The employee incentive that supports local economies too
94% of executives support incentive programs for their employees say the Virginia based Incentive Research Foundation but finding the right incentive to reward staff is always a dilemma for employers. What do staff value the most?
According to the IRF, gift cards are right at the top of the employee incentive wish list. They found that gift cards are more appreciated than cash, which tends to get eaten up by day to day bills.
But before we can truly answer the question of what employees most value in rewards, we need to look at the economic landscape in the US. In February 2021, Bloomberg economist Eliza Winger said that whilst economic indicators in the US remain at weak or depressed levels, improvements are starting to be seen as consumer confidence slowly returns.
What corporate employers really need, then, is a way of rewarding staff that also takes into account the need to drive local economy recovery.
One place that has made it easy for employers to support local is Downtown Peterborough with the Boro Gift Card which took $80,000 in sales in its first month from corporate orders.
Downtown Peterborough approached employers who had purchased their previous paper gift certificate to see if they wanted to buy the new Boro Gift Card. Employers were keen to support local and reward staff with the Boro Gift Card, which can be spent with over 65 local stores, restaurants, entertainment venues and more.
The gift card market in the US is set to be worth $221billion by 2024, up from $163billion in 2019, and a vast proportion of that will be for cards received for work programs and rewards schemes. Local gift cards offer all of the benefits of non-cash rewards for employees in an incentive that they will love, whilst making a tangible difference to the local area.
Downtown Gift Cards work through the Visa network, and can be used like a debit card across multiple retailers. There are Downtown Gift Card programs across the US and Canada.
Why not take a look at our active programs now and see if you can reward your employees and customers in a brand new way. And if you need more than $500 of gift cards, please get in touch and we’ll arrange this for you.
More and more employers are waking up to the benefits of local gift cards as incentives; for the business, for their employees and for their local economy- will you be one of them?