November 15, 2024
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Are Incentives Beneficial in Driving Corporate Wellness Programs?
A recent survey found that rewards and incentives are top motivators to engage individuals in employer-sponsored health and wellness programs. The survey comes as studies continue to question the effectiveness of corporate wellness programs.
The survey was commissioned by Wondr Health, which offers weight-loss and nutrition solutions to corporations. Asking 1,500 Wondr Health participants across nearly 60 employer clients what motivates individuals to engage in employer-sponsored wellness programs, the top answers were rewards and incentives, cited by 35.6%; followed by personalized reminders and communications, 31.8%; recognition of achievement, 14.6%; coaching, 13.1%; and community support, 4.9%.
Rewards under Wondr Health’s program include yoga mats, exercise bands, wireless earbuds, smoothie blenders, water bottles, white noise machines, Wondr T-shirts, and hats.
Other corporate wellness incentives, according to Hacking HR, include:
- Cash incentives: Offering monetary rewards for achieving specific health goals (i.e., quitting smoking, reaching certain fitness goals).
- Health insurance premium discounts: Reducing health insurance premiums to employees actively participating in wellness programs.
- Gym memberships and fitness discounts: Subsidized gym memberships, fitness classes, or personal training sessions.
- Healthy food options: Offering discounts on healthy food options within a corporation’s cafeterias or providing meal delivery services that prioritize nutritious choices.
- Financial education and planning: Incorporating workshops on budgeting, debt management, and retirement planning into wellness programs to help employees improve their financial well-being.
According to the KFF, an independent healthcare nonprofit, 54% of small companies and 85% of large companies offered health and wellness programs with investments promising to improve health outcomes, reduce absenteeism, and cut healthcare costs. The offerings range from mindfulness classes, free massages, and time management training to mental health coaching and apps that support better sleep and lifestyle change.
Yet surveys show burnout rates remain high and engagement in wellness programs remains low.
In a penned Harvard Business Review article, researchers from Unmind, a workplace mental health platform, said workplace well-being programs often don’t address “root causes” of stress, such as demanding workloads, and progress may “require more significant changes like reimagining workflow or operations, which can make them a tougher initial sell to HR and senior management.”
Suggestions included offering more flexible working hours, exploring four-day weeks, streamlining existing working processes, and measuring results. Volunteer employees “acting as advocates for mental health” and mental health training for management can bolster employee buy-in, the researchers offered.
A study from Oxford, arriving earlier this year, analyzed survey responses from 46,336 workers across 233 UK workplaces and found that those participating in such programs were no better off than colleagues who didn’t. The research concluded that only the healthiest employees participate in such programs and suggested that employers may do better focusing on “core organizational practices” like schedules, pay, and performance reviews.
“If employees do want access to mindfulness apps and sleep programs and well-being apps, there is not anything wrong with that,” William Fleming, the author of the study and a fellow at Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Center, told the New York Times. “But if you’re seriously trying to drive employees well-being, then it has to be about working practices.”
BrainTrust
Chuck Ehredt
CEO, Currency Alliance
Adam Dumey
Global VP - Retail, World Wide Technology
David Spear
President, Retail, OrderlyMeds
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Why has the arrival of workplace wellness programs appeared to have not helped reduce burnout rates?
Will offering more incentives to drive engagement, rethinking workflows, or other steps be necessary to improve outcomes?
Poll
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I am sure that incentives motivate. I saw something interesting some time ago that said losses rather than gains were a greater motivator. So, saying people can have $1 a day for meeting some kind of wellness goal like hitting a certain number of steps is fine; but it is more powerful to start off with, say, a $30 a month benefit and then people lose $1 for each day they don’t hit their wellness goal. All that said, it’s no good just having wellness programs. Corporations also need to ensure people are treated well to protect their mental and physical health.
Good take Neil. Fear of losing out is definitely more motivating than a reward. You can assume you won’t earn the reward and thus not even try, but you don’t want to lose what is yours.
Companies who offer incentives for health, fitness and wellness will see more participation and happy employees if leadership not only leads by example, but also encourages everyone to be in the habit of using these benefits. Exercising the mind and body, or taking a short walk in the middle of the day should be expected. Health-minded bosses should want their teams to be at their best.
There are three critical problems with these programs — problems which ensure the programs will HURT rather than help motivation.
They tell workers that they are incapable within their own lives and that the parental company is taking steps to tell them what to do in newly invasive ways. How is it that companies cannot see this?They are based on the mythology that people don’t do good things without incentives. Yet most employees prefer to do what is valuable.Human biology is inherently complex. When companies pick metrics for these programs which apply to all employees (for example weight or steps), they are choosing to believe (against scientific fact) that there are useful univeral goals for these measures. Standardized measures always fail in this situation.
Trinkets are nice but they don’t provide lasting motivation. Financial-based incentives baked into an employee’s pay are much more powerful. In one of the companies that I worked for, the financial discount was listed on the pay stub as a line-item discount for health & wellness. I thought this was very smart because every 2 weeks when you reviewed your allocations for stock, 401k, benefits, etc. there was a consistent reminder to reach your physical activity goals. Additionally, when leaders in the company highlight the importance of fitness during town halls, internal webcasts, there is a higher likelihood that employees sign up for programs, monitor their progress and bring more energy and enthusiasm to workplace projects.
David, your point about organizational culture playing an oversized role in employee behavior cannot be overstated. I subscribe to the old adage – “be the change you want to see”. When leadership is consistent in demonstrating and communicating the importance of wellness (including but beyond incentives), it creates a powerful cultural norm that (partially) defines company identity.
Any general workplace health and wellness program is going to be ‘self-selecting’ by nature – as those most interested in their physical and mental health are likely to participate and those who choose not to participate and probably the ones who need the greatest encouragement. As with loyalty programs, the most frequent customers are already benefiting because the program is usually designed around their existing behaviors – and it reinforces those behaviors. If you want to engage the mid-tail and longer-tail customer or employee, you need alternatives that are meaningful to them in their busy lives. I especially agree with the comment that solving for the causes of stress many have more impact, but rewards and recognition will still play an important role – perhaps more on management to reengineer work processes to reduce stress, than rewards for the beneficiaries. In the end, everyone is a beneficiary of a healthier workplace.
Incentives may motivate someone to participate in a program, however I do not see incentives acting as a panacea for the overall health crisis in this country. In order to unwind unhealthy lifestyles you need more than some corporate incentive, mainly because motivation needs to come from within the individual. Attaching, say, lower health care premiums might help get someone interested in healthier practices but this is only a band aid on a major injury.
Healthy fit associates has to be a major part of the culture in order to drive behavior change, and most workplace environments are simply not capable of that.
Habits are very difficult to create. In my experience, these incentives have a moderate impact when they’re introduced, then fade over time as people settle in and revert back to their status quo.
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I am sure that incentives motivate. I saw something interesting some time ago that said losses rather than gains were a greater motivator. So, saying people can have $1 a day for meeting some kind of wellness goal like hitting a certain number of steps is fine; but it is more powerful to start off with, say, a $30 a month benefit and then people lose $1 for each day they don’t hit their wellness goal. All that said, it’s no good just having wellness programs. Corporations also need to ensure people are treated well to protect their mental and physical health.
Good take Neil. Fear of losing out is definitely more motivating than a reward. You can assume you won’t earn the reward and thus not even try, but you don’t want to lose what is yours.
Companies who offer incentives for health, fitness and wellness will see more participation and happy employees if leadership not only leads by example, but also encourages everyone to be in the habit of using these benefits. Exercising the mind and body, or taking a short walk in the middle of the day should be expected. Health-minded bosses should want their teams to be at their best.
There are three critical problems with these programs — problems which ensure the programs will HURT rather than help motivation.
They tell workers that they are incapable within their own lives and that the parental company is taking steps to tell them what to do in newly invasive ways. How is it that companies cannot see this?They are based on the mythology that people don’t do good things without incentives. Yet most employees prefer to do what is valuable.Human biology is inherently complex. When companies pick metrics for these programs which apply to all employees (for example weight or steps), they are choosing to believe (against scientific fact) that there are useful univeral goals for these measures. Standardized measures always fail in this situation.
Trinkets are nice but they don’t provide lasting motivation. Financial-based incentives baked into an employee’s pay are much more powerful. In one of the companies that I worked for, the financial discount was listed on the pay stub as a line-item discount for health & wellness. I thought this was very smart because every 2 weeks when you reviewed your allocations for stock, 401k, benefits, etc. there was a consistent reminder to reach your physical activity goals. Additionally, when leaders in the company highlight the importance of fitness during town halls, internal webcasts, there is a higher likelihood that employees sign up for programs, monitor their progress and bring more energy and enthusiasm to workplace projects.
David, your point about organizational culture playing an oversized role in employee behavior cannot be overstated. I subscribe to the old adage – “be the change you want to see”. When leadership is consistent in demonstrating and communicating the importance of wellness (including but beyond incentives), it creates a powerful cultural norm that (partially) defines company identity.
Any general workplace health and wellness program is going to be ‘self-selecting’ by nature – as those most interested in their physical and mental health are likely to participate and those who choose not to participate and probably the ones who need the greatest encouragement. As with loyalty programs, the most frequent customers are already benefiting because the program is usually designed around their existing behaviors – and it reinforces those behaviors. If you want to engage the mid-tail and longer-tail customer or employee, you need alternatives that are meaningful to them in their busy lives. I especially agree with the comment that solving for the causes of stress many have more impact, but rewards and recognition will still play an important role – perhaps more on management to reengineer work processes to reduce stress, than rewards for the beneficiaries. In the end, everyone is a beneficiary of a healthier workplace.
Incentives may motivate someone to participate in a program, however I do not see incentives acting as a panacea for the overall health crisis in this country. In order to unwind unhealthy lifestyles you need more than some corporate incentive, mainly because motivation needs to come from within the individual. Attaching, say, lower health care premiums might help get someone interested in healthier practices but this is only a band aid on a major injury.
Healthy fit associates has to be a major part of the culture in order to drive behavior change, and most workplace environments are simply not capable of that.
Habits are very difficult to create. In my experience, these incentives have a moderate impact when they’re introduced, then fade over time as people settle in and revert back to their status quo.