GiftCard Partners Blog

Gift cards have become a versatile and appreciated choice for holiday gifting in the workplace. They provide a hassle-free way to say thank you and can cater to diverse preferences. Here are five innovative ways to use gift cards in your workplace during the holidays, benefiting employees, customers, co-workers, and even your company's philanthropic efforts.

Delivering employee incentives can only be effective if the incentives available are satisfying to employees. Here are a few popular employee incentives according to a new
Wicke's For Business article.
Travel Packages: Sending employees on a trip for a job well done on a big project, or as part of a bonus is becoming an increasingly popular option for employers. It creates a memorable experience for employees and carries a fixed cost for employers.
Gift Cards: Gift cards to popular retailers such as
CVS/Pharmacy,
Boston Market and
Crutchfield carry the same flexibility of cash but have better trophy value. Employees are more likely to use the gift card on a special occasion, rather than cash bonuses that often get rolled in to paying bills and household costs.
Social Rewards: Giving public praise and socializing employee rewards is a great way to reinforce desired behavior. Public praise does not only reward one employee for a job well done, but it shoes other employees what management is looking for in employee performance.  

The
Retail Gift Card Association recently released a study of 1,000 consumer opinions surrounding gift cards, how they are used, how they are gifted to others, and how consumers view them overall. While consumers are still practical about how they spend the balance, with only 30.6% indicating they would use the balance for a "slurge" purchase, consumers use gift cards and covet receiving them. Here are some of the most compelling facts from the
RGCA survey.

A great company can’t be great without great talent. Take a brand new shiny sports car for comparison. Without key factors like high performance or hard workers and a sleek profile or thoughtful leaders; your shiny sports car or successful business isn't getting enough mileage. So how do you ensure that your ‘key factors’ or top talent won’t leave your company? Well it always mean you have to add another ZERO to the end of their paycheck. Most employees are simply looking for a little recognition, appreciation, challenge or leadership from their employers.
Forbes interviewed a number of employees and got some pretty interesting feedback:

Mobile recognition, Social, Interactive, Green…there are many key initiatives rolled up in Roy Saunderson’s Top 10 Trends for Employee Recognition in 2013, but he shows us that it’s not just important to identify the trends, but to also put them in context. It’s not surprising to see gift cards rank in top recognition trends for the new year, but Roy shares his insights around making recognition and incentives meaningful for the employee.
“6. Give me the cards I want." Employees will no longer be satisfied with mainstay gift cards from big box stores and established suppliers. Employees will demand to receive customized cards from meaningful places they prefer and not just what the employer deems everyone should get.” This bodes well for GCP’s strategy of bringing the most wanted gift card brands to employers for recognition rewards and incentives. It forces employers to not just toss a cash equivalent gift card at an employee, but to be thoughtful about the gift. Give gift cards to great restaurants so your employees take their families to dinner, pharmacy gift cards so families can be proactive with healthful and personal care purchases, retail apparel gift cards…often a real treat.
Check out the rest of Incentive’s Top 10 Trends for Employee Recognition in 2013