GiftCard Partners Blog

With 80% of U.S. and Puerto Rican workers under moderate or high levels of financial stress, employers are looking beyond physical wellness programs and adding a financial wellness component to employee benefits. Financial wellness programs often provide financial advice and guidance to employees with the aim to reduce financial stress and increase workplace productivity. According to an Aon Hewitt survey, 76% of employers were interested in financial wellness initiatives in 2013, and looking to expand their efforts by 2014. Companies also observe that the more financially stressed an employee is, the more sick time they take, disrupting work flow and workplace momentum. At Meredith Corp. employees are offered a financial wellness questionnaire and can take educational courses and other financial wellness actions to gain access to discounted healthcare options and other financial perks. Meredith is recording big results on their financial wellness program too.

A recent study, led by an associate professor at the University of Rochester, finds that providing healthy workplace programs reduced the number of overweight or obese employees by almost 9%. The study was based on two years of research, studying almost 3,800 employees. The researchers instituted workplace programs to promote healthy eating and exercise at half of the work sites and no healthy programs at the other half. The test group that had implemented healthy workplace programs promoted things such as revamped cafeteria offerings with fewer calories and smaller portions, free meals to those who made healthy food choices, workshops to share healthy recipes, walking clubs, upgraded gym facilities, and group activities.

The Amazon Dash button was so disruptive in concept that people thought it might be an early April fools prank on launch day, March 31st. The concept seemed so futuristic that it couldn't have been real. The main reason? Americans don't buy groceries online. In a world where omni-channel shopping is everywhere, groceries still remain are one of the biggest spending categories and one of the only categories almost exclusively available in-store. Some grocery stores, like Whole Foods Market, are piloting programs to make online groceries a possibility with delivery to consumers' homes part of the package. The concept is considered disruptive to the market, however, and since the concept is so new, adoption has been slow. Here are three ways that Amazon Dash could cause the biggest grocery disruption yet.

Whole Foods Market is taking their corporate responsibility beyond their high quality, all natural foods and working to solve global poverty. Whole Planet Foundation was borne out of Whole Foods Market’s desire to give something back, while focusing on the persistent problem of world poverty and hunger. The Whole Planet Foundation and Whole Foods Markets have hosted a series of small community events throughout the country like craft fairs and concerts and have raised $4.6 million toward a microlending campaign, no no plans to slow down any time soon.

The better the choice, the more apt the person is to be active in the loyalty or incentive program, pursuing the desired behavior in order to earn the reward. Loyalty program participation is a problem for many companies. According to the Colloquy Loyalty Consensus released in February 2015, the average household is “involved” in 29 programs, but active in only 12.1.