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Deborah Merkin

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Deborah Merkin, CEO and Founder of GiftCard Partners™, Inc. and Engage2Reward™ LLC, brings two decades of experience to the forefront of the gift card industry. Armed with an MBA from Babson College and a BS from University of Massachusetts Amherst, Deborah's career spans technology startups and corporate giants, including AT&T Capital and Staples. A pioneer in establishing and shaping lucrative new distribution channels, Deborah’s expertise grew through consultancy roles with Linens’N Things and CVS®. This journey marked her entrance into the gift card and incentives industry and ultimately laid the foundation for the conception of GiftCard Partners. A Certified Women Owned Business, GiftCard Partners was founded in 2005 and has received the prestigious Best and Brightest Company to Work For® Award for 10 years nationally. With a focus on assertiveness and balanced steadiness, Deborah continues to drive innovation and growth in the dynamic world of gift cards. Beyond her professional success, Deborah is deeply involved in community service, recently joining the board of JBBBS.org and previously serving on the board of JFSMW.org for 5 years.
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Recent Posts

Training for a Successful Safety Program

It’s not always easy to instill the message of safety within your workforce. So nip the issue in the bud from the very beginning: in the training process. Every employee who is required to follow the guidelines put forth in a safety program should go through this type of training. And to get the most out of this training
Safety Daily Advisor
put together,
50 Tips For More Effective Safety Training.
Here are a few do’s and don’ts from the report.
DO
give handouts,
DON’T
make them as hard to decipher as a 10 year olds art project.
Couple of interesting facts to consider, 90% of what people are told is forgotten within 24 hours and people process written information two times faster than the spoken word. Your handouts should reinforce your basic message, keep the attention of the reader, be easy to follow, and provide a reference point to readers in the future.
DO
consider using a little humor to reiterate your message,

but

DON’T
force it by incorporating
100 Funny Jokes to Tell Your Employees
book.
A little humor gives you the chance to wake up an audience that might be fading at the sight of too many safety statistics and OSHA guidelines. Experts say that using humor can relax an audience, making them more willing to participate. Which takes us to our next
DO.
DO
encourage interactive training,
DON’T
forget the incentives.
Encourage your workforce to get invested in their training program by getting creative with incentives. Create a short quiz at the end of each section, break the group into teams and play a trivial game about rules and statistics or have workers give safety demonstrations themselves. Then reward winners with small denomination gift cards to places like
CVS/pharmacy
or
AutoZone
.
Check out more great tips, news and advice for getting the most out of your company’s workplace safety program from
Safety Daily Advisors
.

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Retain Top Talent in Your Organization

As lifetime employment at a single company becomes a thing of the past, employers have to work more diligently to maintain employee loyalty and retain top talent. Here are 4 key ways to maintain your top talent in 2013.
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Top 7 Employee Recognition Trends to Watch in 2026

Employee expectations around recognition are evolving fast, into 2026 and beyond. Generic gestures no longer cut it; modern employees want meaningful, timely, and personalized appreciation. 

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Decrease Employee Stress to Increase Your Bottom Line

Stress. We all deal with it every day, constantly finding better ways to deal with it, cope with it, release it, but we rarely think of the long term effects it has on our bodies, or our careers. However, for small business owners employee stress is a top concern. According to a national survey done by Humana Inc., 93% of small business owners consider employees’ physical and mental health as contributors to their bottom line. Managing employee stress and the negative effects is has on health is crucial for small business owners. The effects of stress can decrease employee productivity, increase absenteeism, and hurt a company's culture and business results. According to the Humana survey only 22% of the small business owners surveyed offer Health and Wellness programs, while 85% of those surveyed believe that these programs are worth the investment. Implementing Health and Wellness programs can help manage employee stress, increase productivity, and decrease absenteeism. Offering small incentives for employees who reach various health and wellness goals, such as a goal weight, lowering blood pressure or mitigating risks of other conditions that can become serious and costly, can provide that supportive 
pat on the back that employees need to lose those few extra pounds, or take an active role in managing their stress. Incentives can be as inexpensive as a small denomination gift card to a health-promoting retailer such as 
CVS/Pharmacy or 
GNC. An small investment like this can be just enough to show employees that the organization they work for supports and commends them for their hard work. Health and Wellness programs are a win-win investment for organizations, improving their workforce while helping to control long term health care costs.

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Why Staffing Strain Is Harming Customer Experience & What Leaders Can Do

In a tight labor market, many organizations are asking the same question: Why does customer experience lag even when employees care deeply about customers? According to Gallup’s latest research, there’s a growing mismatch between employee accountability and organizational capacity — and staffing is at the heart of it.

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A better way to buy gift cards in bulk

Register today for the Engage2Reward™ Gift Card Ordering Platform and get access to 400+ popular gift card brands, personalized customer service, and simple and secure ordering.

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