Corporate incentives accelerate in Canada

A survey of Canadian companies found that the adoption of corporate employee incentive programs has accelerated over the last two years, with prepaid cards being cited as the most popular incentive tool by employees and employers. The 2012 Canadian Incentive Trends Survey, conducted by Toronto-based prepaid incentive card program manager Berkeley Payment Solutions, said organizations have implemented incentive programs at a 46 percent increase since 2010, and a 21 percent increase since 2011.

Of the 767 Canadian companies polled, 32 percent said closed-loop, retailer specific gift cards were the most cost effective tools, followed by merchandise (30 percent), prepaid Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide and American Express Corp. incentive cards (26 percent), incentive travel (4 percent), and "experiential events" (3 percent).

From an employee satisfaction standpoint, 38 percent of respondents indicated that open-loop, network-branded prepaid cards were the most popular rewards tools, followed by retail gift cards (22%), incentive travel (14%) and merchandise (14%). "[W]e are seeing more and more Canadian companies adopt customized employee incentive programs to motivate and retain their employees-and ultimately improve overall company performance," said David Eason, Chief Executive Officer at Berkeley Payment Solutions.

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