There are 101 Ways to Use Your Company’s Wellness Allowance. Here’s How Unbouncers Spend Theirs
Welcome. This is a multi-part series where we share insights, inspirations and lessons from the humans behind the brand — Unbounce. If you’ve ever wanted to know how a campaign was pulled off or the methodology behind personal wellness days, who better to speak about tech company mysteries than Unbouncers themselves.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it’s never felt more appropriate to talk about your health and wellness allowance. Y’know, the one that you get from your company? The one listed under “perks and benefits”? That’s the one!
First question, are you using it?
Wellness allowances are usually provided by companies for employees to pay for their mental or physical well-being needs.
*This is your reminder to tap into the perks your company offers, today and for the months ahead. You deserve it!
Now, I’ve always had trouble remembering to use my employer benefits in general (and I know I’m not alone). By the time I got to Unbounce though, I got better at using them. I pre-book my monthly massages for the year, I have regular dentist appointments with an Invisalign pending, and I max out my eyewear budget. Yesss— Zoom calls have never looked more fashionable from the shoulders up.
However, when I was introduced to the $500 wellness allowance offered at Unbounce, on top of the standard employee health benefits, I didn’t know what to spend it on?!
Luckily, Unbounce has a Slack channel for this exact dilemma. So I dug through the #fun-wellness channel to generate ideas because this allowance money…was burning a hole in the company’s pocket, and I needed to do something about it.
Here’s how Unbouncers have spent their wellness allowance—and yes I got permission to reveal it all.
- Ergonomic office chair
- Home bike
- An Endy mattress
- Wellness retreat
- Noise canceling headphones or AirPods
- Grovemade desk shelf
- WaySpa gift certificate from Costco
- Climbing wall
- Massage gun
- Air humidifier
- Air fryer
- Vacuum
- Vitamix blender
- Gardening supplies and plants
- Calligraphy lessons
- Gaming consoles
- Kitchen equipment (i.e. standup mixer)
- Outdoor bicycle and a bike rack to carry it
Whew, that was a list! But as I was writing this article I got curious about a few of them. Like, a CLIMBING WALL. Whet?! I needed to know details, so I tapped Graham Madden, staff developer to let us in on his motivation to build it. You read that right! He *built* one.
“I put my wellness allowance towards building a climbing wall in my spare room. Mainly because climbing gyms moved to a booking system during the pandemic and it became really difficult to book a spot with the reduced capacities. And aside from the obvious physical benefits, for me, climbing is a form of meditation and having a space to do that was really important.”
I was also curious about how a vacuum made the list but Shawna Jones, product design lead, revealed how it helped improve her daily quality of life:
“Normally in non-covid years I would get ski passes, yoga classes or outdoor gear, but the end of 2021 rolled around and I still hadn’t used my budget because I didn’t really leave my house. I have allergies and, I live in a 3-story unit with lots of stairs and our old vacuum drove me crazy. So… a cordless vacuum seemed like the best use of this awesome perk!”
Or Monika Karatodorova, talent acquisition specialist’s need to disconnect:
“I love the Scandinave Spa because you can spend a day relaxing surrounded by trees, looking at the mountains, in peace and quiet. No electronics are allowed and neither is any talking, so one can truly disconnect and focus on calming their mind while enjoying some physical pleasures with massages, saunas, steam rooms and relaxation rooms. For me this type of retreat works best to ground myself when stress is becoming a bit too much.”
And of course, there were a few plant parents, like Hussaina Wardhawala, product designer, who found peace in hers:
“It was my first real winter in Ontario and I was feeling quite depressed with the grey and cold weather outside. I bought 10 plants or so that I could care for and wake up with—it gave me a bit more purpose and serenity in my home.”
And Maddy Semilla, senior people operations specialist, found an opportunity for connection with family:
“I got into plants so I could connect more to my mom and older sister. My mom really loves plants; we had tropical plants and orchids in and out of the house when we lived in the Philippines. Then my sister started getting into them around 2019. I would always ask my mom for advice and plants came up a lot in our group chat. And I had no idea what they were talking about. So I bought a plant (and tried to keep it alive). Then clearly, it escalated from there.”
When I asked what some Unbouncers future plans are on spending their wellness allowance, Cecilia Drozdz, customer success manager shared this:
“I’ve been trying to develop healthy habits after work and one of them is a wind-down routine. I’m trying to read a few minutes before bed every day, take a bath and do a little meditation with the headspace app. Lately, I found that my sleep hasn’t been the best and I don’t look forward to getting into bed because the mattress is a bit old with a dip in the center (from years of sleeping in the middle of it). I’m planning on getting an Endy mattress as part of my wind-down routine so I can make going to bed something I look forward to every night. It’ll help me sleep better which will help my overall mental health and self-care progress.”
Oh, and me — you ask? Well, this year I bought myself a Vitamix—and massage gun in the past.
Those puppies cost a mini fortune, so blowing my wellness allowance on these over the last two budget cycles, felt like a justifiable purchase that I didn’t have to tackle on my own. It has now become a part of my morning routine to pulverize greens into liquid gold and 3x my recovery time with the massage gun post-workout. Whole-food juicing has helped boost my body’s immunity, heal my gut issues, detox and ward off ANY flu-like symptoms. Since covid still lurks, increasing my vitamin intake has become essential for me.
As you’ve witnessed, wellness looks different for everyone.
It’s what Unbouncers consider to be beneficial for their mental health — from hobbies, new or old to improving on healthier habits.
So I’m curious, what will you spend your wellness allowance on?
🚀 If you’re interested in gaining access to these perks (plus more) at Unbounce, check out our careers page to learn how to join the team and become an Unbouncer.
