Using Holiday Employee Recognition to Motivate for the New Year
All employers use the upcoming holiday season as an opportunity to recognize their employees. Whether it is a holiday party, bonuses, or rewards such as gift cards, holidays are the time to say "thank you" to your employees. But more and more companies are using the recovering economic climate as a tool to recognize employees and energize them for the year ahead. Instead of just saying "thank you" retroactively employers are now using holiday recognition to renew employee commitment and drive, and catapult the momentum into the year ahead. Boosting employee morale at the end of the year is a way to boost morale and confidence in the year ahead. "If business is moderate or down, there's an attitude that develops and you are not in a good place when you look toward the next 12 months." says Robert Preziosi, professor and chair of management at Nova Southern University. Confident employees who feel valued reduce fear and increase productivity. Does your company try to close with a boost in revenue? Do you make an effort to recognize employees to increase confidence and productivity? Let us know what your company is doing for its employees this holiday season.
For more about holiday rewards as motivation for the new year click here.
You may not have to break the bank to reward your employees this year
A new MarketWatch survey release this week indicates that employees don't need much to feel rewarded during this holiday season.
The Home Depot’s Gift Card Strategy Advice
It’s holiday corporate gift giving season and gift card promotion time, but some retailers aren’t losing track of their long term goals and strategies. Forbes.com presents The Home Depot’s advice to retailers and merchants on developing their gift card strategy, including their placement in B2B programs like corporate incentive programs, the importance of personalization, promoting eGift Cards, mobile and social channels, and more. GiftCard Partners is always proud to bring you examples of who is doing B2B gift cards right! Read on to discover
The Home Depot’s best in breed advice for gift card strategies. Source: Forbes.com MarketShare
"Careful" "Controlled" Holiday Spending to Come
Even though it is not yet Halloween financial analysts and retail experts are already working to predict holiday spending. With an unstable economy and uncertain times ahead most shoppers will be keeping tight budgets, and not making extravagant purchases. According to a recent Accenture survey "One quarter of shoppers (24 percent) plan to have a 'thrifty' holiday season and one in five (18 percent) admit that they will be 'focused on necessities', just 6 percent admit to planning 'extravagant' or 'unrestrained' holiday spending." In this type of market, where consumers are being conservative with their holiday budgets gift givers want to ensure that they give "targeted" gifts. These are gifts where the givers' dollar is stretched and the giver is sure the receiver is going to use and enjoy the gift. Gift cards are great examples of "targeted" gifts, they are meaningful, and guaranteed to be enjoyed. Allowing a friend or employee to enjoy dinner with their family, or to splurge on a new outfit is a win/win; a low risk purchase for the giver and a high reward for the receiver. With 43% of survey respondents claiming that they have less income than last year, and historic economic swings, it is going to be a year of low risk gift purchases. Remember the value of gift cards as you make your holiday purchases this year, whether it be for your friends, or employees.
For more information on the recent Accenture survey click here.
Health and Wellness Employer Gift Card Successes
You spoke and we listened. We’re gathering and publishing results of our 2011 Gift Card Usage Survey and we’ll be including success stories in each eNews. Health and Wellness Incentives Wellness incentives have become good business. They reduce health care costs for employers and increase employee productivity. To enhance participation, rewards are given to employees for filling out HRA’s (Health Risk Assessments). HRA’s are used to assess the lifestyle risk behaviors of individuals as part of the annual Periodic Health Assessment, work-site wellness program, or other community health activities. Health and Wellness Programs are measurable; rewards can be given via a points system or for participating in healthy activities like joining a gym, or for achieving healthful milestones like losing weight, decreasing blood pressure or taking daily walks during breaks. Here are a few ways that our survey respondents are using gift cards to engage, motivate and reward:
