5 Things To Know About Office Wellness Incentives
When executed correctly, wellness incentive programs can help employees make healthier lifestyle choices and incorporate activity into their daily lives. Unfortunately, these programs can also have unintended consequences, including employee perceptions of bias. They are worth investigating, and if done correctly, can help save your company and its employees on healthcare costs down the road. Here are some factors to consider before implementing an office wellness incentive program.
Choose incentives carefully
The main goal of a wellness incentive program is to spur employees to make healthy choices in their lives. As such, it is important to choose incentives that will help them make these choices. Offering prizes for specific healthy activities, such as taking a certain amount of steps or adopting other healthy behaviors can make employees more apt to participate. Some programs offer incentives such as lower health premiums, but you can start small by offering extra paid vacation hours or gift cards.
Don't discriminate
One criticism of wellness incentive programs is that they can make certain employees feel discriminated against. Offering incentives such as lower premiums to non-smokers or people who maintain a certain BMI can lead to human resources issues. It's best to stick with incentives that will be less likely to be seen as preferential. These programs should also be voluntary.
Make it random
Encourage employees to participate in wellness programs by having them track their steps or engage in other healthy activities to be entered into a drawing for an incentive. By using a drawing and making prizes random, you can foster a healthy sense of competition and eliminate the perception of bias. Prizes can include company swag, a free lunch or vacation time.
Make it easy
If your company's wellness incentive program is complicated or difficult, it could dissuade employees from participating. Make it fun and easy by offering links to websites that help employees track healthy behavior in company emails. If there are local fitness centers that are easily accessible from your office, see if you can offer a discount to employees. Taking the work out of these incentive programs may make people more likely to utilize them.
Offer the correct tools
Simply notifying your employees that they are engaging in unhealthy behavior isn't likely to encourage them to make positive changes. By offering health assessment tools and nothing more, you are merely reminding employees that they are engaged in unhealthy behaviors. These habits are likely ingrained in your employees, so you're probably not giving them any new information. For a program to be effective, you need to offer resources to help your employees make lifestyle changes.
Wellness incentive programs can serve as a fun perk for employees who are ready to change their unhealthy behaviors. However, they must be implemented correctly to be successful. Offering incentives and resources to motivate employees can help lead them to a new lifestyle and can save your company money in the long run by helping create a healthier workforce.
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