Looking for incentives to get overweight employees to buy into a wellness program?
A recent study suggests many employees are even willing to pay much – or all – of the cost themselves. Roughly 35% of firms with wellness programs focus on providing workers with convenient access to weight loss resources.
A poll of 1,352 employees by the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance found that many people would gladly chip in for the cost of the program if they believed it would help them lose weight. What employees want:
- confidential support and counseling
- access to a professional nutritionist or personal trainer, and
- onsite exercise programs.
Until recently, only big companies were able offer such programs as part of their wellness benefits. But the fastest growth of these programs in the last two years has been in smaller firms (sometimes with as few as 50 full-time employees).
The majority of firms split the cost with employees. Typically, workers pay up to about 25% of the cost. But some plans are fully employee paid.
