GiftCard Partners Blog

Employee incentives have become a common way for employers to invest in their employees and raise job satisfaction and retention rates within their organization. In a world where job security is scarce, and employees are always looking to climb to the next opportunity, employee incentives have become a great way for employers to give back to their workforce. The key to success for incentive programs is to ensure that the employee rewards are effective in raising employee loyalty and job satisfaction. Below are 3 employee rewards that are common in employee incentive programs, but not always the most successful, and some ways to improve these particular incentives to drive desired outcomes.

Looking to reward employees and show them you care? Showing organizational support with employee rewards for a job well done can be an easy, low-cost way to invest in your workforce. Here are 3 easy ways to incorporate employee rewards into your employee loyalty and recognition strategy.
Take your team out: Using simple gestures like a team lunch out, or a group happy hour after work, or even an activity like a team bowling night, is a great way to reward employees. Getting your team together outside of the office is a great way to bring people together, and form interpersonal relationships while rewarding your employees for the hard work they do. Investing in hard work, and rewarding employees is a great way to keep employees satisfied at work, and raise productivity and retention rates.
Time off: Reward employees with extra time off, or flexible work hours for hard work, or a job well done on a specific project; it’s another low-cost reward strategy that resonates with employees. Time is valuable to employees, especially personal time. Giving employees extra personal time, as a reward is a great strategy to perpetuate desired behavior, and show other employees that going above and beyond will be noticed and rewarded by management.

It’s a social world out there!  And loyalty programs are firmly embracing the concept of social loyalty, an extension of loyalty programs that supports customers’ actions on social channels. As a marketing and incentive engagement company, are you including a social loyalty component in your loyalty program offerings?

A positive customer experience is something that every company strives for on a daily basis; experience is the main driver for loyalty. Happy customers are loyal customers and loyal customers are brand advocates. Oracle released a global survey of 1,300 senior-level executives from 18 countries that yielded new insights on succeeding in the ‘customer service era.’ Key findings from the survey included:

In the age of social media, a constant news cycle and a constantly connected consumer base, we all know how important it is to keep customers happy. Happy customers can mean free marketing and public relations in the form of brand evangelization through social media. Unhappy customers can have the opposite effect, casting a negative shadow on your organization's brand through social media or consumer reports. Customers are happy when they have positive interactions with your brand, and when the people who represent your brand, your employees, have a positive effect on the customers. When your employees become true ambassadors and do all they can to positively represent your band to consumers your employees are happier, your customers are happier, and your revenue will grow and gain potential. The importance of happy employees directly correlates to the happiness of your consumers and the strength of therelationship your consumers develop with your brand. Using employee rewards and recognition is a great way to ensure employees represent your brand appropriately, and develop positive consumer relationships. All levels of rewards can fit into an employee rewards program. From a small denomination gift card to a retailer like Boston Market, or Burlington Coat Factory for a well handled consumer interaction, to a weekend getaway for the employee with the highest promoter score, or lifetime value assessment. Employee rewards programs can be tailored to any budget, but their value proposition will always be felt in a big way. Happy employees, happy consumers, and measurably increased revenue.
For more information on using employee rewards to ensure happy consumers check out this article from xceleration.com