PBN Healthiest Employers of Rhode Island 2025 Awards
2-99 EMPLOYEES #1. Groov-Pin Corp.
CEO (or equivalent): Scot Jones
Number of employees: 66
MUCH HAS CHANGED since Groov-Pin Corp. opened for business in 1926. But the Smithfield-based manufacturer’s commitment to its employees’ health and well-being remains a significant priority.
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Groov-Pin’s signature incentive-based health and wellness program, GP Fit, empowers each employee to take control of their health by participating in various challenges. Such tasks include hydration, movement, mindfulness, nutrition and sleep.
About 90% of Groove-Pin’s employees participate in GP Fit, and it continues to grow.
“Groov-Pin leadership believes that health and wellness should be accessible to everyone. Wellness should not be exclusive,” company marketing specialist Lauren Ciuba said. “With many of our wellness challenges, we try to introduce healthy concepts that don’t need to cost a lot or require a huge time commitment so that participants see that it can be easy to get started on new, healthy habits. We also provide incentives like gym reimbursements and volunteer time off.”
Groov-Pin also regularly solicits critical employee input via surveys to continuously improve the program. Ciuba says through that feedback, the company has found out what health initiatives work for its demographics and what doesn’t.
A unique facet of GP Fit is the GP-N-Motion program. By completing daily, weekly and monthly wellness challenges, employees can earn up to $95 per month to use for health care costs. The program is available to all employees regardless of enrollment in Groov-Pin’s health insurance program.
GP-N-Motion utilizes the wellness app YuMuuv to allow users to sync data from different brands of fitness trackers and even use the tracking data from their phones. Additionally, YuMuuv also tracks daily steps, miles and active minutes. Employees can participate in challenges that focus on positive financial, mental and social outcomes as well. Challenges include exercise streaks, team races to hydration, meditation, budgeting and healthy eating challenges.
“Participants can also create their own personal challenges and set their own goals,” Ciuba said. “This comprehensive and accessible program allows all employees to participate regardless of physical fitness level and encourages positive habits that cover all aspects of health. Participants are encouraged to reflect on these challenges and determine which healthy habits they would like to continue to incorporate into their lives.”
The Walk to Wellness initiative has been one of Groov-Pin’s most popular and effective initiatives annually. The company hosts four Walk to Wellness challenges per plan year varying in goals and distances. The challenges often include a team competition, which offers a great way to connect with both of Groov-Pin’s locations, in Rhode Island and Georgia.
Some new benefit initiatives include an age-related/preventive exam incentive. Knowing many people often delay these types of exams, Groov-Pin began incentivizing critical age-related and preventive exams, including colonoscopies, mammograms, Pap smears, bone density tests, prostate cancer screenings and skin cancer screenings.
Other initiatives are Move for a Cause and community service. With many employees getting involved in community service programs, Groov-Pin offers incentives for participation in group fundraising activities, such as 5K races and relays. Employees can also earn wellness dollar contributions up to twice a year for both incentives.
The company also has its GP University, an online learning hub allowing participants to select interesting topics and learn on their own. Employees are incentivized to complete 60 minutes of learning per quarter.
Nichole Smith, Groov-Pin’s wellness program coordinator and accounting specialist, says the sheer number of opportunities offered to employees, as well as the financial backing behind them, is what really sets the company apart. Wellness programs are a critical component to any company because, she says, they show the employees they care about them as a person; not just someone doing a job.
“The time, money and effort put into these programs express the company’s openness to provide its employees with a healthy work-life balance, as well as a clear understanding that the employees matter,” Smith said. “By promoting and supporting a healthy lifestyle for its employees, the company is supporting itself by having strong, healthy, well-balanced employees to grow its business.”
A Healthy Thought:
‘Wellness is a way of life at Groov-Pin.’
NICHOLE SMITH Groov-Pin Corp. wellness program coordinator and accounting specialist
