Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

The success of an employee engagement plan is dependent on participation rates. The more people who partake in a program, the better the results for a company. Organizations need to take the lead in fostering engagement, building a strong program foundation by emphasizing a healthy culture, educating employees, and offering flexible and inclusive incentive programs.

Debi Heck recently emphasized the importance of these techniques in an article on BenefitsPro. Consider implementing these seven ideas from Heck to ensure high engagement across your organization:

1. Build a Healthy Workplace Culture

Community support is a critical factor in high employee engagement. Heck cites the HERO Employee Health Scorecard benchmarks as indicating that with increased organizational support, wellness programs experience higher participation rates. To get people involved, emphasize health and wellness in every aspect of your company’s culture.

2. Educate Your Employees

Workplace wellness programs are beneficial for employees, but leaders don’t always communicate their positive impact to individuals. Focus on building educational opportunities into your programming. In particular, “workplace champions” or employees who act as delegates for the plan, can educate colleagues about the importance of positive health and participation.

3. Illustrate the Risk

Just as educating employees can help boost engagement, so can giving them a view of their health. Heck believes that “ screenings can serve as an intervention point to alert employees to health risks they may be unaware of, thereby better engaging them in their health. They also can act as a benchmark, planning tool or an annual health improvement assessment tool.”

4. Incentivize Employees

Properly incentivizing employees with financial benefits encourages buy-in among first-time participants. Heck suggests these external motivators can create long-term change: “In many cases, employee success with early efforts can produce an intrinsic desire to continue, regardless of whether the incentive is continued.”

5. Create a Multi-Tiered Program

A study published by Population Health Management Journal compared engagement rates between a wellness program with a three-tiered incentive system and a single incentive system.

The three-tiered system rewarded employees for reaching 400,000, 650,000, or 900,000 steps per quarter. The single incentive program only rewarded employees for reaching 500,000 steps. When researchers compared the three-tiered program to the one-tiered program, they found that participation rates that were 8.1% higher when employees had more options.

6. Be Flexible with Accommodations

Wellness programs thrive when they engage all potential participants. Ensure that your plan accommodates individuals with a range of special needs or limitations. Heck shares that businesses can offer alternatives to physical participation, such as online courses or visits to the doctor.

7. Engagement Starts at the Top

Company executives can have a big impact on employee engagement by participating and leading the effort. “Make sure they are front and center in wellness discussions, challenge, and other activities, leading by example,” says Heck.