GiftCard Partners Blog

Gamification is rapidly growing as a tool for employee motivation. According to a new report from research firm 
Markets and Markets, the gamification industry will be worth $5.5 billion by 2018, up from $421 million this year. With this significant increase, if your company isn't already gamifying employee motivation it’s time to start. The incredible predicted growth of the industry over the next 5 years is an indication that gamification is working and that both employer and employee adoption rates are on the rise. Driving employees to desired behavior and self-motivation through a social outlet is a double reward. Humans are social beings, so whether it’s productive to our work or not we seek out social opportunities at work. By implementing gamification employees get motivated to desired behaviors by providing rewards, and satiate their need for a social experience through an organizationally sponsored channel. The social outlet and small rewards like gift cards to retailers like 
Speedway and 
Boston Market, combined with the increased productivity motivated employees bring, creates a win/win for the whole organization. This double positive for employers and employees builds harmonious relationships that will maintain employee motivation long after the game is over.

Innovation is an intriguing idea for employees; it keeps them motivated to keep up with the organizational environment and innovation helps drive learning and professional development from within. Creating and maintaining a culture of innovation at your organization contributes to higher employee retention rates. Innovation tends to encourage employees to maintain their positions because they are constantly engaged in their organizations decision-making and direction, while also being given more autonomy to contribute to the future. Here are a few tips to ensure your organization and its employees remain innovative. 1. 
Create a structure for unstructured time: Ensure employees have the time they need to innovate individually, whether they are innovating internal processes or the product your company sells. Having a designated “innovation hour” gets employees creative juices flowing, allowing for more out-of-the-box thinking. “Innovation hours” also give employees a productive, company sponsored, outlet for self-motivation and pet projects. This type of free thinking often raises productivity within the workplace during structured work time, and will also prevent employees from looking outside of work for a distraction or another position. 2. 
Measure what is meaningful: Finding a way to quantify the products of employee driven innovation is key to finding ROI for organizational management. The measurement indicators could be an increased employee retention rate since employer structured innovation was implemented, or your organization is innovating to the point where you can match actual revenue dollars to employee innovation. However you measure the impact of innovation, collecting data and finding what is meaningful for your specific company’s circumstance is important in finding the organizational ROI. 3. 
Give "worthless" rewards: Find non-monetary rewards like poker chips or Monopoly pieces to give employees in any instance of innovation. These rewards can be used as a recognition tool from the boss for solving a problem- either internallyor externally. These rewards can also be used as a “random act of kindness” among peers for doing someone a favor or helping out on a particular project. However the rewards are used, they raise company morale by getting people around the organization talking to each other, interacting, and forming relationships. This type of morale-building will also lead to higher retention rates by making the workplace a fun, vibrant place to work together and collaborate to further common goals. Creating innovation creates a culture of connection and betterment of the organization and its individual employees. This culture often leads to higher employee retention with employees sticking around to continue to build that culture and reach those common goals. 
How do you create a culture of innovation within your organization? For more information check out this article from Fast Company.

Yo-Fi Wellness is churning some serious waves in the sea of corporate wellness incentives! As employer healthcare costs continue to rise; innovative wellness incentives continue to offer companies of all sizes the latest in corporate wellness incentives and wellness gifts for employees. This online platform brings healthy living initiatives to employees through inspiring and instructive video programs, on any device. Offering expert yoga, fitness, nutrition and meditation video content, Yo-Fi Wellness empowers employees to live a healthier lifestyle, reducing absenteeism in the workplace and improving employee productivity. The Yo-Fi Wellness digital platform is the perfect solution to providing corporate gifts, incentives and rewards via gift cards and e-Certs.

When your team is navigating transition—whether it’s organizational change, shifting priorities, or broader economic uncertainty—the way you recognize and support people matters more than ever.

GiftCard Partners and CVS/pharmacy recently co-sponsored a webinar called Healthcare Reform’s Impact on Wellness - How to Incentivize Employees to Engage in Healthy Behavior. Speakers included Jonathan Edelheit, Editor in Chief of Benefits Live Magazine, Vanessa Cullerton, Senior Manager of Employee Wellness for the Hillshire Brands Company, Stacey Nelson, Manager of Health and Welfare for Sprint; and our own Edward Shulkin, President of GiftCard Partners.