GiftCard Partners Blog

Companies work harder than ever to retain employees and it can be difficult for employers to gain a pulse on how their workforce perceives their jobs. Work-life balance and flexibility for family and personal needs is one of the most important factors in keeping employees happy and performing well. The company I work for, GiftCard Partners (GCP) has found a secret to keeping employees happy and fulfilled via the company make-up - an entirely
remote workplace, which fosters work-life balance and family-time. This month, GCP was named One of the "Best and Brightest Companies to Work For" by the National Association for Business Resources. This national competition identifies and honors organizations who display a commitment to excellence in human resource practices and employee enrichment. Click here to learn more about the competition and the criteria. Looking for insight about how employees perceive their workplace flexibility? Check out an article I wrote, which was published in Working Mother Magazine. It discusses my personal vision of how a working mom can succeed, how GCP’s vision aligns with the needs of our staff and how it works for our company,. What will your company do in 2014 to foster work-life balance for your workforce?

Not sure if you need to freshen your employee incentives program to increase productivity for 2014? With 61% of employed workers staying open to or looking for a new job
¹, employee satisfaction and fulfillment are keys to employee retention. The right employee incentives help hold on to your workers and they can also help increase productivity. The HR Writer offers their help in this area with their top 10 picks for “new perks to help maintain a high performance work environment.” Their number one pick includes handing out gift cards, at any time, and often – in gratitude for hard work. Perks shouldn't feel stale or expected; gift cards put the control in the hands of the recipient…the ultimate gift. And best of all, when companies purchase gift cards as employee incentives in bulk, they save. Check out more great ideas and perfect your perks for the new year.
Get the full hr-writer.com list here >> 1. Source:
Are You Monogamous? Exploring the new Job relationship Dynamic

In today's job market, and as millennials begin to take over a significant part of the workplace, companies across all industries and sizes have been experiencing a lack of employee loyalty. Turnover rates are rising because people are always looking for the next phase in their career, some are even looking for a new career altogether. Younger members of the workforce seem to be leading the trend, as today's college graduates will have 9.8 jobs and will work until they are 65. At first this doesn't seem outrageous, however,61% of employees indicated they were either open to another job or actively looking. That means that more than half of America's workforce is "looking," and that is staggering and a scary thought for employers. Employee loyalty seems to be at an all-time low. Check out the infographic below to learn more about the lack of employee loyalty, and come back and visit our blog next week to see how to help improve employee loyalty rates.

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.

Employee retention can be difficult in today's job market. There is no such thing as a "company man or woman" any longer, and employees tend to switch jobs for one reason or another more frequently than we have seen in the past. Making employee retention a priority for your organization helps maintain continuity in the workforce, which makes the whole organization more productive, happier, and more motivated to succeed within the organization, not outside of it. Check out 3 common mistakes that can drive top talent out, and how you can make employee retention a priority in your organization.