Archive for January, 2012

6 Ways to Effectively Incentivize Safety

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

An effective safety rewards program can reduce injury and illness in an organization by 20-40%. Here are 6 ways to improve your safety reward program to ensure employees are being honest and using the safety reward program properly.

  1. Involve Everyone- Utilize employees at all levels to educate and enforce the safety program.
  2. Know Where You Are and Where You Are Going- Define the goals and objectives of the safety program and align those with the overall strategic goals and objectives of your company.
  3. Use a Combination of Recognition and Reward Strategies and Tools- Use a points program to allow employees to accrue points that can be used toward the reward of their choice. You can also recognize safe employees each month and reward them with a small spot reward such as a small denomination gift card that they can use as they see fit.
  4. Recognize Often, Publicly, and Genuinely- Genuine recognition can improve productivity and morale among employees, this may seem trivial but it is incredible important.
  5. Focus on Smaller Rewards for a Larger Number of People- Small rewards that are given readily are often more effective than a few large rewards like a travel package. Small, instant rewards such as gift cards, reinforce specific behavior at specific times.
  6. Understand that to Err is Human- Rather than punishing employees when accidents happen, make sure to recognize employees with excellent safety records.

 

For more information on how to maximize your safety program check out this Industry Week article.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a digital marketing professional . She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time at the beach as she can.

Can Smartphone Apps Help Maintain a Healthier Workplace?

Monday, January 30th, 2012

People rely on their smartphones to ring alarms, retrieve all facets of communications, navigate where they’re going, and so much more! But what about navigating one of the most difficult challenges of life…changing behavior to improve one’s health? There is ZERO debate over the attractiveness and popularity of Smartphone, tablet, and computer apps to help us in our everyday life; but can they help change our behaviors, or keep our attention on our goals on a long-term basis?

One of my first experiences with a healthy-app was more than 10 years ago, on my Palm Pilot with a program that tracked the foods I ate (down to the TBSP of milk in my latte). The program allowed me to input my daily exercise, and it would tally up my healthfulness for the day, week,
month and adjust my workout accordingly to stay on track. I have to say, I was pretty good for a few years about tracking those crunches and treadmill walks to counter whatever food I ate.Although the technology became obsolete, the habits of how I make my coffee and the calorie & fat counting sticks with me to this day.

Such apps could certainly be integrated into a workplace health and wellness program. Since tracking health and wellness milestones is an

important cornerstone of any program, apps can be set up with individuals’ health and wellness goals to help employees track, in real-
time, their own success…connecting them closer to their potential incentives or rewards, like the gift cards or premium reductions. With or without a health and wellness program, workplaces can promote such apps to keep healthy behaviors on track through the workday.

Check out this Quora discussion, to find some great ideas that you can pass on to your employees, coworkers,
and teams. By supporting these technologies; you could help create a healthier workplace, one app/one person at a time.

The author:

Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.

Remote Employees Becoming All the Rage

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Does your company work in the cloud? According to a new Elance Report the number of businesses seeking to hire online contractors doubled in 2011. 83% of the small businesses surveyed by Elance said they plan to hire up to half of their workforce as virtual in the next 12 months. GiftCard Partners was built on a virtual model and has been recognized for its ability to function in alternative ways, free of the constraints of a 9-5 office atmosphere. Here are Elance’s predictions for the 10 most popular online jobs going forward

  1. Software Developer
  2. Visual Designer
  3. User Experience Designer
  4. Digital Marketer
  5. Technical Writer
  6. Web Researcher
  7. Data Analyst
  8. Content Moderator
  9. Accountant
  10. Distributed Workforce Manager
Does your company use flexible online consultants or employees as part of their business strategy? How do you think it could benefit employee flexibility?
For more information on online employees and virtual business practices check out this Huffington Post article.
The author:

Rachel Merkin is a digital marketing professional . She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time at the beach as she can.

Show You Care AND Engage Your Program Participants with their Rewards

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

We read a lot about gift card “breakage”. That pre-paid industry term that translates to “gift cards that have been sold but never redeemed”. Breakage is a negative term for gift card holders and it’s really not such a positive one for retailers (surprisingly). Although breakage leads to higher profit margins; retailers and merchants are NOT gaining customers or building loyalty if those gift card holders never visit the store to become a real customer.

Let’s turn this principle into an opportunity for employers, loyalty programs, and Scrip gift card programs, to communicate to their participants and engage them with your program. You know who you have given gift cards to. So, communicate with those program participants, and use that information to engage them in your program. Although many will have redeemed their gift cards, show you care and send them a reminder to use their cards…that employee, loyalty points redeemer, or the Scrip gift card buyer will thank you for the reminder.

The author:

Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.

Social Media as a Sales Tool

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

For small businesses, using efficient, low-cost marketing is essential to growing a brand and growing the business. Social media is a great way for small businesses to spread their brand. According to a recent survey, 81% of small businesses use social media in their marketing plan, and that number is constantly growing.

Giving gift cards through social media outlets is a great way to handle customer service inquiries that are brought through social media. Gift cards are also a great way to reward and recognize loyal customers publicly. Social media provides inexpensive, effective ways to grow business and small businesses are catching on quickly. How is your small business using social media?

 

For more information on how your business can utilize social media check out the abc-13 article.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a digital marketing professional . She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time at the beach as she can.

Inspiring a Healthy Workforce in 2012

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

This health and wellness incentives article caught my attention since it’s such an important channel for our gift card sales, but what kept my attention was Ken Baker’s sense of humor and fun approach. Baker, CEO of NewAge Industries “is willing to do whatever he can to encourage his employees to live a healthier lifestyle — including making bribes and bets.” His approach is more sophisticated than that statement leads one to believe.

There are many cute snippets in this story, like, if Baker’s sales manager Mike Allard lost 40 pounds in 2 months, he’d produce and wear a t-shirt printed with “The Man” in honor of him…if he failed to lose the weight, Allard would wear a shirt decrying defeat. It worked! The crux; motivation and incentives work to build a healthier workforce. “The programs, while voluntary, can offer financial benefits, including lower insurance premiums, gift cards and employer contributions to health savings accounts.” states Phillyburbs.com in Inspiring employee healthy lifestyles with employer incentives. NewAge Industries is just the kind of company that is taking advantage of federal health care reform policies that offers qualified companies grant money and tax credits to help such companies launch health and wellness programs. “By 2014, companies will be able
to offer rewards of up to 30 percent of the total cost of an employee’s insurance coverage.”

Small to medium sized business owner and not yet conducting your own health and wellness program? Read on, this is a great overview with interesting context and facts:Inspiring employee healthy lifestyles with employer incentives.

The author:

Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.

Holiday Gift Cards- Use Them or You May Lose Them

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Total holiday spending on gift cards last year totaled $27.8 billion. And if history is bound to repeat itself, 25% of that gift card money will remain unspent by the end of 2012. Gift cards are a very popular holiday gift. They are convenient for the giver and stress free for the receiver. However, gift cards tend to be forgotten as the holiday season winds down, and recipients are less likely to spend the balances as the year goes on.

So what happens to unused gift card balances? The Securities and Exchange Commission allows retailers to count unused gift-card balances as income once they can reasonably say the card won’t be redeemed. Some states require unused gift cards to go to an unclaimed-funds accounts, or put a time limit on the validity of gift cards. Beyond the reasonable timeframe to claim unused balances, retailers can use the balances for general purposes.

So, as we move further into 2012, consider this a friendly reminder to spend your holiday gift card balances sooner rather than later. For more information check out the TheStreet.com.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a digital marketing professional . She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time at the beach as she can.

Getting Levels of Performance and Incentives Right

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

In a continually changing business economy, finding the right mix of salary, benefits and incentives can be a daunting challenge to get right. There are categories of folks to consider in order to continually attract and recruit top performers, motivate all employees, and retain them. Of course that mix of benefits must help the company achieve its goals, so differentiating levels of performance with varying levels of incentives can help your company not “over-reward”.

Gift cards have become the go-to option for incentives for many reasons, but their appeal is super-high when differentiating levels of performance since they can be given in so many denominations and the recipient can make their own decisions about what to purchase from the retailer or merchant.

Have you created differing levels of achievement with goal specific incentives to match? Check out Business Finance Magazine’s Compensation Challenges in 2012: Finding the Right Mix to learn more about differentiation and how to shuck and jive with change in your organization with regard to compensation and incentive budgets.

The author:

Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.

Using Health and Wellness as a Public Relations Tool

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

CITGO Petroleum is using local health and wellness programs as a fantastic opportunity to highlight their local efforts and community involvement in America. CITGO is giving Lehigh Valley Health Network $5,000 in small denomination gift cards as part of CITGO’s “Fueling Good” program. This program uses CITGO gift cards as small rewards for individuals involved in the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Health and Wellness program. The gift cards lower program costs for Lehigh Valley Health Network and allow them to continue their important work.

Gift cards are an extremely effective tool for use in health and wellness programs. They help reward participants for desired behavior, and don’t cost the program administrator that much. As is the case in this situation, gift cards are also a great way for program sponsors to get involved with health and wellness programs. CITGO was able to come in and help facilitate the positive program, while gaining favorable publicity.

 

To learn more about the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Health and Wellness program and the partnership with CITGO Petroleum click here.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a digital marketing professional . She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time at the beach as she can.

Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Benefits Package?

Monday, January 16th, 2012

SmartBlog on Leadership reports that only 1/3 of people feel that their company does a good job communicating their benefits to them…these companies are leaving a great company investment un-leveraged. The benefits and incentives, such as the voluntary health and wellness programs you offer, are a huge asset to your company not only when recruiting, but on an ongoing basis for retaining employees and maintaining employee loyalty.

“Loyal employees aren’t necessarily those with the most expensive benefits. Rather, they’re employees who understand how to get the most value from their benefits because they received clear, open communication year-round. Employees who think their benefits communication educates them effectively are more satisfied and loyal: 71% are satisfied with their benefits, and 70% feel a strong sense of loyalty.” states Jennifer Benz in Why you should invest in benefits communication.

Did you know that a strong benefits & incentive communication strategy could also reduce health care costs? Click here to start improving your benefits & incentive communications for 2012.

The author:

Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.