Non-Sales
In Wellness Programs, Rymax's Incentive for Clients Is Doing Internally What It Supplies
By William Ng
August 11, 2011
When it comes to supplying incentivized wellness programs, Rymax Marketing Services, the full-service incentive house based in Pine Brook, NJ, walks the walk. The company runs a point-based program for its own employees, called Steps to Wellness, and “shows clients that we practice what we preach,” says Kate Devlin, human resources manager.
“We use our own company as a benchmark for anything we roll out to our clients,” notes Dana LaSalvia, Rymax’s director of marketing. “We test internally and share our results with clients, which helps inspire them into incenting their employees. The big goal is to look at wellness as part of the entire employee engagement package.”
In 2009, Rymax began its own employee wellness program. Along with the yearlong, points-based format, the company instituted a cultural transformation. This involved changes in office vending-machine choices, healthy food choices at the company’s annual summer picnic, and even an employee-produced summer recipe book, in which each recipe showed sodium and caloric counts. Those who participated in the cookbook earned additional points.
“We added a wellness element to our annual picnic, as well as try to make wellness a part of everything the company does,” says LaSalvia.
Like many corporate wellness programs, Rymax’s started out small and eventually metamorphosed to become an integral part of the company today. Rymax launched its program with water bottles, pedometers, and promotional placards that encouraged its employees to adopt healthier lifestyles. LaSalvia says many Rymax customers are taking the same approach.
“We work with organizations on baby steps, getting feedback, and once management buys in, we help them launch more initiatives,” she says. But she adds that many Rymax’s clients don’t see wellness programs as piecemeal entities. Rather, companies are integrating them into enterprise-wide employee engagement, along with performance and years-of-service recognition programs.
So, as a full solutions provider, Rymax works with clients on a wellness program component when they collaborate on the design of comprehensive engagement and incentive programs—what LaSalvia describes as “universal packages.” In a type of show-and-tell, they learn about the Rymax internal wellness committee that organizes walking groups, the monthly newsletter that showcases a wellness product of the month, the employee healthy recipe book, the “lunch and learns”—where employees pick up tips on being healthier.
Rymax employees who make regular gym visits also receive discounts on their health insurance premiums every six months. “What increases our health care costs are claims, and we’ve been able to sustain our insurance rates,” says Devlin. “We also see our people taking fewer sick days.”
Adds LaSalvia: “We coach our clients to do prelaunch surveys, documenting the number of days their employees called in sick, their insurance costs, the previous level of wellness engagement—both soft and hard metrics. Then measure again next year. Were there reduced insurance premiums? Less sick days taken?”
Similar to what it supplies clients, Rymax gives employees in its points program access to an awards catalog with Gaiam, Nautilus, and Bowflex fitness equipment and workout videos and KitchenAid steamers—targeted incentives for healthier living. In addition, they can redeem their points for gift cards from the likes of SpaFinder, Foot Locker, and Nike.
Rymax has just launched MaxSite 3.0, the third iteration of its online rewards platform. Clients get private-labeled editions of the online platform, which has incorporated functionality to support wellness with health quizzes, downloadable wellness and stress-relief information, icons denoting wellness-related award items, and points leaderboards for competitive participants.
“We’re making sure it’s not just a redemption catalog,” LaSalvia notes.
Because Rymax is using the expertise and experience gained from its own employee wellness initiatives, and interested clients can vet them, it has been successful in the wellness sector, she says. “Our approach to any program is we will be your contact from execution to fulfillment and we will go through timeline, budget, participant demographics, communications, launch, and reporting.”
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