LuckyVitamin, an e-commerce company supplying over 38,000 natural and organic products to customers around the globe, is truly “walking the talk” of workforce wellbeing. With a mission to support anyone — including their employees — on their journey toward happy wellness, they promote and enable the pursuit of wellbeing in all that they do.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Vicki Wolf, the Director of LuckyVitamin’s Wellness@Work program, to learn about their culture of wellbeing and how they’re using Grokker to meet their workforce health and wellness goals.
A Health-Forward Evolution
With its roots as a traditional pharmacy, the family-run online business we know today as LuckyVitamin evolved into a health food store shortly after Wolf was diagnosed with cancer. She was inspired to learn as much as she could about preventive medicine and holistic healing as a means to feel her best for the long-term. “I was always health-minded,” Wolf explains, “but with the cancer diagnosis, I started experimenting with a more organic, hormone-free diet. I found that diet, exercise, and emotional state do make an impact, and I fared through my treatments really well because I supported my body nutritionally and mentally.”
Wolf changed her personal approach to wellbeing, which impacted her business. Her enthusiasm and success, driven by a passion to teach and help people, led the family to expand their store’s offerings. “We began selling health foods and providing yoga and pilates classes, wellness consulting, massage therapy services, and more, until one day my oldest son said, ‘We need ecommerce!’” LuckyVitamin started to build its online presence.
As the company grew, Wolf understood that employees shared the same health and wellbeing goals of their customers. “People working here like to practice what we preach and make our customers happy and healthy,” she says, “so we must make sure our team is happy and healthy first!” She started the points-based Wellness@Work program that featured a variety of weekly activities, from scheduled walks to meditation time.
Wolf soon noticed that many employees simply weren’t available to participate. “They were tied up in meetings, on phone calls, or traveling,” she says. “It was frustrating because we tried to offer different programs in-house, but it was clear that we needed a better way to accommodate staff schedules.” Meanwhile, Wolf was struggling to accurately track people’s wellbeing activities using a point system. “How do you know they’re actually at the gym getting a work out?” she asks, adding that she wanted employees to get credit for the other things they were doing to improve their health.
Fostering a Wellbeing Culture
“I told employees I was looking for a solution to expand our program,” Wolf recalls. “An employee had a Grokker membership and brought it to my attention because she was enjoying it so much. I looked it up, had some conversations, and found it would work for us perfectly!”
Grokker would help Wolf offer additional programs and tracking for health and wellbeing activities outside of the programs offered internally. “Grokker allows our staff more opportunities to participate and reap the rewards of living a healthier lifestyle,” she explains. It was just what they needed to experience workforce wellbeing, every day.
With the tracking and administration of LuckyVitamin’s points system transferred to Grokker’s platform, Wolf isn’t bogged down with manual processes and employees have more ways to spend trackable minutes taking care of themselves. “It’s different for every person,” Wolf says, “whether that’s a walk, meditation, or watching a fitness video. Grokker helps us track everything,” she adds, “especially since Grokker can sync with Fitbits, Garmins, and Apple Watches. In fact, my kids bought me a tracking device just so I could have it to participate and earn minutes!” Wolf laughs.
With Grokker, Wolf says, “there are more ways for each employee to be active, involved, and become more educated through the videos. Plus, they can access the content on their devices 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” This gives every employee the opportunity to participate in their quarterly programs and earn acknowledgement, prizes, and rewards, including discounts on LuckyVitamin merchandise — an incentive that helps employees eat healthfully, take care of their families, and address a range of personal care needs.
Setting An Example for Other Companies
In addition to employees and their families, LuckyVitamin’s business community has taken notice of their commitment to wellbeing. The Philadelphia Business Journal named LuckyVitamin one of their Healthiest Employers of 2019. The press release notes that “LuckyVitamin's program encourages and promotes a unique workplace culture that employees look forward to being a part of each day.” Grokker is cited as one of the reasons for their success. “What Grokker has had to offer to LuckyVitamin,” Wolf expresses, “was a huge part of us being chosen for this award. We couldn’t have accomplished that without Grokker!”
It takes more than the right technology and wellbeing partners to achieve LuckyVitamin’s level of workforce wellbeing notoriety: it takes a business philosophy that first and foremost supports employees — and understands what they need. “Today, businesses are more than a place to work from 9-5,” notes Wolf. “A company that recognizes they have the ability to add quality to their staff’s life, whether it be at work or while at home, is a company who shows they really care about their people. If you change one person’s life because of what you have exposed them to, then you are truly successful.”
Inspired?
Learn more about LuckyVitamin! And if you want to take a deeper dive into what it takes to nurture a culture of wellbeing, download our ebook, The Culture Connection: Workforce Wellbeing and Your Organizational Success.
