GiftCard Partners Blog

Employee recognition is a great tool to engage and motivate employees. Ensuring that employee recognition programs are effective is the key to ensuring that the ROI desired when making the investment is met. Here are three tips for making sure your employee recognition program is on track, especially as summer peaks and employees lose focus amid vacations and nice weather.

Employee retention is a hot topic in a job market where there’s no such thing as a “company man” anymore, and changing positions every 2 years has become the norm. For employers, employee retention should be a top priority for any HR staff because frankly, new employees are expensive. Between onboarding, training, manager’s time lost, break in team rhythm and potential costs of signing bonuses, relocation or travel and new employee socialization taking on new employees are expensive. Check out the infographic below for a full breakdown of why making employee retention a priority can help keep your organization in the black for the back half of the year. Employee rewards programs can often fall victim to budget cuts, or not get approved at all due to lack of executive buy-in. However, make smaller investments in employee rewards like gift cards or extra time off can actually provide ROI, not only in the saved cost of employee retention but also in increased productivity and further employee motivation across your entire workforce. Positioning employee rewards programs as promoting employee retention, and even the “lesser of two evils” can help any executive see the benefits of employee retention vs. employee on-boarding. Thanks to 
SHRM.org for this great infographic on the ROI of Employee Retention

Holiday season will be quickly approaching and as gift cards are still a growing part of most retailers businesses, they will be paying close attention to their gift card business and new gift card trends for 2014. By 2016 the gift card business is expected to grow by close to $20 billion. Of course this varies by industry, but it’s not all that unusual for a retailer to see as much as 50% of their fourth quarter business come from gift cards. There are several new gift card trends that retailers need to be aware of as they begin preparing for the holiday season.

As the Spring and Summer gifting season approaches, business and organization owners should take note: gift cards are set to be the go-to choice for 2024. Whether it's for Mother's Day, weddings, Father's Day, graduations, or Teacher Appreciation Day, gift cards offer a convenient and appreciated solution for recognizing important occasions.

In the gift card industry we know gift cards are awesome. Gift cards are flexible for recipients, easy for gift givers and ensure that the end recipient gets the gift they ultimately want. Now, the consumer public is showing that they agree with us. A recent survey by the Retail Gift Card Association shows that over two thirds of the U.S. population plans to buy gift cards through the spring and summer gift period. Here are a few other highlights from the RGCA survey.