Thrive ZP: Making a Great Thing Even Better — All in the Name of Associate Well-being

Sept. 3, 2020
By David Hoke, Senior Director, Health and Well-being, Walmart

At Walmart, we continue to focus on associate well-being in all facets of life. From shifting our store hours to make their lives easier throughout the pandemic to issuing additional bonuses and even announcing our closure on Thanksgiving, we’re always seeking meaningful steps we can take to support our associates. I’m so proud of that work. We know there’s also so much we can’t control when it comes to personal well-being, so I’m especially proud of the tools and resources we provide through our ZP Challenge to empower our associates to take those steps on their own.

The stories our Walmart associates share about their successes continue to amaze and inspire me. Every day, our team of associates pledges to prioritize their health and well-being. Leveraging the resources provided, they’ve lost weight, eliminated sources of stress in their lives and improved their financial position.

In looking for ways to continue that progress, earlier this year Walmart partnered with Thrive Global, the behavior-change technology company founded by Arianna Huffington, to offer our team even more resources focused on emotional well-being.

Today, we’re proud to announce that we’re combining these well-being programs – ZP Challenge and Thrive Global – to provide one comprehensive suite of tools and resources that bring the best of our three well-being pillars together under one, newly named program, Thrive ZP.

Associates will access the resources via the app, and we’re reinvigorating the challenge component to encourage even more associates to strive for meaningful change. In fact, to-date, we’ve had 230,000 ZP Challenge entries. By bringing the best of Thrive Global into the ZP program, we’re arming our team with even more ways to focus on their well-being and set additional goals.

And, as always, we’ll recognize, celebrate and reward participants along their journey. Participants who share their stories of success, their setbacks and the impact that small changes have on their lives, will become eligible for potential financial rewards. To make sure as many people take advantage of the life-changing power of self-improvement as possible, Walmart and Thrive have increased the prize pool to $1 million and added more ways to win. This challenge is powered by the new Thrive ZP App.

Beginning Sept. 1, app users who submit their 21-day challenge could be one of 15 monthly cash prize winners. Additionally, Thrive ZP will be made available to the families of our associates to support their well-being and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

While the individual challenges our associates have completed through the program vary greatly, there’s always a common thread: they’re empowered to make their lives and the lives of those they love better. They serve as role models in our company’s mission of helping others live better. These are associates who are personally committed to working on their own well-being and want to help others do the same.