GiftCard Partners Blog

A new report from SHRM and Globoforce shows that employee turnover has usurped employee recognition as employers’ number one personnel concern. The job market currently favors employees, with more openings than workers, so employers have to get creative to keep their people happy and in their jobs. The survey also revealed that 68% of employers who run a value-based employee recognition program saw an improvement in employee retention. Here are three specific ways employee recognition reduces employee turnover and maintains (or increases!) employee happiness and satisfaction.

What are the best practices for employee wellness programs? How do you know you are administering your employee wellness program the “right” way? You might be giving financial incentives or started a lunchtime walking group, but how do you know your employee wellness program is working for both you and your employees?

Effective September 1^st, a new gift card cash back law will go into effect in the state of Texas.

Texans will be allowed to receive cash back on gift cards or gift certificates that have a balance of less than $2.50 starting September 1, 2015. In order to receive the remaining amount on the gift card, the transaction must take place in person. The law will not apply to prepaid calling cards, cards issued as part of a loyalty or rewards program, gift cards issued as a refund for returned merchandise (store credit), cards issued by a bank or an airline, and cards initially worth $5 that cannot have any value added to them. Republican State Representative and former business owner, Dwayne Bohac, was the law’s author and "...penned the bill to strike a balance between the rights of consumers and retailers."

Merchants are constantly trying to figure out how to create customer loyalty. In an age of digital price comparison where Amazon and Walmart usually win the day, businesses are trying to devise lasting strategies to ensure that they develop real customer loyalty and keep consumers coming back again and again.

GiftCard Partners, Inc. has been at the forefront of B2B gift cards since we started out more than a decade ago. Some might call it obsession, others might say it's our job, but we like to use one word in particular, passion. That passion led us to commission a B2B Gift Cards Study back in 2013. We teamed up with
Shapiro+Raj, a research company with more than 50 years of experience of conducting behavior and opinion research, to get a clear pulse on the B2B Gift Card Industry. As a company we are constantly learning and evolving in the marketplace as trends in technology, payments, wellness and much more continue to grow. In order to be the best partner for our clients, we needed a strong understanding of what was happening out on the front lines, with the consumer, not just B2B. Our 2014 B2B Gift Card Study did just that. We focused on two key areas: