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Are financial incentives alone enough to change unhealthy behaviors?

This is an important question in the wellness community, and it's addressed head on by HealthSmart CEO Tom Kelly in a post recently published by SHRM.

Writes Kelly: “All too often we introduce wellness as a personal, optional item, sometimes with a bit of incentive such as a T-shirt or a Fitbit or a wellness app, or perhaps credits to health savings accounts. And more often than not we include penalties for specific noncompliance, such as premium differentials or higher out-of-pocket costs.”

Kelly offers his personal checklist for a successful wellness program:

• “Leadership at all levels. I know very few if any executives who have successfully lectured their employees on wellness. They can, however, lead by example. To be truly effective, wellness must be a grassroots effort, led by co-workers (not bosses).”
• “Open your wellness programs to spouses and kids. Family is the ultimate peer group, although it’s hard to predict who the change agent might be. In a two-earner family, the fifth-grade son or daughter could very well be the family’s wellness advocate—someone will be, and that will make a difference.”
• “Make room for change. Invite exercise into the workplace and make it fun.”
• “Get your safety director involved.“
• “Measure and celebrate success… Be sure to include initiatives that can actually be measured, so that success can be celebrated.”
• “Finally, place the big bet. Why not make wellness cost-control a companywide goal? After all, we do this for recycling! And another best practice: Broadly advertise the health budget and track spending, and then share the findings on savings with employees—and explain how the results will help to rein-in premium increases.”