non-hospital organizations across the US. These professionals deal with difficult issues day in and day out, and they are the backbone of the healthcare workforce. If you are an HR professional in the healthcare industry, lead the way and reward your colleagues with the gift they can use, like
CVS and CVS Select^TM gift cards. It’s the employee gift that goes a long way to help with everyday family healthcare costs.
Learn more about Healthcare HR Week!