Interested in going from a shade of light green to a darker one?

Here are a few ways to make your life greener and our planet cleaner.

The Green Mile

We all need to get from point A to point B, but there are ways to do it in a more eco friendly way. If you’re currently driving to work in an SUV by yourself, you can instantly upgrade to a darker green by adding one passenger to your car or taking public transportation a few days a week. To be medium green, trade in the SUV for a hybrid or ride your bike to work. Remember, it ain’t easy being green.

Get Your Greens

When it comes to food, some goods make us greener than others. Local organic food is a greener choice because it doesn’t use harmful chemicals or pesticides and isn’t transported in gas guzzling trucks like store-bought goods. To go from light to medium green, shop at farmers markets and buy organic. To go a shade darker, start growing your own veggies in your backyard.

Home Sweet Green Home

Your home is a really great place to get greener. If you’re the light green type who has been recycling and using energy efficient light bulbs, you can really kick things into high gear by switching to energy star appliances and windows. If you want an even darker green abode, try switching to formaldehyde-free kitchen cabinets and non-toxic paint. And when it comes to the yard, the grass really shouldn’t be greener. Get a shade darker by limiting lawn chemicals and fertilizers.

Interesting new article from the Globe and Mail about employee rewards:

“As organizations being to recover from the recession, picking the right way to reward a job well done, and avoiding common pitfalls, will be critical to repairing wounds to morale and restoring staff confidence and loyalty”

Click here to read the full article.

Now that spring has sprung, people have one thing on their mind. Green. Green grass, green thumbs and trying to be greener at home and at work. But when it comes to going green, how green can you be? While some people are committed to a life of extreme green, many of us can make a difference even if we’re just a medium or light green. That being said, there are always ways to be greener.

So let’s start with the extreme green –the incredible hulks of the eco world. While these enviro-trailblazers used to be oddball survivalists who lived off the grid and swore off electricity and fossil fuels, this type of lifestyle has slowly become more mainstream. More and more people are now living lifestyles where they supply their own energy, grow all their own food and believe radical political change is the answer to our environmental problems.

What exactly would you see around the home of an extreme green? Well they use dirty bath water to water plants, run their cars on vegetables and it’s not entirely uncommon for darkest of greens to turn the refrigerator off and use the great outdoors to keep food cold. It’s a tough lifestyle that certainly isn’t for everyone.

If you happen to like electricity, and your fridge but still consider yourself somewhat environmentally friendly, you may be more of a medium green. What exactly happens in the life of a medium green? Well for starters something as simple as getting from point A to point B is a big deal to you. If you’re not driving a hybrid, you’re car-pooling – maybe even riding your bike to work. And when it comes to changes around the home, a medium green goes beyond the call of duty, buying locally grown organic food and energy efficient appliances and shutting down computers when they’re not in use. Medium greens understand the big picture and their role in it. If there’s a corporation out there that’s not doing their part for the earth, a medium green just might boycott them.

If you’re not quite as committed as a medium green but are still doing your part, you are likely a light green. The light greens have mastered the basics and are always looking for other small changes they can make. They use cloth grocery bags, recycle at home and use a stainless steel water bottle and recyclable lunch container. And when it’s vacation time, light green will likely use the same towels for a few days to conserve water. Regardless of light greens’ daily behavior, the important thing is they are making an effort. Besides, being light green is better than not being green at all.

So when it comes to your own shade of green, there are always opportunities to go darker. If you’re a medium green at home but work in a light green office, you can help make a few simple changes. Take a look at the suppliers you work with and choose ones that are introducing sustainability practices to their work. For example, Hbc offers Eco friendly gift cards that companies can incorporate into their own rewards and incentives program. The biodegradable, corn-based plastic Eco friendly gift cards are reloadable and come with a 100% recycled paper card carrier. It’s a simple way to go from a Pale Green to maybe a Lime Green. And who knows, employees just might use the cards towards energy efficient appliances or stainless steel water bottles. And that’s a good thing.

A recent survey conducted by Career Builder found that nearly four in ten (38%) of employers plan to cut back on various employee benefits in an effort to curb overall operating expenses (CareerBuilder.com, 2009)¹. If you’re a manager who’s been told to cut budgets and try to squeeze every last penny out of your programs, then you are not alone! However, if you started with your employee incentive program, then you may want to take a minute to re-assess the value of these programs and how they can help you through the economic downturn. Now is in fact the time for incentives and the time to take steps to grow and flourish as an organization despite the bleak economic outlook. Doing so, will not only manage your current situation, but set you towards a promising future.

Sometimes it’s all in the way we look at things that determines the final outcome. In a recent interview with Incentive Magazine, Patrick Lencioni (President of The Table Group, a management consulting firm focused on improving teamwork and employee engagement) makes a great point by stating that we have to ask ourselves the fundamental question: “Do we believe things will get better?” (Lencioni, 2009)². If the answer is no, then we’ve essentially pigeon-holed ourselves into an inevitable conclusion. However, most people would admit that in due time, the economy will rebound and we should take this time to invest in employees; the backbone of every organization.

Now is the time when employee morale can be low and employers are looking for ways to energize and restore confidence. The reasons for low morale are many: whether it’s worries about money, job security, the stress of having to take on more work as a result of company layoffs, or the general media negativity seen and heard all around, the impact of the situation can be overwhelming. As such, it is the role of organizations, and more specifically upper management and HR, to help employees feel secure and reduce their level of fear and anxiety. Employee incentives, coupled with positive communication and leadership, are steps in the right direction to re-engage and motivate employees towards a common organizational goal.

Now is the time when a tiny gesture of recognition through an incentive will go a long way in restoring morale. During a time of abundance, when everyone was living in a sea of prosperity, such gestures could go unnoticed. The same is no longer true and many organizations are finding that a small reward and, more importantly the recognition it carries, are doing wonders in making employees feel valued. The impact of such gestures can be amplified further if the reward is personalized through symbols that the recipient identifies with (eg. their name or project name). This can be easily accomplished through customized and personalized gift cards.

Now is the time when talent management must be considered a top priority within an organization. Current conditions in the economy can leave an organization vulnerable towards a talent sweep by the competition. Maintaining your current talent workforce will not only sustain you through the down times, but it will also ensure that your organization is ready to compete during boom times. Some industry experts suggest that this environment can lead to greater innovation and discovery of new efficient procedures (Hebert, 2009)³. An incentive for idea generation can be built into your current program to recognize the top talent in your organization.

Hbc Gift Cards has incentive solutions that can fit in with your existing program. Talk to us today about the many options that are available from standard, to personalized and customized Gift Cards. Visit www.hbc.com/b2b or call us at 1-888-461-2323 to learn more.

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1 CareerBuilder, Nearly 40 Percent of Employers Plan to Trim Benefits and Office Perks This Year, Finds New CareerBuilder.com Survey. Press Release, February 18,2009, Chicago. Retrieved from http://www.careerbuilder.com

2 Lencioni, Patrick. Leaders, Take a Ride on the “Down Economy” Bandwagon, Incentive Magazine; The Recession Survival Guide. February 20, 2009.  Retrieved from http://www.managesmarter.com

3 Hebert, Paul. Now Is Your Chance…Thrive!, Incentive Magazine; The Recession Survival Guide. February 19, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.managesmarter.com

Written by Mike Allan

Motivation. It’s the fuel that gets us all moving toward our goals. It’s what wakes us up to face the day each morning and what lives in our dreams when we go to sleep at night. If we could bottle it, patent it and put it on a shelf, we’d all be millionaires.

But is motivation something that dwells only within an individual, or can we (as HR Professionals) guide it, shape it and bend it to our will? Can employee incentives really motivate lasting changes in behavior? To answer this question, we need to delve more deeply in to the science behind motivation.

According to the interim results from the Hbc 2007 HR INCENTIVE SURVEY (hbccards.com/survey), the number one ‘Point of Pain’ among HR Professionals who have responded to date is low motivation. Obviously, motivational issues are a major concern to HR professionals and ways of improving motivation among employees are highly sought after.

There are really two types of motivators intrinsic and extrinsic.

Extrinsic motivators are things that are external to one’s self. They are outside forces such as money, promotions, rewards, etc. Intrinsic motivators are forces internal to one’s self. Things like self esteem, satisfaction, pleasure, etc.

Intrinsic motivators are generally considered much more powerful because, like almost everything involving human beings, we give weight to what manifests from within ourselves more than manifests from outside. In short, they are more powerful, because they are more personal.

When we talk about incentives in the HR world, we are almost always talking about extrinsic motivators such as cash, prizes, points or the like. We have all been taught to believe that extrinsic rewards alone can motivate action.

In fact, there is good evidence to suggest that the opposite is often true. Adding an extrinsic reward (such as cash) to an action that was previously performed for intrinsic reasons (say, a passion for craftsmanship) can often reduce the desired behavior.

The reason could be as simple as this. By taking an activity that was previously engaged in for intrinsic reasons (more powerful) and adding an extrinsic incentive (less powerful) we have somehow ‘cheapened’ that activity in the mind of the individual being affected. As an example, think of anyone you know who works in a job they’re passionate about, versus someone who works purely for the money.

So does this mean the idea of providing employee incentives is ineffective? Not at all!

Extrinsic rewards are easily assignable to other individuals, but are not as powerful. Intrinsic rewards are extremely powerful motivators, but because they come from within, they’re inherently difficult to assign to other individuals.

So, we need to find a way to tie extrinsic incentives we can assign to our employees with the intrinsic benefits that motivate them on an individual basis. Viola!!! An Employee Incentives program this is both easily assignable and yet individually powerful at the same time!

Let’s look at an example using a typical employee. For argument’s sake, let’s call him Bob. It’s quite easy to provide a temporary boost in motivation by providing Bob an extrinsic reward such as a cash bonus, time off or a gift card he can redeem for whatever he’d like. However, we have yet to tap into Bob’s deeper, more powerful motivation hot buttons by attaching this extrinsic reward to something that will motivate Bob on a personal level.

And therein lies on of the biggest (and most overlooked) opportunities in the world of corporate incentives today, linking the extrinsic rewards we offer our employees and customer, to a more personal, more powerful intrinsic benefit that will provide stronger and longer lasting motivation for improvement.

Lets go back to the example of our now model employee, Bob. If Bob receives a $100 cash bonus each time he meets his monthly quota for sales, he quickly learns the cause and effect relationship and will strive to meet this minimum goal each month.

You’re probably saying to yourself, “that’s good, isn’t it?”. Well, yes and no. We are in fact, creating effective change in Bob’s behavior and achieving our collective goals. However, we’ve failed to affect change on a deeper, more personal level — we’ve failed to tie the extrinsic benefit of a cash bonus to a more personal, more powerful intrinsic benefit.

So what could we have done differently? Well, for starters, we could think very carefully about the ‘other’ reasons Bob might actually want to contribute to the goal. How about the ‘thrill of the kill,’ the rush that comes from making the deal? The desire to be recognized and praised in front of his peers? Any of these intrinsic motivators could be trigger-points for Bob that will provide more powerful and longer lasting motivation then cash alone.

The problem is, how do we tie these powerful, personal motivators (which we can’t control), to a less powerful but easily shaped extrinsic motivator such as a monetary reward (which we can control).

The answer lies in the concepts of sentiment and context.

Context is simply the situational relevance of the incentive received. In other words, what are the specifics of the situation that resulted in the reward being given and received. Was it for reaching a specific sales target? Referring a new employee? Closing a huge account? In order for Bob to be motivated by the incentive to perform similar acts in the future, he needs to be completely clear on the context in which the incentive was given.

The second and much more important component of the incentive is the sentiment. The sentiment is essentially the feelings, emotions and thoughts we are intending to evoke in the recipient, by giving the incentive. It is the sentiment that is missing from most of the corporate incentives work being done today. In short, it’s not enough to help Bob understand the reason the incentive was given, he must also deeply feel the intrinsic benefit of achieving the goal.

So, how do we do this? Simple – Personalization. By personalizing the incentive to the experience, we can tie the extrinsic benefit of the incentive itself, with the intrinsic benefits that will truly motivate and even inspire Bob over the long term.

To understand how this might work in Bob’s case, let’s look at a specific example, using a gift card as the incentive.

Let’s say our collective goal is for Bob to lead his sales team to their best year ever, surpassing all previous records. Let’s also say that we’ve broken this lofty goal down into a series of more bit-sized monthly goals and that we’re willing to provide a monthly incentive of a gift card loaded with a percentage of the increase in sales over last year’s figures for that month (a great extrinsic incentive).

There is no doubt that this extrinsic incentive alone might provide certain level of additional motivation for Bob to at least achieve the minimal level of sales required. However, there’s more we can do in this case. We can tap into Bob’s inherent desire to lead and succeed, by reminding him of why he’s reached the level he’s at and why he wants to take it to the next level as well, not just for the benefit of the organization, but for himself as well.

The sentiment we wish to invoke in this case might be the passion he feels for the ‘thrill of the kill’ that got him into this game in the first place – and the same passion that has brought him to this point in his career up until now. We can invoke these feelings and tie them to the desired actions by simply acknowledging the context for which the incentive was given, and weaving them together with the sentiment we’re hoping to invoke.

Say, for example, that we replace the generic gift card we were planning to give Bob for meeting his monthly targets, with a more personalized gift card and signed, personalized letter that both reiterate the context and sentiment we’re looking for.

Going back for a moment to the Hbc 2007 HR INCENTIVE SURVEY, the majority of respondents have stated they ‘strongly agree’ that offering more personalized incentives would Increase the employee’s goodwill/appreciation for the reward. They also ‘strongly agree’ that more personalization would increase the employee’s motivation to perform well in the future. Clearly, personalization is catching-on in the world of employee incentives, and HR professionals are beginning to respond accordingly.

There are virtually as many contexts and sentiments for providing incentives as our creative minds can conceive, including examples from these universal categories:

1. apologies/win-backs

2. congratulations

3. holidays

4. introductions

5. milestones

6. thank yous, and

7. welcomes

Remember, the time the extrinsic benefit reaches fruition is at the time of redemption of the incentive (in this case, the gift card). In other words, the goodwill created by the incentive is fully realized when the recipient actually redeems the gift card, much more so then when it is received. It is important that the desired sentiment is reinforced at this point as well, if we hope to permanently make the connection between the context and the sentiment. This is the true power the personalized gift card can provide.

So remember, when searching for a way to motivate your employees that is both powerful and long lasting; don’t overlook the effect of personalization. By personalizing both the context and sentiment of the incentive, you’ll magnify the effect of your incentive and reap a far greater return in the long run.

Published in Workplace News. July/August 2007. Volume 13. Issue 4

These days it seems that there is a loyalty program for just about everything. Your credit card company offers it. So does your gas station, grocery store, even your local coffee shop and with good reason. Loyalty and reward programs offer a winning combination for both the member and the program that offers it. The member is rewarded for their continued patronage and the company/program receives continued revenue from the repeat customer. But how often have members found themselves wondering just how many points they’ve accumulated and what they can redeem for?

The loyalty industry has taken notice and is working to make redemption easier as well as offer items that are of value to the consumer. Gift cards in particular have made an enormous impact on this industry by providing loyalty and reward programs with an item that offers a greater amount of choice and variety for the consumer. Their popularity has surpassed any other reward, taking in 57% of all credit card reward point redemptions(1).  Long gone are the days when you received a catalogue with redemption items that didn’t exactly fit what you were looking for. A gift card on the other hand, allows you to pick and choose the items that you waht to purchase. After all, the privilege of redeeming for rewards is the reason customers join a loyalty program in the first place.

Many are seeing the growth of gift card popularity as a way to re-engage customers who are enrolled in a loyalty program but never redeem their points. In a study conducted by Maritz, it was found that nearly half of all consumers have never redeemed their loyalty points even though 36% of the cardholders have been in reward programs for over 5 years (2).  Situations such as this have forced marketers to become more innovative and creative in their reward offerings with more of a focus on flexibility and easier redemption. Statistics show that the more customers redeem, the more valuable they become to the company sponsoring the loyalty program and that multiple redeemers outspend non-redeemers on an average of 3:1 (3).   While reward miles used to be the de facto currency that members redeemed for free air travel once they had accumulated a certain threshold, nowadays gift cards offer the consumer the choice to shop at retailers for merchandise of their own choice.

Gift cards can also be used as a key incentive to encourage members to sign up for a loyalty or reward program (4).  In a recent study conducted by Hbc, it was found that an overwhelming 100% of participants prefer a loaded gift card over anything else when receiving a gift with purchase. This outweighed the desire for other products or even discounts. However, the battle doesn’t end there. Credit card loyalty programs are always looking to increase commitment from the card holder to continue spending while working toward a reward. Visa found that committed cardholders put as much as 75% of their spend on a chosen card (2).

A successful loyalty program should offer its members rewards that are meaningful and attainable. As gift cards climb in popularity, they continue to evolve to add value to the loyalty member who opts to redeem for them. Gift cards provide that attainable reward that can be reached without having to accumulate points for a long period of time and they carry a high perceived value to the end consumer. Choice, flexibility and the ability to redeem for rewards faster are just some of the benefits that make gift cards a winning addition to any loyalty program.