GiftCard Partners Blog

June is National Employee Wellness Month and in honor of this month we’re celebrating ‘Employee Wellness Monday.’ Today we sit down with two employees from GiftCard Partners to talk about their daily routines and learn what they do in order to stay on the right track when it comes to their health and wellness.

What steps do you take during your workday to ensure that you’re staying healthy, energized and alert?
Deb: I start my day, every day, by going to the gym at 5:30AM for 60-90 minutes. The workout contains 30-60 minutes of cardio, and 25-30 minutes of weights. Weather permitting- I will bike 15-20 miles on the weekend. I have started writing down what I eat as well through
myfitnesspal.com.
Melina: Since I’ve taken the big step (for me at least) to try my first triathlon, I’ve begun a new routine this month. By the way, this “iron girl” triathlon is a beginner one (Thank God) which consists of a half mile swim, 12 mile bike ride and wraps up with a 3 mile run.  I’ve started running up to 3 miles 3-4 times a week. I try to do it in the morning or early evening to avoid the heat of mid-day. I also ride my bike on weekends with my fellow triathloners to get used to the hilly terrain. As for the swim, well we just hit over 80 degrees this week so I’ll be starting 50 laps in the pool tonight!! PS I drink LOTS of water all day long at my desk to stay well hydrated.
What happens when you don’t stick to this routine?
Deb: I stick to this routine, because if I don’t I feel grouchy and tired and my family and coworkers don’t like me. The only time I don’t exercise is when I can’t logistically because of travel or my asthma has kicked up to the extent I just can’t do anything.
Melina: I’ll probably come in last! Not to mention the possibility of not being able to finish it. Truth be told, I just feel better and more productive with work and around my family when I’ve had some form of exercise each day.
What advice would you give someone who is looking to get healthier during their 9-5 work week?
Deb: Keep a schedule- and do it early in the day as life usually does get in the way.  Then you stay energized the whole day!
Melina: Find the time to get that body moving regardless of the type or intensity of the exercise. It really helps to re-energize so you can be more productive throughout the day.
Rewarding Your Employees for Their Healthy Choices
Want to reward or recognize your workforce this month for putting in the extra effort to stay healthy? Our gift card clients make it easy to reward your workforce for their healthy behavior with convenient and flexible volume discounts on bulk orders.

Incentives are a powerful thing and are used virtually everywhere. They come in the form of discounts for loyalty members, dessert for the veggie hating toddler, and more and more often being used as rewards for employees to get healthier through Corporate Wellness Programs. These Corporate Wellness Programs are popular among organizations looking to do a number of things, be it effectively foster a healthier work environment, increase employee productivity and reduce absenteeism, and even offset rising healthcare costs. In an effort to shine a little light on the constantly growing and evolving topic, Corporate Research Group, CVS/pharmacy and GiftCard Partners come together to bring you the educational webinar, “Maximizing the Value & Benefits of Using Incentives in Corporate Wellness Programs to Improve Health and Increase Performance.”
           
Check out the presentation from Cheryl Larson and Neal Sofian and learn more about:

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

Employee health should be a top priority for any organization and that’s where a health and wellness program comes into play. Let’s take diabetes for example. 
HealthDay News reported that nearly 26 million adults and children in the U.S. have diabetes and another 79 million have prediabetes. And what’s this costing? The rising cost of diabetes in the U.S. has jumped from $174 billion in 2007 to $245 billion in 2012 and 62% of that cost is provided by government insurance groups like Medicare and Medicaid. In many cases taking responsible steps, like keeping your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol under control, can prevent diabetes problems in the first place. So how do health and wellness programs come into play? Good question, glad you asked. 
Prevention is key to controlling this issue. A company’s health and wellness program may ask employees to participate in regular health screenings, hold regular “wellness presentations” to inform employees on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, or it may reward employees for meeting health goals like reaching weight loss targets or lowering blood pressure or cholesterol. Offering “healthy incentives” in your health and wellness programs brings the whole process full circle. Interested in learning how to include healthy incentives in your corporate health and wellness program? Learn more, ask questions or check out more great gift card
incentive options from GiftCard Partners.
Check out
 National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse for more ways on how to prevent diabetes problems or keep diabetes under control.