Whistle Rewards reported a $1.085 million reduction in program costs for an unnamed national healthcare organization that changed its staff rewards process. The case study, published on August 23, 2024, describes a move from individual retailer gift cards to a reloadable, company-branded Visa rewards card.
The organization had distributed $2 million in Starbucks and Grubhub gift cards to 4,000 employees during 2023. Whistle reports that only 44% of the cards sent had been accessed, and separately states that $1.12 million of purchased value was unused. It does not disclose the card-value distribution or the calculation linking the count-based access figure to that dollar amount. Access is also distinct from redemption.
Healthcare case: total purchased pool and reported unused component
Whistle states both dollar amounts. The unused component is included in the total and must not be added to it.
USD
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Anonymous vendor report without ledger or independent audit. The bars overlap and are not additive or a before-and-after comparison. Unused does not mean expired; the access percentage cannot establish redeemed dollars.
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| Category | Reported value |
|---|---|
| Total purchased gift-card value | 2,000,000 USD |
| Reported unused value within that total | 1,120,000 USD |
The replacement program allowed rewards to be loaded onto a custom-branded Visa card. Whistle says this gave staff more spending options and reduced the number of separate retailer gift cards they needed to manage.
The funding arrangement described in the case lets the employer retain and repurpose rewards that employees have not accessed. Once funds are accessed and loaded onto a staff member’s card, the case study says that value does not expire.
Whistle reports that the change reduced total program costs by $1.085 million and provided visibility into reward senders, recipients and use. It also reports that 93% of staff preferred the new platform. The healthcare organization, post-change measurement period, cost breakdown and preference-survey base are not disclosed. The account therefore supplies attributed vendor claims, without evidence establishing that the switch alone caused those outcomes.
In this article
Maya Bennett
Maya Bennett covers customer loyalty, employee rewards and incentive programmes for Gift Card News.