TIPS FOR ENCOURAGING YOUR EMPLOYEES TO GET STARTED WITH CORPORATE WELLNESS.

This coming January, more than half of all Americans will have likely made a health or fitness-related New Year’s resolution―working out in order to get back to their ideal weight, cutting back on their diet in order to promote a healthier lifestyle, or even working out simply to feel better on a day-to-day basis. However, judging from past data, very few people actually manage to stick to their New Year’s resolutions, especially when they surround the topic of exercise and fitness.

So, if your employees are unlikely to be motivated enough to complete their own wellness goals, how can you expect that they will follow a corporate-sponsored wellness program that your company has set up for them?

A beneficial corporate-sponsored wellness program, such as the ones that are offered by The ReFit and Lifestyle Engineering Inc., are an obvious choice for businesses in Seattle Wa. Not only do they help to improve employee participation, health and morale, reduce medical claims and lower absenteeism, but effective health and productivity programs can also make a real difference to a company’s bottom line. However, what is in it for your employees?

There are many unrelenting pressures on both employers and employees today, but improving the health and well being of your staff is a true win-win for everyone involved. To help you get a better idea of how you can motivate your employees to get excited and involved with a corporate wellness program, we have put together these basic tips that will encourage your staff to get started:

Incentives

One tool that many companies use to help motivate employees to take part in a corporate wellness program is an incentive plan. An incentive can be any type of factor (financial or non-financial) that enables or motivates a particular course of action or encourages people to behave in a certain way. These incentives are usually a fun and easy way to get employees started in a fitness program, and stir up excitement about the program. See our blog spot on the new ACA rules. 

Recognition

Winning a prize or monetary reward is fun. However, not everyone is motivated by competition. Coworkers have the biggest influence on their peers, which is why participation certificates, special recognition from management, or articles in the employee newsletter are a great way to support your staff and inform co-workers of their success. Corporate wellness incentive plans could also include sponsoring a healthy pot luck lunch each month, as a chance to reward all of your employees who participate.

Rewards with The ReFit

Enrollment, engagement and competitions are more successful if there are rewards. The ReFit can help you identify and set target goals, and suggest creative, proven contests which can be based on minimum participation and team achievements to motivate employees. Best of all, The ReFit  can partner with your wellness vendors to define a rewards program that fits your company.

To find out more about the many rewarding incentive programs that The ReFit and Lifestyle Engineering, Inc. can offer your staff, along with the benefits that our corporate-sponsored wellness programs can bring to your company and your employees, be sure to contact us today.

For more details on how your company can save and grow with the new ACA rules in 2014 contact us to schedule a free consultation.

Looking to boost participation in your company’s wellness programs?

You’ll welcome the federal government’s new Affordable Care Act rules[i], which allow employers to increase both financial rewards for participating and penalties for opting out. By offering employees more incentives to sign up, you might just find your HR department busier come enrollment time.

The new rules apply to group health plans and go into effect January 1, 2014. Here’s a summary of key points.

• The maximum allowable reward for wellness programs unrelated to tobacco jumps from 20 percent to 30 percent of the total cost of coverage. For smoking-cessation programs, you can reward employees up to 50 percent of the total cost of coverage. Let’s say your annual premium is $6,000, of which an employee pays $1,500, and you offer quit-smoking program. You could assess a penalty of up to $3,000 — 50 percent of the $6,000 total coverage cost — for smokers who opt not to enroll the program. If, instead, you offer a program to help employees maintain a healthy weight or blood-sugar level, you could offer a premium rebate of up to $1,800 for employees who participate.If you offer both a wellness program and a quit-smoking program, you’d need to adjust the reward and/or penalty downward so that together they don’t exceed $3,000.At The ReFit, our experts can help you create premium differentials that hit the sweet spot for your company, offering sufficient incentive to employees while making financial sense for you.
• The term “rewards” refers both to financial incentives and disincentives. In other words, the rules apply to premium discounts, rebates, and additional health benefits as well as penalties or surcharges. The ReFit can help you decide whether rewards or penalties — or a combination — will suit your company best. It’s important for employees to feel motivated rather than coerced.
• Wellness programs are divided into two categories: participatory and health contingent. With participatory programs, employees need only take part to earn the reward or avoid the penalty. For example, a premium discount could be tied to simply getting a blood-pressure check or joining a smoking-cessation program rather than successfully quitting. By contrast, a health-contingent wellness program ties a reward to meeting a designated health standard, whether it’s quitting smoking (“outcome based”) or walking 5,000 steps a day (“activity based”).
• Wellness programs must not discriminate. If, for medical reasons, an employee can’t participate in a wellness program that has a reward attached or requires meeting a health standard, your company must offer an alternative standard or a waiver.You must explain this policy to employees. You might state, for example: “If you believe you are unable to complete tasks required, contact us at ReFit, and we will work with you to modify the tasks so you can qualify for the reward.”
• For programs involving rewards, eligible employees must have the opportunity to qualify at least annually. Also, the programs must be “reasonably designed” to promote health or prevent disease.

The U.S. government believes wellness programs can prevent disease and lower the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance. ReFit strongly agrees. We can advise your company on how to follow these new regulations in innovative ways, improving the health of your workforce and your company’s bottom line.