GiftCard Partners Blog

According to a survey released this week by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), employers are using an increasing amount of Health and Wellness programs and benefits as both a mechanism to raise employee morale and manage rising health care costs in  a slowly recovering economy. Raising employee morale and keeping employees healthy through professional development, and health and wellness programs is a cost effective investment for employees. These benefits provide an ROI in raised retention rates, productivity, and job satisfaction, as well as lower employer health care costs. The survey revealed that employers offering development opportunities such as life-coaching jumped from 33% in 2008 to 45% in 2012, and providing small rewards, such as gift cards, for completing health and wellness programs increased from 23% in 2008 to 35% in 2012. These significant increases prove this is a growing trend and the value of these rewards continues to be successful.  
For more information on the SHRM survey and how employee benefit programs help manage employer costs check out this MarketWatch Release.

As the summer months approach, many employees seek flexibility and perks that align with the season. Companies can capitalize on this opportunity to boost morale, productivity, and loyalty by offering targeted benefits. Here are some key insights and recent statistics on what employees value during the summer and how to implement effective reward strategies.

Getting truthful opinions from employees about their job and the organization are a great way to ensure that your company stays on track, and treats its employees the right way. Keeping employees happy keeps them productive, and increasing productivity will often increase revenue. Here are 8 ways from 
bussiness2community.com to makes sure you get the truth from your employees, and reward them for maintaining an open dialog.

In today's competitive business landscape, employee recognition and rewards programs play a pivotal role in fostering a positive work environment and driving employee engagement. However, despite the prevalence of these programs, many employees remain unaware of their existence, leading to a significant gap between perception and execution.

There are 4 major criteria on which employee rewards should be evaluated. Addressing compensation, benefits, recognition and appreciation through employee rewards will help address a diverse range of HR topics. Using employee rewards to address these areas will help cut down on HR issues and keep employee productivity up. The investment in the rewards program will save your organization in the long term and help support strategic organizational goals. A comprehensive reward program should recognize both employee activity performance, and specific behaviors. Activity performance is goal oriented. Once an employee reaches a performance goal, they should receive some type of reward from the company, whether it is a gift card to their favorite restaurant, or an extra afternoon off. Behavior-based rewards are slightly more difficult to execute. When an employee exhibits a certain type of behavior desired by the organization, they should also be rewarded. This can often take the form of a "spot reward." These are smaller rewards given on the spot of desired behavior. This could be a small denomination gift card given to employees whenever appropriate.  Rewards should be given for both types of behavior, in all four categories to maintain consistency and a culture of appreciate within the organization. This will improve retention rates, productivity, and morale.  
For more information on creating a strategic rewards system visit this Entrepreneur.com article.