GiftCard Partners Blog

Employee appreciation is a great tool when used properly. When not used properly employee appreciation efforts can be ineffective and can cost an organization money with no ROI. Ensure your employee appreciation program works for you and your employees by following 3 easy steps.

According to the new Ixaris Study of Reward & Incentive Preferences, which gathered responses from over 4800 employees form 4 countries (including the U.S. and Canada) employee incentives work in keeping employees satisfied and motivated. According to the survey 28.6% of U.S. employees indicated they had been rewarded or recognized. The more staggering numbers are that 70% of respondents indicated they put in extra effort when they know they are going to be rewarded. 80% of respondents indicated that incentives make them feel valued. Rewarding employees by treating them to something special. 70% of respondents indicated that when given cash rewards they used the reward just like regular pay, but over 75% of respondents indicated that gift card incentives were used to treat themselves to something special. Allowing employees to treat themselves to something special like a meal out with their families at
The Cheesecake Factory, or a shopping spree at
The Limited, or even a bouquet of flowers for a loved one from
1-800-Flowers is a great way to show employees you care, and that their efforts are valued above and beyond their standard compensation.
For more information on the Ixaris study or the positive impact of employee incentives check out this article from Incentive Magazine.

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching retailers are preparing for big revenues and high traffic in stores. Preventing gift card fraud is a great way to ensure revenue is retained and retailers don't take a hit to their Q4 numbers because of consumer fraud. According to a recent survey by NRF 78% of retailers have been victims of gift card fraud. Here are 3 ways to prevent gift card fraud this season
1. Keep an Eye on Gift-Card Racks: Keep gift cards in an area where store clerks and floor attendants can see them. Protecting gift card numbers from view and keeping racks in plain sight will help prevent consumers from stealing cards or gift card numbers.
2. Raise a Red Flag for Zero Balance Complaints: Employees can replace customer gift cards with zero balance cards behind the register. If you receive a number of zero balance complaints from a single store it may be time to closely monitor staff.
4. Compare Number of Gift Cards Activated with the Number Sold: Doing simple comparisons of number of gift cards sold with the number activated can help you stop any issues you may have during the short 25 day shopping season. Catching a fraud issue as it's happening rather than finding out about it later is always a better strategy.
For more information on preventing gift card fraud this holiday season check out this article from Entrepreneur.com.

Employee motivation is a great way to maintain positive morale, camaraderie and solid teamwork. However, too many employers get caught up in formal rewards with big price tags, when small, informal rewards can be just as effective and help a business save a lot of money. Here are a few ways to informally reward employees. 

Employee motivation can get repetitive and less effective when trying to find unique motivation for a large number of employees. Here are 3 easy ways to motivate a team of any size.