Comments on: Employees: We’ll pay for weight loss help

By: Dave Mathews

Dave Mathews — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:27:45 +0000

I found out I could lose a lot more weight by consuming less food however more frequently. I lost weight quite easy doing it this way.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:21:25 +0000

Our program is working out great because the Health Insurance Company we use, provides the employees with plenty of incentive and information which I reinforce it by e-mailing or posting, or attaching to paychecks. Ultimately, it’s up to the employee. We still have plenty of people who don’t take advantage of free money just for getting their 100% Expense Paid Annual Physical Exam, smoke and don’t plan on quitting, eat extremely unhealthy, and are overweight. It still always comes down to a matter of personal choice on the employees part but at least the company has tried to provide a way to keep employees healthy or have them find out about life threatening health conditions they may not know they have.

By: Clare

Clare — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:13:25 +0000

If companies provided flexible hours, it would provide incentives for employees to get more physically active. All these programs sound great but without time to participate, none of them work.

By: Corinne

Corinne — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:18:15 +0000

I think corporate wellness programs are great, as long as accurate information about nutrition and exercise is being distributed. It can be difficult to change your lifestyle if others around you are not trying to do the same or aren’t being supportive, but when your co-workers (who you tend to spend a lot of your time with) have the same goals as you do, it becomes a lot easier.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:40:50 +0000

We have a great wellness program for employees who carry our insurance and those who don’t. We offer a Wellness Allowance of up to $500 for employees that go get their annual physical exams from their doctors. With the allowance they can do a weight maintenance program (Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers), Nutritionist, Gym Membership, Therapuetic Massage for stress management, Smoking Cessation programs, Fitness Boot Camps, all mainstream things. We give them a verification letter where no confidential information is to be exchanged, just the doctor/nurse signing off that the person had their check up. Part 2 of that incentive is the employees who go get their physical exams, pay less in their share of the insurance premium than those who don’t get their annual exams. If the employee has a spouse covered under the insurance, then, the spouse must also get their physical exam before they can become eligible for wellness program. We don’t count children because they generally have to have exams and immunizations just about every year. This our first year with this Wellness program and it went over way better than we expected. Out of 140 people only 16 haven’t had their exams yet. One more thing, the HSA Insurance we carry gives people incentive to fill out Health Questionaires ($50) Gift Card for online vendors. If you have a qualified health condition (diabetes, Hypertension, High Cholestrerol etc) you can sign up for Health Coaching program which they give you $100 gift card for and when you graduate from the program, you get a $200 Gift Card. Don’t know anyone who has done the health coaching but most HSA participants have already done the health questionaire.

By: Stu MacFarlane

Stu MacFarlane — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:44:54 +0000

Interesting point about desire for confidential support and access to professional nutritionist. This sort of counseling is now being offered online through several websites and can be delivered less expensively than having an in-house nutritionist. I admit that I have a personal bias (our company offers such services online) but I think that we will see more companies trying out online solutions that connect individuals to qualified counselors.

By: SKS

SKS — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:08:12 +0000

We have a well established Wellness Program and have made strides but find it difficult to get the ones who need it the most to participate.

By: Sharon Hudnall

Sharon Hudnall — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:02:57 +0000

You should invite Dr Huinzinger (developer of biggest losser & Prof of
edicine at UCLA to come help you

By: Anca

Anca — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:03:52 +0000

Healthy employees increase business productivity so both employers and employees have something to win from here.