Okaloosa County BOCC — September 16, 2014 — Creating an Incentive Program — reading text

Provided by Barnes Insurance & Financial Services Workplace Wellness: Creating an Incentive Program A well-crafted incentive program motivates your employees to take steps toward improving their health and well- being – resulting in a positive return on investment for you. To design a solid wellness incentive program at your facility, consider the following steps. 1. Determine what employee actions you want to increase or decrease with the use of an incentive. To determine which incentives to use, consider the behaviors that you want to encourage and the incentive values that have the greatest potential for driving those behaviors. Examples of possible wellness program components and a few incentives for each can be found at the end of this article. 2. Determine what may be preventing adoption of the desired actions, behaviors or modifications. 3. Select the rewards that you want to offer. They should be feasible based on your existing wellness program, while also producing the greatest behavioral change among your employees. o Incentives should be congruent with your work culture and appeal to a wide audience. o Employees should value your incentives. o Awards must be large enough to motivate employees to act. o Common incentives include health premium discounts, extra contributions to health reimbursement accounts or health savings accounts, employee recognition, company merchandise, coupons, gift cards, extra time off work, etc. 4. Develop guidelines for achieving incentives – exactly what must an employee do to earn a particular award? 5. Create a communication plan to introduce and promote the incentive program. o The rules of the incentives must be clear and easy to understand. o Senior management should strongly endorse the program by motivating others and by participating themselves. o Remind employees of the incentives through frequent, ongoing communication. 6. Put your incentive program into action and evaluate its effectiveness at least annually. Revise your program as necessary. Possible wellness program components and incentives for each Stress Management Incentives to increase the number of employees completing stress management training: • Hold training sessions on company time. • Offer a “door prize” for session attendees with a drawing held at the end of the session. • Provide an additional 20 minutes of lunchtime for attendees. Tobacco Cessation Incentives to encourage short-term smoking cessation and long-term maintenance of non-smoking: • Restrict smoking and tobacco usage on your worksite. • Offer a “performance-based” bonus for quitting smoking. • Offer a seminar on the health effects of smoking and using tobacco products. • Provide a prize for employees who abstain from smoking for a year after joining the program (extra day of vacation, discount on health premium, etc.). Healthy Weight Management Incentives to encourage participation in weight management programs and to achieve and maintain a healthy weight: • Provide a food diary for program attendees to identify cravings, triggers, thoughts about food and daily caloric intake. • Give gift certificates to employees for maintaining personal weight goals after one year. • Give employees extra paid time off for maintaining personal weight goals. • Keep track of small victories, such as exercising five days per week or eating five or more servings of produce daily. Provide small weekly rewards or accumulate “points” toward a larger reward. Hypertension Screening and Control Incentives to motivate employees to participate in screenings and help them maintain healthy blood pressure levels: • Provide on-site screenings on company time. • Invite employees’ spouses to attend screenings at no cost. • Provide gift certificates for employees who successfully lower their blood pressure, and for those who maintain a healthy blood pressure level one year after their initial screening. Cholesterol Testing Incentives to increase participation in cholesterol testing and improve cholesterol test scores in the long term: • Provide on-site cholesterol testing at no cost. • Offer a cash reward for employees who reduce their total cholesterol levels by 10 percent or reduce their LDL (“bad” cholesterol) level. • Provide material rewards (T-shirts, hats, etc.) for those who lower their cholesterol within a year of joining the program. This article is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel or an insurance professional for appropriate advice. © 2008-2011 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved. Physical Activity and Exercise Programs Incentives to increase the number of employees involved in organized physical activities, and to maintain an exercise routine for the long term: • Offer early registration discounts for employees who sign on to the program within a specific amount of time. • Allow participating employees to flex their hours to accommodate an exercise routine. • Offer free items such as gym bags, water bottles, sweat towels and T-shirts for participating employees. • Provide a cash incentive for employees who maintain an exercise routine for at least six months following the beginning of the program. Utilizing Self-Care Methods Incentives to increase the use of self-care methods (managing minor medical conditions, using home treatment options and diagnostic tests, and managing chronic health issues) and improve participation in employee health education workshops on the topic: • Provide a health plan premium discount for those who attend health care workshops. • Permit employees to waive benefit surcharges if they attend wellness seminars on self-care techniques. This article is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel or an insurance professional for appropriate advice. © 2008-2011 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.