GiftCard Partners Blog

At GCP, we typically blog about how gift cards are being used to incent and motivate employees, customers, or partners, as well as trends around incentives. However, this article by Roy Saunderson of the
Recognition Management Institute  has motivated me to highlight the importance of not just recognizing and rewarding your employees, but… inspiring them. “How do we get them to commit their hearts and spirits to the mission of the company?” Roy asks…we love his answers and we hope they inspire you to truly influence the workplace in a meaningful way all year long. Click here to read:
Incentive Magazine’s, 10 Ways to Inspire Employees at Year End

As we enter the new year everyone is trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle, or shed those holiday pounds. Employees returning to work in the new year find their employer's health and wellness program to be beneficial, these programs work because they hold employees accountable for their behavior. Based on a new industry study 78% of employers offering wellness programs are using metrics, such as biometric testing or health risk assessments to make employees aware of their health status. This testing is meant as a tool to reward employees who improve their health, and penalize employees who consistently make bad health choices. Gift cards are a great way to reward employees for healthy choices. Retail outlets such as CVS/Pharmacy, which can help employees along their road to wellness, further encourage the desired behavior. These employee decisions affect the employers health care costs and so to ring in the new year employees are going to be increasingly held accountable for their health and wellness choices.  
To read more about trends in employee responsibility in health and wellness programs check out the Columbus Dispatch story.

Gift cards continue to be the gift of choice for companies giving gifts to customers, employees, partners, and volunteers. For 5-years running, gift cards remain on the most wanted list, this year at a rate of 57.7%, says the National Retail Association (NRF). GiftCard Partners is proud to see that
Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), the national organization for closed loop gift card retailers, who are

GCP serves many kinds of incentive and gift card programs, including corporate health & wellness programs, workplace safety programs, employee motivation and recognition, benefits and sales incentives, and customer loyalty and rewards programs. This white paper is the result of a comprehensive survey and includes gift card usage success stories offered by HR professionals, sales managers, healthcare administrators, non-profit organization managers, and more. You will find this report full of innovative ways to incent and reward your employees, partners, customers, and volunteers to incentivize and build loyalty.
Click here to visit GCP’s 2011 Gift Card Usage Whitepaper page to download

According to a new Gallup poll 71% of employees indicated they do not feel engaged, or feel actively disengaged at their jobs.  Employees that do not feel engaged are often far less productive than employees who feel engaged and connected to their position within their company. This staggering statistic is indicative of employers needing to make more of an effort to engage their employees at work, and recognizing their hard work. Tom Agnew author of "The Enemy of Engagement: Put an End to Workplace Frustration--and Get the Most from Your Employees" identifies three causes of disengaged employees: poor communication about goals and performance, resource constraints that make it more difficult for employees to do their jobs, and employees who feel that they do not have the authority to do their jobs effectively. In order to engage employees it is important to keep open communication lines, and ensure that employees know when they are doing their jobs well. Giving small spot rewards such as a small denomination gift card to useful retail outlets such as CVS/pharmacy lets employees know that an employer is noticing their work, and empowering them to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Do you think your employees feel engaged? How do you think you can engage your employees better?
For more information on employees engagement from Business Finance magazine click here.