GiftCard Partners Blog

Employers are at all points on the learning curve when it comes to health and wellness programs. However, as employee engagement increases, so does employer health and wellness spending. The average per employee cost for health and wellness programs is up almost $100 over 2014 and the use of screenings and carrot rewards to boost engagement are also increasing. The decreased use of "stick" disincentives along with the increased use of biometric benchmarking is making health and wellness programs more inviting to employees. According to a recent study of employers offering health and wellness programming in 2015:

As wellness programs become a mainstream part of HR programming, and a sought after employee benefit, it's important to know what you're getting into. Some employers are now building wellness programs to "check the box." Adding a smoking cessation program, or a weight loss group to the office culture to help reduce insurance cost, or satiate the employee desire to get healthier. However, even if you plan to make a small investment in an employee wellness program, it's important that you find the right options for your staff and for your bottom line. Here are a few tips that will help you get your wellness program on track.

According to a new survey from the Retail Gift Card Association, up to 70% of consumers will buy gift cards for friends and family by the end of the summer. This is an important finding for B2B gift card programs as well. Why's that? Because the survey also revealed that 95% of consumers are hoping to
receive gift cards this spring and summer. While this directly applies to celebrations like birthdays, graduations and weddings, the popularity of gift cards can also segue to employees recognition programs, health and wellness programs and employees rewards. Here are key findings from the study:

A recent survey by OfficeTeam revealed that 89% of employers think they are doing a good job with employee recognition for outstanding efforts at work. That would be great, except only 70% of employees tend to agree with that statement. The divide between employee and employer opinions is significant. If employees don't have confidence or agree that their employers are doing well recognizing their efforts, then employers get no return on what is often a significant investment. There are many reasons why employers can fail at delivering employee recognition. Sometimes it's a lack of effort, communication or application of a program. Here are three reasons we find most common- and how to overcome them.

Health screenings are lifesaving techniques that are designed to find certain chronic diseases before a person begins to exhibit any signs of illness. In the U.S. alone, early detection health screenings save over 100,000 lives per year. The majority of healthcare providers also cover these screenings at no additional costs to members when in-network options are applied. In recent years, employer wellness programs have focused on obtaining a baseline biometric screening on employees. Employers use these baseline biometrics and then, once a member is engaged in applying and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, employers can use additional health screenings as a way to properly incentivize their employees. Our newest white paper, Rewards for Action: Building a Healthier Workforce through Early Detection, provides 10 critical preventative health screenings that can save lives.