Inspiring a Healthy Workforce in 2012
This health and wellness incentives article caught my attention since it’s such an important channel for our gift card sales, but what kept my attention was Ken Baker’s sense of humor and fun approach. Baker, CEO of NewAge Industries “is willing to do whatever he can to encourage his employees to live a healthier lifestyle — including making bribes and bets.” His approach is more sophisticated than that statement leads one to believe. There are many cute snippets in this story, like, if Baker’s sales manager Mike Allard lost 40 pounds in 2 months, he’d produce and wear a t-shirt printed with “The Man” in honor of him…if he failed to lose the weight, Allard would wear a shirt decrying defeat. It worked! The crux; motivation and incentives work to build a healthier workforce. “The programs, while voluntary, can offer financial benefits, including lower insurance premiums, gift cards and employer contributions to health savings accounts.” states
Phillyburbs.com in Inspiring employee healthy lifestyles with employer incentives. NewAge Industries is just the kind of company that is taking advantage of federal health care reform policies that offers qualified companies grant money and tax credits to help such companies launch health and wellness programs. “By 2014, companies will be able to offer rewards of up to 30 percent of the total cost of an employee’s insurance coverage.” Small to medium sized business owner and not yet conducting your own health and wellness program? Read on, this is a great overview with interesting context and facts:
Inspiring employee healthy lifestyles with employer incentives.
Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Benefits Package?
SmartBlog on Leadership reports that only 1/3 of people feel that their company does a good job communicating their benefits to them…these companies are leaving a great company investment un-leveraged. The benefits and incentives, such as the voluntary health and wellness programs you offer, are a huge asset to your company not only when recruiting, but on an ongoing basis for retaining employees and maintaining employee loyalty. "Loyal employees aren’t necessarily those with the most expensive benefits. Rather, they’re employees who understand how to get the most value from their benefits because they received clear, open communication year-round. Employees who think their benefits communication educates them effectively are more satisfied and loyal: 71% are satisfied with their benefits, and 70% feel a strong sense of loyalty." states Jennifer Benz in
Why you should invest in benefits communication. Did you know that a strong benefits & incentive communication strategy could also reduce health care costs?
Click here to start improving your benefits & incentive communications for 2012.
9 Tips for Health Benefits Enrollment Season
Since employers typically renew health benefits in January, employees receive their health benefits options for 2012 around now, giving employees plenty of time to think about what they want in their health benefits plan for the coming year. As expected employees will be facing changes, most of which include paying more and receiving less coverage. While employers engage employees in healthy practices with rewards for healthy behaviors through health and wellness programs, health coverage still comes at a high cost, and is often an easily downsized benefit. Here are 9 tips from
GoLocal Prov in Providence, Rhode Island on how to make smart choices when choosing health benefits.
