Employee Incentive Programs: The Key To Wellness

There is no question that if someone came up to you and offered you 10,000 dollars to run a marathon you would be way more motivated to do it than if your friend simply suggested in passing, “hey there is this marathon in a few months that we should train for, what do you think?”

The same idea of incentive will work for a corporation trying to motivate its employees. It is clear that health care costs are rising. With the new health care legislation on the horizon,  employees are trying to work every possible angle to cut health care costs. In order to cut these costs employees must become healthier. However companies must figure out a way to motivate employees to become healthier.

Many companies are employing professionals to come in and create corporate wellness programs. However, the program is ineffective if the employees do not use it. At the recent corporate wellness conference held in the Los Angeles area, participation was one of the big questions.

The key for increased participation is incentives, incentives, and incentives! When people feel like “there is something in it for them,” there are more likely to want to attain it. This is especially the case if people do not think their lifestyle is harmful, when it actually is. It is ok to give employees a little extra push in order to get them healthier. In the long run this will benefit both the employee and the company.

Statistics show that companies that have implemented incentive programs in correlation with wellness programs, have seen increased rates of participation in programs. This in turn has increased productivity and health for the company as a whole, which greatly cuts costs! So remember that incentives save money!

In addition, the beauty of incentive programs is that they can also be tailored to the want of the company, so that they cater to the exact population that they need to motivate. For example, a company of employees that already work out on a daily basis may need a different type of incentive program than a company where most of the employees are overweight, do not eat healthy, and do not participate in active movement of any sort.

There are many options, however here are a few suggestions of what has worked for others. A company can implement a points system, and once points are accumulated the employee can receive a gift card of some sort, or they could be entered to win a free vacation. Some companies have even implemented an incentive program that lowers the cost of insurance for the employee if the employee enrolls in the wellness program.

Remember, that healthy employees cut costs!  Incentives are what get employees to improve overall health. Therefore they are a necessary asset to any company that is looking to not only increase workplace wellness, but to cut costs!