Save Money with Incentive Based Wellness Programs

Boosting wellness with company wellness programs is a national challenge. In 2010 alone, U.S. Health care costs exceeded $2.6 trillion, or about $8,500 per person. By 2018, health care costs will rise to more than $13,000 per person. In most companies, health care is the #2 cost only behind salaries.

Did you know studies have shown that 76% of health care costs are preventable simply by modifying detrimental behaviors? Sedentary lifestyles, obesity, smoking, alcoholism, and drug abuse cost companies $117 billion annually. These behaviors can be controlled and possibly eliminated with effective wellness programs resulting in a healthier workforce and lower healthcare costs for your organization.

Wellness programs for companies are very low cost; in fact they are only about 3% of insurance costs. However, 58% of wellness programs fail due to a lack of incentives for participating employees. So how do you get employees to participate in a company wellness program?… INCENTIVES!

A great way to avoid a failing wellness program is implementing an incentive program in conjunction with your company wellness program. In fact, when incentives are included in a wellness program, employee participation jumps from 26% to 90%.

Get started reducing health insurance costs today while improving your employees’ well-being by implementing an incentive based wellness program at your company. As always, stay tuned to Boost Engagement Backstage for the latest news and ideas in employee recognition.

*Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009. 2006 Society of Human Resources Survey. The National Council of Alcohol and Drug Dependence. National Business Group on Health. www.cdc.gov.

*Source: Incentive Research Foundation, 2011 Incentive Marketing Association