GiftCard Partners Blog

New research released from Fidelity Investments shows employers across the country are doubling spending on health and wellness programs. The study shows that corporate employers are planning to spend an average of $521 per employee on health and wellness programs in 2013, up from just $260 4 years ago. The increased cost is indicative of the success of health and wellness programs in controlling overall organizational healthcare costs. Over the past several years organization health care cost has been rising at a phenomenal rate, that is prohibitive to some employers. Since the largest percentage of the cost comes from preventable conditions caused by employees bad habits such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol,  employers are looking to promote a healthy lifestyle among their workforce to bring overall cost down. Here are a few easy strategies for energizing your workforce around an organization-wide health and wellness strategy.

As health care costs are on the rise many companies scramble to find the best way to counter the issue and the answer could be ‘in the incentives.’

Aon Hewitt just released a survey from 800 large and mid-sized U.S. employers, representing more than 7 million U.S. employees and found that 83 percent offer employee incentives for participation in a variety of wellness programs that strive to improve employees health. Out of these 83 percent:

We’re finding that people are still questioning why companies across the U.S. are spending $22.7 BILLION
¹ on gift cards as incentives in corporate employee programs and what this segment of the B2B gift card market is all about. AND we’re also finding that corporations and companies of all sizes are STILL surprised to learn that there are savings to be had on bulk gift cards purchased for employee motivation, employee engagement, and employee rewards.  Why are 52% of U.S. businesses using gift cards to recognize and reward employees, sales folk, partners and customers.
² Dig deep into how gift cards are utilized in the workplace to motivate, incent, and reward in employee programs.[hs_action id="2877"] 1 & 2 Source: IRF Market Study: B2B Gift Cards

Stress in the American workplace is front and center for organizational leaders at companies of all sizes across the country. Management is constantly balancing the general stress that comes with work, and the negative effects that stress has on company culture and employee health. As corporate wellness initiatives gain prevalence as a solution to the cost of stress here are some staggering statistics that illustrate the importance of corporate wellness and stress management in the workplace.

An increasingly diverse and remote workforce brings many challenges to management teams when strategizing and coordinating employee programs such as employee recognition programs. Layer on that the need for employers to show their recognition of workplace diversity and appreciation for individualism, and the challenges multiply. This is why employers increasingly offer gift cards as incentives and rewards within employee recognition programs, as the recipients can redeem with their own choices.
The IGCC rounds it up well: “gift cards empower the recipient with the right to choose the item that most motivates himself or herself”.  Ceridian states that 8 out of 10 employees prefer gift cards over other incentives. This preference rewards for hard work they’ve done and motivates them to keep it up. The simplicity of gift cards has also helps management deliver programs quicker and with relevance and care to the participants. There is a significant time savings in the decision making process…..another important cost savings benefit of gift cards. Also important; purchasing gift cards in bulk offers employers volume discounts. Learn more about how gift cards are used as corporate wellness incentives, healthcare program incentives, and loyalty rewards.[hs_action id="2863"]