Nobody asked for an AI to roast them about their wellness habits. We built it anyway. It might be the most popular feature on the platform.
Every Sunday evening, each ShopGiv Wellbeing user gets their Weekly Roast — a personalized, AI-generated recap of their wellness week. What they crushed. What they skipped. What they said they'd do but very much did not do.
It looks something like this:
"You logged 3 workouts this week. You said you'd do 4. Your Financial Coach would point out that's a 75% completion rate — well below your debt payoff performance (100% on time for 3 months straight). Maybe treat workouts like bill payments? Non-negotiable. 🔥"
Why it works
Traditional employee wellness programs are earnest. They're supportive. They're encouraging. They're also boring — which is why 95% of employees never use them.
The Weekly Roast is the opposite. It's funny. It's specific. It's occasionally uncomfortable. And employees love it because it treats them like adults who can handle a joke about their own behavior.
The engagement numbers
Our early data shows:
- 67% open rate for Weekly Roast notifications (compare to 3-6% for traditional EAP contact)
- 34% share rate — a third of users share their roast with someone else
- 12% higher next-week engagement — users who read their roast are more likely to use the platform the following week
That last number is the one that matters most. The roast isn't just entertainment — it's a behavior change tool disguised as comedy.
The science behind the humor
There's actual research supporting what we're doing:
Self-distancing through humor. When you laugh at your own behavior, you create psychological distance from it. That distance makes it easier to change. A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that self-deprecating humor about personal challenges led to greater willingness to address those challenges.
Social accountability through sharing. When an employee shares their roast with a coworker or wellness partner, they're publicly acknowledging their goals and their gaps. Research consistently shows that public commitment increases follow-through rates by 2-3x.
Loss aversion. Breaking a streak feels worse than starting one feels good. The roast reminds you: "You had a 14-day streak. Had. Past tense. Day 1 now." That sting motivates more than any encouraging poster in the break room.
Safety rails
We're not reckless with this. The Weekly Roast has safety rails that are invisible to the user but non-negotiable in the code:
If an employee is going through a genuine crisis — financial hardship, mental health struggle, medical issue — the system automatically switches from roast mode to encouragement mode. No jokes. No teasing. Just support.
The mood check: If an employee's mood scores have been below 3/10 for five consecutive days, the roast is replaced with a warm, supportive message. The system never kicks someone when they're already down.
Three humor levels: Users choose their own intensity:
- Friendly — gentle teasing, mostly encouragement
- Roast — real comedy roast energy, calls out contradictions
- No Mercy — full roast, holds nothing back (but still follows the safety rails)
The default is Friendly. Users opt INTO harder roasts. Nobody gets surprised.
What this means for employers
If you're an HR leader reading this and thinking "this seems unprofessional for an employee benefit" — consider this:
Your current EAP has 3-6% utilization. Your employees don't remember the phone number. They don't trust it. They definitely don't talk about it with their coworkers.
ShopGiv Wellbeing users share their Weekly Roast in the break room. They compare notes. They challenge each other. "My Drill Sergeant coach was BRUTAL this week." "Yeah? My No Mercy roast called out my DoorDash habit."
That's engagement. That's culture. That's employees actually using the benefit you're paying for.
And underneath the humor? Real coaching. Real behavior change. Real results that show up in your monthly ROI report.
The roast is the hook. The coaching is the substance. Together, they get 47% of employees opening the app — every month.
[See how it works: shopgiv.com/employee-benefits →]
Dan Adam is the CEO of AiN Collective. He set his own Weekly Roast to "No Mercy" and immediately regretted it. His Health Coach had opinions about the pizza.