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Employers now have one more reason to implement Health and Wellness programs, not only in the offices, but as an integral piece of their employee insurance benefits. As part of the Affordable Care Act, employers can increase penalties and fees for bad habits such as smoking. Employers can also implement rewards, and discounts in fees for healthy behavior such as weight loss, smoking cessation, and reaching certain biometric goals. A survey of 536 mid-sized businesses in Michigan alone showed that 27% tied incentives such as lower monthly premiums to health goals. 61% of employers surveyed planned to add incentives into their insurance benefits program within the next 2 years. For employers who do not want to take the step of affecting employee insurance fees, many more employers are tying health and wellness programs that are more carrot based to their office environments.Try offering rewards such as gift cards to retailers that assist with healthy living such as CVS/Pharmacy and GNC; in exchange for participating in biometric screenings, and for reaching health goals such as weight loss or elimination of conditions such as diabetes. The carrot-based programs focus on lower costs for employers, and raising health awareness for employees, rather than implementing potential penalties in connection with employees' insurance benefits.

If rush hour traffic and high gas prices aren't wearing on your conscience from all those tailpipe fumes, you should start thinking seriously about making a choice that is healthier for the environment. NuRide is a company offering people the chance to cash in on rewards when they walk, bike, telecommute, carpool, take the train, subway, or bus to work. The account is free and members are able to rack up on points and cash them in for coupons, gift cards and more. One needs only to take a greener transportation option to sign up.

vAs employers continue to try to control costs of health insurance benefits they are turning to incentives more and more frequently for their Health & Wellness programs. Incentives motivate employees to evaluate and improve their health, which obviously benefits employees and simultaneously helps lower costs for employers. Aon Hewitt’s recent survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. employers, their combined 20 million U.S. employees and their dependents found that 84% of employers offer employees incentives for participating in a health risk questionnaire (HRQ) and 64 percent offer incentives for biometric screenings to help employees evaluate their health status. 51% of employers provide incentives for participation in health and wellness improvement programs as well. The incentives used here do not need to be big, but rather need to be meaningful. Helping employees maintain their health and reach new health goals can be as simple as offering 
a gift cards to 
CVS/Pharmacy or GNC. A small investment such as this easily provides noticeable ROI  to employers and employees feel support from their employer;
,that their employer cares about them as a person, not just a part of the organization. Bettering your employees' health can often better your bottom line.  
For more information on Aon Hewitt's survey on Health and Wellness Incentives check out this article from Insurance Journal.

HR Morning recently reported on a massive study that shows the true return on wellness plan investments. An analysis of 56 published studies on work site health promotion programs by The American Journal of Health Promotion determined the true ROI and impact of corporate wellness programs. “According to the American Journal of Health Promotion’s in-depth analysis, employers with work site health promotion programs see on average:

Trust is crucial to the success of your company, and the satisfaction of your employees. Companies where there is trust between management and staff are more successful, produce more valuable stock, and have more successful employees. Here are 3 key ways to building trust with your staff:
Involve employees in decisions that affect them. This shows that you trust your employees capability. This does not mean that you need to pull everyone in on every minute decision. However, involved people in decision making that is going to have an affect on their work responsibility, even if they do not make the final decision, shows management's confidence in employees ability.
Be transparent and consistent in your actions. This shows reliability to employees. It allows employees to understand management patterns and thought processes.
Pay attention to relationships. Employers understanding what employees want is critical. The connection between employees and managers often dictates how engaged and satisfied employees are, and maintaining that relationship should be one of management's top priorities to ensure success.
For more information on building trust and the importance of maintaining trust in your organization check out this article from FastCompany.