Incentives Entice Employees Toward Wellness

US health plans and benefits managers continue to see wellness management as a key cost-cutting strategy — and the employees who have already adopted programs agree that wellness works. But program participation remains woefully low. Nearly half of employees don't know about work-based wellness programs or don't see them as relevant, and a small but significant group objects to them altogether. Fortunately, most employees look more favorably on incentives for program participation — even those respondents with neutral or negative opinions of work-based wellness programs. But interest in incentives is more complex than wellness program administrators might think. Middle-aged employees are the most interested but finicky group, reporting higher rates of interest in most incentives but also greater skepticism. To ensure that programs and incentives have maximum impact, customer experience professionals must build the right mix of education, targeted incentives, and engagement into the platforms on which work-based wellness-programs are deployed.