We’d love to discuss how Sodexo’s Motivation Solutions can help with your particular situation.

They ranged from spacemen feeling their way through IT issues, to superhero accountants.

At our weekly team meeting the recipients received their awards and their faces lit up with excitement.  They truly felt recognized and appreciated by the thought and personalization of the award.  Weeks later, everyone is still chatting about the awards, and we are now creating a wall of fame in the department to display the awards.

Make the extra effort to make it special and memorable for the employee and they’ll reciprocate in a thousand ways.

Joining the Sodexo Pass team, I was intrigued when my boss asked me to tell her what my favorite snack was on my first day.  I of course answered rice krispy squares as they have been my favorite snack since childhood.  At the end of the day, what was waiting on my desk, a rice krispy square. I know this seems inconsequential, but it made me feel like I was being welcomed into an organization that took the time to know me.  Lets face it, my boss could have put any manner of snack food on my desk, but she took the time to ask and listen to what I wanted.

And it doesn’t stop there.  Our group huddles over baked goods and coffee on every Thursday morning where we take turns telling our stories about the weeks accomplishments (big or small), take time to recognize birthdays and anniversaries, and even plan our monthly dinner outing.  And if you want to see the epitome of service awards, check these out.  They are made for each person individually and give a sense of not just another year of service, but talk about the impact each person has made on the group.

So there you have it.  Personalizing recognition and reward has definitely worked on me.  Now it’s your turn. 

How would you like to be recognized at work? What would you want to be recognized for? And What would you want as an award?

Hillenmeyer added that gift card programs can be the foundation of a company’s reward program and help establish a culture of recognition, which is a cornerstone of employee engagement.

Read the full press release here »

The annual Paybefore Awards are the oldest and most prestigious awards to recognize excellence in the worldwide prepaid and stored value card industry. To date, more than 130 organizations and individuals have been honored by Paybefore for their achievements.

“We are honored for this recognition of The Esteem Pass program and proud to have partnered with eCommLink to develop a unique addition to the corporate incentive market. eCommLink’s flexible platform allowed us to create The Esteem Pass, which can be used for purchases at a variety of popular retail brands unlike traditional single-retailer gift cards”, stated Vincent Hillenmeyer, President, Sodexo Pass USA.

Read the entire press release here »

GAITHERSBURG, Md., February 24, 2009 — Paybefore has chosen the Esteem Pass™ prepaid gift card program by Sodexo Pass USA (a division of the Sodexo Group) a winner in the 2009 Paybefore Awards in the Best Business/Corporate-Funded Prepaid Card B2B category.

The annual Paybefore Awards are the oldest and most prestigious awards to recognize excellence in the worldwide prepaid and stored value card industry. To date, more than 130 organizations and individuals have been honored by Paybefore for their achievements.

“We are honored for this recognition of The Esteem Pass program and proud to have partnered with eCommLink to develop a unique addition to the corporate incentive market. eCommLink’s flexible platform allowed us to create The Esteem Pass, which can be used for purchases at a variety of popular retail brands unlike traditional single-retailer gift cards”, stated Vincent Hillenmeyer, President, Sodexo Pass USA.

The Esteem Pass program by Sodexo was selected by a panel of five industry experts who served as judges for this year’s competition.

“Paybefore Awards shine the spotlight on terrific people and companies using prepaid to provide innovative payments solutions,” said Marilyn Bochicchio, Paybefore CEO. “It’s our honor to recognize the efforts of Sodexo as a leader in its category.

”The number of nominations considered this year was almost double last year’s, making winning an even more significant achievement,” she continued. “The quality of the nominated products, services and programs was exceptional, creating quite a challenge for the judges who carefully evaluated each entry on its merits and in context of all the nominations.”

Esteem Pass (http://www.esteempass.com) is a multi-merchant incentive gift card and an exciting new program for corporate recognition and reward. Offering flexibility and choice to consumers, Esteem Pass incentive gift cards are different than typical offerings because users have a single card that can be used at over 20,000 locations operated by 35 leading brands. Esteem Pass also offers value to its retail partners by selecting the number of retailers in the program to direct cardholders to their locations and by offering exclusivity to category leaders. “The Esteem Pass program offers a truly unique way for corporations to motivate and engage their employees. We were proud to partner with Sodexo in the creation of this program and are excited that it has received such a prestigious award,” stated Ennio Ponzetto, CEO, eCommLink.

Esteem Pass gift cards are a Discover® Network Prepaid Gift Card issued by Palm Desert National Bank, a federally chartered bank and sold business-to-business by Sodexo as a corporate reward and incentive and gifting solution. The cards are fulfilled and managed by Sodexo Pass USA.

The Esteem Pass™ program now will compete for Paybefore Awards’ coveted Best-in-Category designation at the 2009 Prepaid Card Expo (http://www.prepaidcardexpo.com) to be held in Orlando, Fla., March 9 -11.
Sodexo in North America (http://www.sodexoUSA.com) is a leading integrated food and facilities management services company in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with $7.7 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. Sodexo in North America serves more than ten million customers daily in corporations, health care, long term care and retirement centers, schools, college campuses, government and remote sites. Sodexo in North America, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., is a member of Sodexo Group (http://www.sodexo.com), which owns and operates Sodexo Pass. Sodexo in North America funds the Sodexo Foundation (http://www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $11 million in grants to fight hunger in America. Sodexo Pass, currently ranked second in the world in the prepaid card sector, offers meal and food vouchers, childcare vouchers, prepaid gift cards across 30 countries with additional tailored gift programs in 24 countries.

SODEXO, founded in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, is a world leader in Food and Facilities Management services, with more than 342,380 employees on 29,000 sites in 80 countries as of August 31, 2007. For Fiscal 2007, which closed August 31, 2007, SODEXO had revenues of 13.4 billion euro. Listed on Euronext Paris, the Group has a current market capitalization of 6.8 billion euro.

eCommLink, Inc. (http://www.ecommlink.com) enables program managers and financial institutions to maximize revenue from their prepaid debit programs. The Company’s flexible prepaid processing platform, innovative features and industry experience allows clients to create customized prepaid programs for their specific markets while ensuring quality, security and time to market. eCommLink supports the full array of prepaid debit programs, including general spend, payroll, teen, gift, travel, government and loyalty cards.

About Paybefore: Paybefore is the leading information provider to prepaid and stored value card industry professionals, offering the latest news, commentary and analysis. Paybefore’s family of industry publications include: Paybefore.com, an online information portal; Paybefore News, daily news briefs delivered electronically; Paybefore Update, a downloadable e-newsletter including Paybefore Legal, delivered 20 times a year; Paybefore Magazine, a biannual print publication highlighting the best of Paybefore; and Paybefore Buyer’s Guide, available online and in print.

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The following five lessons were responsible for a disproportionate share of the variation among winners and losers:

Read full article here

1. Assess where you’re at with recognition.
2. Develop your very own recognition strategy.
3. Establish short- and long-term recognition goals.
4. Align recognition with the business strategy.
5. Connect recognition to your vision, mission and values.
6. Gain senior leader support and endorsement.
7. Reinforce recognition practices through communication.
8. Educate and demonstrate exemplary recognition.
9. Expect recognition and hold people accountable.
10. Keep it simple.

• We need to adapt quickly to the  situation: need to become more acute in our management, more agile  and decisive, more able to steer and adjust to the daily market condition  changes. Long-term focus must be complemented by very close daily management  and excellent customer care.
• As much as threats abound and recession forces are  impacting all businesses,  there are opportunities out  there. To challenge faults in existing operating principles,  to create new and different value  for our customers;  we need  to keep a mindset where we look for such opportunities.
• There will be winners and  losers. Much reshuffling of market positions will take place and  the most competitive players will rise to  the top as the winners. Organizations need to continue to invest  in their competitiveness. And in these times, saving $1 is not enough, you should “cut $2 to invest $1”.
• More than ever motivated and engaged teams will  be the key and make the difference between winners and  losers.  Stay close to your teams, communicate, reward and  recognize them. This will help to  retain the best and elevate the others. Let’s not cut back but, ensure the maximum return on our reward  and recognition investment.  The delivery of the reward  becomes ever so more important; a  good reward isn’t any good if it isn’t delivered appropriately. Reward your  teams and they will reward you.

So, we should have one certainty: Take care of our clients and take care of our teams. At Sodexo, we remain confident  and strive to be the reward and  recognition partner of those organizations who want to make the most of these  uncertain times.

Vincent Hillenmeyer
President,
Sodexo Pass USA

CONTACT:
Stacy Bowman-Hade, Sodexo
301 987 4352
stacy.bowmanhade@sodexo.com

Gail Walters, Burson-Marstellar
703 772 7084
gail.walters@bm.com

Esteem Pass™ Gift Card incentive program offers unique recognition and reward solution; can be redeemed at more than 20,000 retail locations nationwide

GAITHERSBURG, Md., November 4, 2008 — Sodexo, a leading global foodservice and facilities management company, has announced the launch of Esteem Pass™ (www.EsteemPass.com), a new U.S. gift card program that provides a unique way to recognize, reward and motivate employees, clients and customers, while offering new features in the gift card sector. The move marks the first offer in North America by Sodexo’s successful global Service Vouchers and Cards business, Sodexo Pass, which posted $10 billion in issue volume recently.

Offering flexibility and choice to consumers, Esteem Pass gift cards are different than typical gift cards because users have one single card that can be used at over 20,000 locations operated by 35 well known and popular retailers. Sodexo’s Esteem Pass program offers companies competitive pricing and customization to meet the different criteria that businesses have for reward and recognition programs.

Esteem Pass gift cards can be redeemed at leading retail locations nationwide operated by Sodexo’s growing list of retail partners, which represent world class companies including Macy’s, Borders®, Gap, Inc., The Home Depot®, Bath and Body Works®, Marriott®, Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s and Bonefish Grill. 

According to Vincent Hillenmeyer, president of Sodexo Pass USA, the Sodexo subsidiary company operating Esteem Pass, gifting solutions such as cards are especially important this time of year due to holidays and bonus periods. He says that gift card incentives are becoming more popular in all types of organizations, including non profits, government and corporations, and that the use of gift cards by businesses in the U.S. exceeds $20 billion and is growing by more than 40 percent yearly.

According to a recent Sodexo human resource study, reward and recognition have been shown to be key factors in employees’ decisions to stay with an employer. “Today’s challenging economy means companies have an almost unprecedented need to motivate their employees and to reward customer loyalty in order to remain competitive,” said Hillenmeyer. “Companies are eager for programs that are innovative and provide real value back to their employees.”

Esteem Pass gift cards are a Discover® Network Prepaid Gift Card issued by Palm Desert National Bank, a federally chartered bank and sold business-to-business by Sodexo as a corporate reward and incentive and gifting solution. The cards are fulfilled and managed by Sodexo Pass USA.

About Sodexo in North America and Sodexo Pass
Sodexo in North America (http://www.sodexoUSA.com) is a leading integrated food and facilities management services company in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with $7.3 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. Sodexo in North America serves more than ten million customers daily in corporations, health care, long term care and retirement centers, schools, college campuses, government and remote sites. Sodexo in North America, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., is a member of Sodexo Group (http://www.sodexo.com), which owns and operates Sodexo Pass. Sodexo in North America funds the Sodexo Foundation (http://www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $11 million in grants to fight hunger in America.

Sodexo Pass, currently ranked second in the world in the prepaid card sector, offers meal and food vouchers, childcare vouchers, prepaid gift cards across 30 countries with additional tailored gift programs in 24 countries.

About Sodexo
SODEXO, founded in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, is a world leader in Food and Facilities Management services, with more than 342,380 employees on 29,000 sites in 80 countries as of August 31, 2007. For Fiscal 2007, which closed August 31, 2007, SODEXO had revenues of 13.4 billion euro. Listed on Euronext Paris, the Group has a current market capitalization of 6.8 billion euro.


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Editor’s Note: This memorandum provides a brief overview of the federal income tax treatment of employee awards. It’s good information to have when you are selling employee recognition programs to your clients. January 2000.

Section 274(j) of the Internal Revenue Code, enacted by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, provides, in general, that an employer may deduct the cost of employee achievement awards given to the same employee up to $400.00 in any year. If the incentive awards are employee achievement awards made under one or established written plans or programs of the employer, the $400 deduction limitation is increased to $1,600.00 per employee.

Under Code section 74(c), however, the same awards are not included in the income of the employee. In addition to being excluded from the employee’s taxable income, the employee achievement awards are also excludable for employment tax purposes as well as from the social security benefit base. The employer must report on the employee’s form W-2 as wages or compensation any portion of the employee achievement awards that is included in the employee’s income. This amount is also treated accordingly for all other tax purposes (including social security tax).

In order to qualify for this favorable tax treatment, an incentive award must be an “employee achievement award,” that is, it must be an item of “tangible personal property” transferred by an employer to an employee for safety achievement or length of service. Moreover, the award must be given as part of a meaningful presentation and cannot be the payment of disguised compensation to the employee. Thus, for example, an incentive award will not qualify for favorable tax treatment if it is given at the same time that annual salary adjustments are made, or if it’s used as a substitute for a program of awarding cash bonuses. Code section 274(j)(3)(A).

There is very little guidance issued by the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on employee achievement (incentive) awards. In the absence of such authority, taxpayers have had to rely on the General Explanation of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Joint Committee on Taxation (JCS-10-87), commonly referred to as the “Blue Book,” and regulations proposed by the IRS on January 9, 1989. These regulations, Prop. Treas. Reg. Section 1.274-8 have not been finalized and are not binding on taxpayers; however, they do provide some insight as to the thinking of the IRS in this area.

The old regulations in effect before the enactment of Code section 274(j), Treas. Reg. Section 1.274-2(d)(1), defined an achievement award as an item of “tangible personal property” given to an employee for length of service, productivity, or safety achievement. New Code section 274(j) does not include awards for productivity in the definition of employee achievement awards. Thus, apparently, an incentive award can be given to employees for safety achievement or length of service only. According to the Blue Book, an award given to an employee for any other purpose, such as exceptional productivity, cannot be excluded from his income. Blue Book at 35, n.14. In view of the change in the law, employers have emphasized incentive awards rewarding length of service and safety achievement and have avoided productivity awards.

The requirement that an employee achievement award must be an item of “tangible personal property” has caused some confusion, because Code section 274(j) does not define the meaning of that term. The proposed regulations do provide some insight into the meaning of “tangible personal property” by defining it to exclude certain items. Accordingly, an incentive award cannot be in the form of cash or a gift certificate (other than a non-negotiable certificate conferring only the right to receive tangible personal property). Any certificate that may be converted to cash is not “tangible personal property” and cannot qualify for preferential tax treatment under Code section 274(j). Other items that are not tangible personal property include travel, vacations, meals, lodging, tickets to theater or sporting events, and stocks, bonds, or other securities. Prop. Treas. Reg. Section 1.274-8(c)(2). As a result, the fair market value of incentive travel awards given to employees is always taxable as additional income to them and deductible by the employer as compensation paid. Many employers, therefore, reimburse employees for the additional tax due as a result of the incentive travel award.