Wellness Programs: Help Us Help You

Face it—all company wellness programs are not created equally. Some companies spend countless hours and dollars to offer robust wellness programs with bells and whistles while other organizations put together a simple program relatively quickly. Does the time and effort the company spent creating the wellness offering equate to a successful program? Not necessarily, but research does agree that a strong wellness incentive program does increase employee participation. Those looking to create a new wellness program should start by evaluating your culture. An important detail often overlooked is connecting the type of incentive to the way your organization would like to measure the success of the initiative. Start by considering the three primary types of wellness incentive programs: participation, progress, or outcome-based.

Seventy-five percent of companies offering a wellness program also offer some sort of incentive to participate. Employers and HR professionals need a basic understanding of the three types of incentive programs prior to developing a new health and wellness initiative. The first is participation-based. This option is focused on increasing the number of enrolled employees. Rewards are offered for an activity that’s easy for any employee, like completing a health assessment or wellness education. This is by far the “lowest lift” option for employees.

For companies eager to see more active employee engagement, a progress-based incentive is a better option. This incentive is given to employees who show progress in meeting their health and wellness goals. Often, this supports a specific initiative, such as a walking program to increase the number of daily steps or a weight loss program. For example, employees log their steps in a wellness portal and receive a reward for doing this regularly.

The third option, outcome-based incentive, is ideal for those companies who are really looking to encourage their employees to show tangible health results. This means that while showing up or making progress is encouraged, the only employees who receive a reward are those whose health improves as determined by a specific metric. For example, this could be a smoking cessation program where those who quit smoking receive a financial incentive. It could also be a gym partnership where they are rewarded for increasing their muscle tone or lowering their body mass index (BMI). This type of program encourages improved health measures but may discourage attendees from joining because the stakes are so high.

A good clue that your program is well suited for your staff is whether they are participating. Talk to your employees and ask for their feedback on what incentives they prefer. Incentives, or rewards, run the gamut from discounts on workout gear and apparel to cash payouts. HR and business leaders would be smart to identify multiple plan options so that employees from all levels of health can proactively work on their wellness goals. And remember, a successful initiative will need to be flexible enough to change in response to your employees’ needs. Regular communications can identify potential areas of concern (burnout!) and provide you the chance to offer support before it evolves into a larger issue.

^{SOURCE: United Benefit Advisors (UBA)}