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Employers report increased effectiveness of wellness incentives

Recent studies indicate that employers are turning to incentives to drive the success of workplace wellness programs. For example, 83% of 800 large and mid-size American employers now use some form of incentive to get their employees aware of their health status. Out of the 83% that use incentives, 79% offer rewards, 5% offer consequences and 16% offer a combination of both.* So what type of incentives work?

The right incentive depends on your company culture and the goals of your wellness program. In this study, 64% use monetary incentives between $50 and $500 and 18% use incentives of more than $500.

Of the employers that offer incentives, 24% say they are directly tied to progress or attainment of acceptable ranges of bio-metric measures such as blood pressure, body mass index, blood sugar and cholesterol. Here are some ideas about wellness incentives that may work for you:

  • Bring screenings on-site. Organizations that allow employees to use work hours for these screenings and receive a monetary incentive are likely to see higher participation than if employees must use personal time to do so.
  • Consequences can work too. This largely depends on your company culture, and in order to determine which one will work, you may need to test both. A multi-state organization may opt for consequences because it is challenging to coordinate on-site engagement with an incentive.
  • Not keen on offering employees cash incentives? Try one of these:
    • Extra earned PTO time
    • Subsidize gym memberships
    • Reduce premium for participants

The top 3 barriers to a successful wellness program are:

  1. Lack of time
  2. Lack of interest
  3. Effective communication

How does your wellness program address these barriers with incentives?

 

*Aon Hewitt Study Source http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/employers-report-increased-use-effectiveness-health-incentives-2731986-1.html?ET=ebnbenefitnews:e6575:2454586a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBN_inBrief_032813
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