Wellness and development incentives always work better when monetary incentives are given. Studies show that cash is the best motivator for employees to participate in various wellness activities, followed by reductions in health insurance premiums. This could be your ticket to improving total employee development.
On average, employers spend $8,748 to cover one employee’s health insurance. This is 62% more than the amount spent 5 years ago. About 25% of these costs result from unsafe and unhealthy employee behaviors, such as different vices including smoking and drinking. Because of this, some employers devised ways to bribe employees to change their habits.
Monetary incentives aren’t limited to work performance, now, there are monetary incentives for exercising, riding a bicycle to work and dieting! Now that’s total employee development. As of now, about 30% of employers, increased from 21% in 2004, award incentives to employees who participate in wellness activities.
5 Guidelines for Wellness Incentives
Total employee development combines the power of wellness programs and monetary incentives to urge employees to be healthy. Here are 5 guidelines to successfully reinforce health incentives in your business.
1. Ask employees to prepare a document of their current physical activities, or ask them to answer a survey about their current lifestyle. Always remind them that their participation in wellness activities will be verified, and those who manipulate the reports to get an incentive will be subject to disciplinary actions.
2. Don’t try to verify everything about your employees. Try to verify as much as you can, randomly. This includes attendance during exercise periods and health seminars.
3. Offer bigger rewards for bigger goals. Low prizes may not attract employees to participate, but bigger denominations can make them do everything to shed those extra pounds. Likewise, you can ask employees to suggest which kinds of activities they enjoy, or what type of prizes will convince them to do participate in the wellness activities. Ask whether they prefer working as a team or individually. Let them be involved in making the rules to increase their participation in the program.
4. Always think of the ROI. Track the difference between the prizes given and the money spent on health care premiums spent. Don’t forget to track improvements in absenteeism and employee performance. After all, their health should be reflected in their work performance.
Limit the monetary incentives to 20% of the total premium for the coverage employees. You can also talk with your health plan insurer if it can help you give incentive programs, or if it offers any other rewards for the company’s employees.
5. Offer incentives for healthy behavior, but not a person’s health status. Offer rewards for those who quit smoking, but understand that people with existing health problems can’t change that easily.
Companies that Embraced Total Employee Development by Bribing Employees to be Healthier
- IBM pays around $150 to $300 to its employees to quit smoking, take health assessments and to exercise. It has invested over $130 million for health rewards.
- Safeway offers discounted health care premiums for its employees who do not smoke, or those who undergo health risk assessments.
- Morrissey and Co., a public relations firm based in Boston, subsidized half of the cost of walking shoes for its employees who joined the 2-mile or 3-mile walks of its chief executive everyday.
Total employee development considers several factors—the employee’s health, work performance, job satisfaction are just a small part of the equation. Employee health, however, has a big impact on an employee’s performance, so it’s only logical to make a significant investment in this aspect of their development.
© 2013 Incedo Group, LLC
