When it comes to winter Canadiana, a few things come to mind. Toques. Hockey. All season tires. And yes, our favourite Canadian retailer, the Hudson’s Bay Company. While this shopping icon has long offered incredible year-round merchandise for everyone from Bonavista to Vancouver Island, it also offers something that will warm any cool Canadian heart – it offers history.

The Hudson’s Bay Company’s story is a rich tapestry spanning 339 years.  What started as a trading post has evolved into a 21st century retailer with a loyal following from coast-to-coast. Its major retail channels – the Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitters – together provide more than two-thirds of the retail needs of Canadians. With 1,000,000 products and over 400 stores across Canada, the Hudson’s Bay Company continues to dress, decorate, reward and incent Canadians during the spring, summer, fall, and yes Winter too.

When it comes to buying something for the home, most Canadians head to an Hbc family store location. But Hbc has a lot to offer Canadian businesses too: Same convenience, great service, and same great feeling of satisfaction knowing you’re promoting a true Canadian experience.  Hbc Gift Cards are really one of the simplest, most effective tools when it comes to building an effective rewards and incentives program, regardless of the size of your business.

So why not just reward recipients with a wad of cash this winter, you ask? Well you can, but there’s a certain emotional experience that recipients just can’t get from cash. It’s important to offer people tangible rewards that they can imagine themselves enjoying. With Hbc Gift Cards, they actually have an experience they then connect to. An emotional toast during the holidays is now associated with your company simply because the wine glasses were a redemption item. Or a child’s first bike ride without training wheels was a byproduct of an Hbc Gift Card. This psychological aspect of rewards and incentives programs can be just as important as the actual rewards themselves. And with its history and popularity among Canadians, Hbc has the potential to create more meaningful stories for hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

So this winter, lace up the skates, watch a little CBC, and don’t forget to warm up the office with Hbc gift cards. It’s really “aboot” being a good Canadian.

When it comes to productivity, one of the biggest challenges facing businesses during this time of the year is how to maintain a healthy workforce. While you can’t avoid every bug out there, you can certainly promote prevention. Here are a few wellness tips to keep the office full of healthy, happy, and yes, productive people.

Talk about it

It sounds simple, but just talking about health and wellness will encourage people to make it a priority. Maybe it’s a quick morning meeting to discuss tips or an email for people to read during their break.

Walk it off
Work related stress can quickly lead to other health problems. Encourage employees to take a brisk walk at lunch or mid afternoon. This simple activity burns calories, provides fresh air and reduces stress.

Roll with it
Bad posture can lead to chronic pain and reduced productivity. A good alternative to traditional office chairs is exercise balls, which force your body to use and correct postural muscles, abdominals, gluteals and leg muscles.

Home Sweet Home
With a tough cold and flu season ahead of us, it’s more important than ever to encourage people who are feeling slightly under the weather to work from home. With email, conference calling, and instant messaging capabilities, it will feel like they never left the office.

Make it official
It’s nice to talk about wellness, but the only way to see a difference is to implement a health program. Create a tiered plan, where basic participation will earn employees a $25 Hbc Gift Card, moderate involvement will earn them a $75 gift card and a wellness champion will earn a $100 gift card.