Businesses are using a variety of creative incentives to encourage good health among their employees by making wellness programs fun instead of drudgery.
Consider these real-life examples:
Real-life examples
- Encourage “Big” steps. Company A revamped the stairwell next to an escalator by making the steps light up and play musical notes, inspired by the piano scene in the movie Big. The result: employees started running up and down the stairs.
- Use cardboard cut-outs. Company B put cardboard cut-outs of a physician holding a dry-erase board in various departments. “Wellness champions” in each department wrote short messages on the boards for their colleagues.
- Shut off the elevator. Company C closed the elevator during the morning rush hour, posted a sign-in sheet on each floor in the stairwell for employees to use when they reached their floor, and then sent a daily e-mail reporting the number of stair steps each worker logged—a simple way to encourage friendly competition.
- Tune elevator music to wellness. Company D replaced its elevator hold-music with brief wellness messages delivered to a captive audience.
- Get marketing involved. Company E includes how well the marketing team “markets” wellness to employees as part of its performance review.
- Send screen saver messages. Company F replaced desktop and laptop screen savers with short wellness reminders; after six months, employee use of preventive care benefits increased significantly.
- Let employees choose. Company G gave employees the choice to get a flu shot or wear a medical mask for the influenza season.
What steps are you taking to get your employees involved in wellness programs?
If you're planning a more formal program, review Workplace Wellness Programs and Employee Health for program ideas and Wellness Services Insurance for Employers for potential coverage considerations.
To compare options, talk to an agent.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can small companies encourage participation in wellness programs?
Start with low-cost, visible activities like step challenges, healthy snacks, or short group stretches to build momentum and engagement.
Are incentives effective for long-term behavior change?
Incentives can increase short-term participation; combining them with ongoing education and culture change improves longer-term outcomes.
How should employers protect employee privacy in wellness programs?
Collect only necessary information, use aggregated reporting, and be transparent about how data will be used and who can access it.
What measures indicate a wellness program is working?
Track participation rates, preventive-care utilization, employee feedback, and simple health metrics like step counts or biometric screening rates.