What you can do

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What you can do

To promote wellness, “There are relatively simple things that employers can do: encourage the use of fitness clubs, weight management, healthy eating, by using incentive programs — for example, provide discounts on health products or contests to encourage participation,” says Dr. Alan Muney, UnitedHealthcare’s chief medical officer.

A report, “Rewards for Healthy Lifestyles,” from Mercer Health & Benefits and the Wellness Councils of America explains how to sponsor effective wellness campaigns and contests. Among the report’s suggestions are:

Allow all employees to participate.

Base rewards or incentives on participation, not on results.

Use long-term or multipart contests to reward maintenance of a goal — such as keeping lost weight off for six months.

Have multiple contests over time, because people typically start, stop and restart before making a lasting behavior change.

Emphasize improving a current situation rather than reaching what for some people might be a too-challenging goal.

“Another relatively simple step is to offer a health risk assessment,” says Dr. Muney.

“Many companies’ wellness programs start with a health risk assessment,” agrees Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. “The companies pay for this; some even pay for spouses. And some companies give employees $100 off their premium contribution if they take the health risk assessment. It’s completely confidential. Information is fed back [by the health plan] to the employee, identifying risk factors and what the employee should do about it.”

Your employees can access the discounts and other wellness options offered by their health plan. Encourage your employees to visit their health plan’s Web site.

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