GiftCard Partners Blog

The UK Gift Card & Voucher Association recently announced that the sales of vouchers and gift cards increased by 9% last quarter (Q2-12), while the gift card/voucher industry as a whole has grown 5%.
GiftCard Partners believes so deeply in the corporate use of gift cards as employee incentives, like health  and wellness program incentives and sales incentives, employee rewards, and customer loyalty tools, that a growing percentage of our staff is focused on selling gift cards in bulk to the corporate channel. GiftCard Partners recently launched
maxchoice international vouchers, which offer great options to reward employees with vouchers that are redeemable at more than 1,000 top retailers throughout Europe and leisure and service providers throughout Europe, Asia and Australia. maxchoice brings you options that allow your corporate incentive program the flexibility of choice:

The infographic below covers the importance of keeping employees happy and engaged. It certainly pays off for your organization. Happy, engaged employees boost productivity, revenue, and retention rates. Implementing employee engagement and reward programs are a great way to keep your workforce happy. Whether it is a health and wellness program rewarding employees for leading a healthy lifestyle, a spot rewards program providing small rewards such as gift cards to employees for a job well done, or putting in extra hours on a big team project. Any way you choose to reward and engage your employees will lead to a happy workplace, which leads to a measurable ROI for your organization.

Engaging your workforce can be a challenge in any situation, but when your workforce is completely remote it can be even more difficult to connect...or so you would think. Based on a 360 degree feedback study done at an investment firm, remote workers are more engaged in their jobs, and here's why:

Employees who feel engaged and appreciated at work are proven to be more productive, more satisfied in their jobs, and tend to stay in their positions longer. So creating a culture of engagement is key to maintaining your organizations greatest competitive edge: your people. Here are 3 quick rules to creating a culture of engagement in your organization.
The Rule of Common Purpose: Iterating and reiterating company goals and beliefs is key to fostering a common purpose among employees. If everyone feels the sense of common purpose, camaraderie and teamwork will grow. Employees will be motivated to work together to reach the common goals of the organization.
The Rule of Selective Membership: Create an atmosphere where membership is a privilege. Unique environments and ensuring employees feel supported and appreciated by the organization will help to attract top talent and retain it for longer stretches. Providing unique perks such as extra time off or gift cards for a job well done, or in-office perks such as free food, or a lounge space can also help attract and retain top employees. Creating an exclusive environment where employees feel "special" as a part of it can promote engagement.
The Rule of Omission: Since people always remember what you don't do, rather than what you do do, make sure that if you want to engage employees and show your appreciation for them, don't deceive or exploit them in any situation. Creating internal practices that would hold up in an external business context will motivate employees to perpetuate that upstanding way of doing business. What core beliefs does your organization promote?
For more information on how to foster an environment of engagement check out this article from Fast Company.

Many organizations take a "grocery shopping" approach to finding talent. They continuously look to cultivate new resources to fuel growth. This approach can and does work, but it may not be the most cost-effective or growth-effective strategy. Challenging both your organization's management, and its employees to dig deeper into their capabilities and potential, given the intelligence of the current human resource pool, and the learning and development provided by the organization, can save your organization thousands of dollars in salary costs. Setting goals to reach a higher potential, whether it is that of a smaller team, or across the organization, will motivate employees to work towards internal growth. A fraction of the potential salary money saved can be used to provide rewards for the group that reached their goal. They can be rewarded with intangibles, such as an extra day off, or they can be rewarded with a small gift, such as a
Cheesecake Factory gift card, so they can enjoy a nice meal with the family, courtesy of their employer. Leading with an internal growth strategy, rather than raising your organization's head count can be a great learning experience for your employees, and a great money saver for your organization. That kind of smart leadership can help you maximize the investment in your employees, while making sure they feel their worth and importance to the organization.
For more information on leading smart, and using internal growth tactics check out this article in Harvard Business Journal.