GiftCard Partners Blog

Wellness challenges are becoming all the rage at workplaces across the country and are encouraging employees to become happier, healthier, and more energetic at work.

Requiring little to no investment, the challenges help to promote a supportive, positive climate of camaraderie and fun.

A recent study from the Incentive Research Foundation, Engaging Outside Program Support for Incentive and Recognition Programs, is full of ideas on how to use outside firms to optimize your incentive programs this year. There are a number of ways to go about outsourcing an incentive program, from working with gift card providers as a cost effective reward solution, to having your program fully administered by an outside firm. Here are a few unique ways to outsource efforts, while keeping costs low and increasing your program(s) success rates:

A recent study, State of the Industry: Employee Well-being in 2016, from
Virgin Pulse, in partnership with Better Work Media Group, surveyed over 1,000 HR professionals across a variety of levels and industries to see how they planned to use employee wellness and health programs in 2016. Their findings go beyond the obvious answer we have seen in past years.
The survey indicated that employee wellness programs in 2016 will not simply focus on reducing healthcare costs for employers and employees. Employee wellness has expanded to include financial wellness, and more company-centric motives like employee productivity, promoting organizational culture and employee engagement. The investment in employee wellness is moving from being viewed as a cost-cutting measure and is now used more as a tool for employee engagement.
Here are the key stats from the new study:

2016 is looking to be a huge year for the organic foods industry. And as the world's leader in natural and organic foods, Whole Foods Market is no exception. The organic foods giant is rethinking its business model and revamping its brand to stay competitive with a slew of new competitors. Whole Foods ended 2015 with over $15 billion in sales, and their growing competition can likely be attributed to their own success. Whole Foods Market CEO, John Mackey recently commented,

Employee incentives are a proven way to motivate employees, increase productivity and retention, as well as align your organizational goals with employee goals. However, do you know how efficient your incentive program is? It may be working, but not as well as it could. With a fresh new year, now is a great time to take stock of your employee incentive program and find ways to make incentives work better. Roy Saunderson shared 10 tips with Incentive Magazine on how to make incentives work better, here are our top 3 tips: