Do you notice your employees coming back from their lunch break just a little slower than when they left? Well studies show that it might be due to that large lunch they ate. A U.S. study by Wellness & Prevention, Inc., published in the April issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed the relationship between a large lunch and a slower worker.
According to the report, a company of 1,000 employees had an annual productivity loss of $107,965 due to binge eating. The issue with binge eating is not one to overlook. It not only costs your company money and but also affects the health of your employees. So what to do? ”These findings suggest that efforts to improve the health, productivity, and performance of employee populations should include routine screenings and interventions for binge eating behavior,” said Richard Bedrosian, Ph.D., Director of Behavioral Health and Solution Development at Wellness & Prevention, Inc.
So encourage employees to participate in programs that address the issue of binge eating and look to solve it. CVS/pharmacy gift cards or the CVS Select Card, a selectively filtered card that filters out items not supporting a healthy lifestyle, not only offer the perfect incentive for participation in these kinds of programs but also send your employees the right message about the importance of their health.
Lauren McAuley is on the marketing team at GiftCard Partners. She is a recent graduate who enjoys diving head first into several aspects of the business including social media, graphic design, marketing, business development and public relations. Her passion for challenging herself keeps her trying new things every chance she gets, vegetable lasagna this week, maybe skydiving next week?
HealthyAmericans.org reports some pretty impressive corporate wellness program successes, like:
For every workplace wellness dollar spend, health care costs fall by about $3.27
Productivity increases
Absenteeism costs fall by approximately $2.37
This knowledge has led to more than 90% of large employers to add at least 1 benefit to their package and more than 60% of smaller employers to do the same.
Since employees and their dependents’ health is largely affected by at home and out-side of the office factors, the site’s article also reminds us that corporate wellness programs can only go so far.
Have you considered using this fact to promote health during off-working-hour times? You can do this by providing health and wellness incentives such as gift cards to healthy retailers and merchants, such as CVS/pharmacy, Whole Foods Market, GNC, and Boston Market, where families can get fast, yet well rounded meals.
Learn more about “healthy incentives” and get your workforce on a healthy track, in and out of the workplace.
Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.
Contrary to popular belief it’s not always about the amount you spend on your holiday workplace gifts that shows how much you appreciate your employees hard work throughout the year. Breaking the bank need not be a concern when choosing the best way to thank employees this holiday season. Entrepreneur’s Margie Zable Fisher highlights some creative, thoughtful, fun and cost efficient gift ideas in several categories:
Food-Two words sum up this category: Sweet Tooth. Holidays are the time of year to indulge in the sweeter things in life. Try giving a box of fine chocolates or a basket of cupcakes from a local bakery, they’re sure to please.
Stress relief- Everyone is a little stressed out this time of year. Give them something to soothe their nerves. Herbal teas or aromatherapy products make great gift baskets.
Technology- It’s impossible to go anywhere and not see someone with an iPhone or iPad. Help employees protect their gadgets with cool cases or accessories.
Gift Cards- Some people are just impossible to shop for and that’s the beauty of gift cards. Give the gift of a night out of the kitchen with gift cards to The Cheesecake Factory or help out with everyday purchases with gift cards to CVS/pharmacy.
Lauren McAuley is on the marketing team at GiftCard Partners. She is a recent graduate who enjoys diving head first into several aspects of the business including social media, graphic design, marketing, business development and public relations. Her passion for challenging herself keeps her trying new things every chance she gets, vegetable lasagna this week, maybe skydiving next week?
Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.
The following infographic from mashable.com shows how obesity, growing ever more prevalent in workplaces across the country, can cost your company valuable money and resources. Implementing health and wellness programs for employees using small incentives, such as gift cards to assist in living a healthy lifestyle, such as the CVS/Pharmacy Select Card or a GNC gift card can save your company money and keep your employees healthy, productive, and happy in their jobs. Check out the information below to help prevent obesity in your office.
The author:
Rachel Merkin is a digital marketing professional . She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time at the beach as she can.
Not seeing the response rate you’re hoping for when it comes to your company’s news, emails and promotions? The answer could be as simple and as affordable as gift cards. If you feel like you’re pulling teeth to get people to interact or respond to your content then this small reward can go a long way in changing that. Purchasing gift cards in bulk saves you money and also guarantees you have enough plastic incentives for all your prospects, all year long.
Gift cards are a perfect way to incentivize or reward future prospects for thinking twice before clicking that delete button and moving an inch to the right and clicking that golden ‘subscribe’ button; thus giving you the possibility of reaching a new audience. If you are reaching out to a relatively small audience then a $5 or $10 gift card to CVS/pharmacy or SUBWAY could be offered as an incentive to subscribe or give a referral.
Not only are gift cards great for working within a tight budget but they also offer you the opportunity to grow your company’s database and eventually capture leads & sales.
The author:
Lauren McAuley is on the marketing team at GiftCard Partners. She is a recent graduate who enjoys diving head first into several aspects of the business including social media, graphic design, marketing, business development and public relations. Her passion for challenging herself keeps her trying new things every chance she gets, vegetable lasagna this week, maybe skydiving next week?
This is a really great overview CBS news story about why and how incentive based health and wellness programs offer success to employers and employees. They are reporting on survey findings of $3.00 – $6.00 ROI on every $1 spent on health and wellness programs.
Love how it worked out for the woman featured in this story! Cash and HRA contributions aren’t the only successful incentives; our corporate customers use CVS gift cards, CVS Select cards, and Subway gift cards as their incentives and they report equally great results when implemented over the course of a few years. Check out the CBS Health Watch video.
The author:
Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.
We’ve done much writing on the popularity of incentives and utilizing “healthy gift cards” within workplace health and wellness programs, but one of the benefits of doing so is often overlooked by hiring managers: Recruiting and how attractive these programs are when interviewing.
Healthcare costs are a top concern for all American workers. A recent Towers Watson study found that 73% of employees are concerned about paying more for out-of-pocket health costs and co-pays and 53% of survey participants said they “would be willing to trade a portion of their pay in return for more generous benefits.” This certainly highlights the importance of healthcare initiatives to the potential employee.
Being able to communicate that you seriously heed these concerns, and are addressing them by adding and expanding employee programs and incentives to offset costs, gives you a competitive advantage when recruiting and hiring. Health and wellness programs aren’t just a feather in your benefits cap, or a way to decrease healthcare premiums over time, but; they are also an increasingly important component to then competitiveness of your benefits package as a whole.
Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.
The American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) has designated the week of March 11-17th, 2012 as THE week to recognize HR professionals in hospitals and non-hospital organizations across the US. These professionals deal with difficult issues day in and day out, and they are the backbone of the healthcare workforce.
If you are an HR professional in the healthcare industry, lead the way and reward your colleagues with the gift they can use, like CVS and CVS SelectTM gift cards. It’s the employee gift that goes a long way to help with everyday family healthcare costs. Learn more about Healthcare HR Week!
The author:
Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, many are gearing up to figure out just the right gift for their significant other. Why not take the worry and stress out of finding that “perfect” gift that usually comes with a gift receipt and another trip to the store.
Calling all employers! This is a great time to exercise that wonderful incentive or loyalty program you’ve just put in place. Show you care by rewarding your employees with gift cards to 1-800-Flowers or CVS/pharmacy so they can reward the ones they love.
While the gentlemen are scratching their heads on whether to grab the Small shirt, so not to offend their wife, or trying to decide if her favorite color is purple even though she’s been wearing a lot of black lately, there is an easy solution. A gift card to The Limited will insure she gets exactly what she wants and leave him out of the dog house this February 14th.
The women in the office may be having some trouble of their own. They can get their guy the gift that keeps on giving with an AutoZone Gift Card…for the other love of his life. Or give him the chance to revamp his wardrobe with a gift card to Burlington Coat Factory.
Use this Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to reward your employees hard work and let them reward their loved ones.
The author:
Lauren McAuley is on the marketing team at GiftCard Partners. She is a recent graduate who enjoys diving head first into several aspects of the business including social media, graphic design, marketing, business development and public relations. Her passion for challenging herself keeps her trying new things every chance she gets, vegetable lasagna this week, maybe skydiving next week?
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