GiftCard Partners Blog

You spoke and we listened. We’re gathering and publishing results of our 2011 Gift Card Usage Survey and we’ll be including success stories in each eNews. Health and Wellness Incentives Wellness incentives have become good business. They reduce health care costs for employers and increase employee productivity.  To enhance participation, rewards are given to employees for filling out HRA’s (Health Risk Assessments). HRA’s are used to assess the lifestyle risk behaviors of individuals as part of the annual Periodic Health Assessment, work-site wellness program, or other community health activities.  Health and Wellness Programs are measurable; rewards can be given via a points system or for participating in healthy activities like joining a gym, or for achieving healthful milestones like losing weight, decreasing blood pressure or taking daily walks during breaks. Here are a few ways that our survey respondents are using gift cards to engage, motivate and reward:

Employers are now finding ways to punish employees for unhealthy behavior.  Increasingly, employers are holding their employees responsible.  Instead of blindly providing health insurance to all employees on the same level, regardless of their health, employers are giving one kind of insurance to healthy employees, and a less desirable package to less healthy employees.  Deductibles are higher for employees who are over weight, who smoke, or who have other conditions that result from unhealthy behavior.  Employees can avoid this cost by participating in wellness programs, provided by the employer, but if they choose not to, they face the insurance increase. Some workers rights groups find these practices coercive, and unfair.  Opposition to these kinds of insurance programs stem from the fact that often, it cannot be proven exactly how much more a less healthy person costs a company, than someone who is healthy and in good shape.  At GiftCard Partners we believe that a Carrot Vs. the Stick approach, which offers rewards and incentives for good behavior, is far better than outcasting and punishing employees.  Although these practices promote a healthy lifestyle, is it fair to essentially reduce an employees paycheck when the company cannot tell exactly how much more that person is costing them?  
For more information read the full Chicago Sun-Times article If you have an opinion on these programs, or your company runs a program similar to this, leave us a comment.

As employers look for more effective ways to engage their workforce, reduce healthcare costs, and boost morale, corporate wellness programs continue to evolve. One standout example comes from Xceed Financial Credit Union, where leadership built a holistic wellness initiative that blends traditional health goals with community and personal development.

This blog is in no way meant to be alarmist. I grew up on the coast of RI; I know how ocean-side communities fear hurricanes. This blog is meant to highlight a use of gift cards that we’ve seen repeated in several places, including our recent Summer 2011 Gift Card Usage Survey (results to come) and this story, from Naples FL. Blood drives are so important to maintaining the critical and highly perishable supply of blood that is needed to support the victims of natural disasters, in addition to the normal supply required. A recent NY participant in GiftCard Partners’ survey shared that they use gift cards to keep their most loyal donors and supporters engaged with them and to positively impact their blood giving experience, frequency and long term supporter status. In my opinion; this is how to rally help for friends and neighbors... from
www.naplesnews.com: “The blood center will offer $10 gas cards and the chance to meet former Miami Dolphins defensive star, Kim Bokamper. Successful donors will also receive a $5 Patric’s Restaurant gift card and gift cards from Sylvan Learning Center, Sugar Palm Café Bakery & Sports Clips while supplies last. Event participants will have the opportunity to win the following grand prize drawings: one of two pairs of Tampa Bay Rays game tickets, one of three pairs of Fort Myers Miracle Baseball tickets, a 10-passenger sightseeing cruise from Cruise Naples and one of 3 three $50 gift cards courtesy of Lu Lu Belle Children’s Boutique. Plus, visitors can enter to win the blood center’s summer grand prize drawing of 4 adult two-day Busch Gardens admission passes and lodging from Wingate by Windham. Visit
www.givebloodcbc.org or call 239-436-5455 for more information.” Gift cards are a great way to inspire and incent people to take part in such a critical campaign.
Read the full report and blood donor offer here.      

Virtual work-force Promotes Company Growth, Family Values and a Healthier Environment

WELLESLEY, Mass.,
Aug. 16, 2011
/PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Today
GiftCard Partners' (GCP)
Ed Shulkin and Deb Merkin announced 10 years of vision coming to fruition as their virtual workforce now stretches across all regions of the country.
Massachusetts,
New York,
California,
Florida, and
Oregon are just a few of the company's remote workplace "home" offices. Read the rest of the PR Newswire release here:

GiftCard Partners Expands from Coast to Coast with Entirely Remote Workforce.