Workplace Wellness Incentives
I’ve seen organizations put a surprising amount of energy into figuring out what prize will get employees to participate in a wellness initiative.
Gift cards. Points. Draws. Team competitions. Reduced benefit premiums. Sometimes even a coveted afternoon off.
They work. People sign up. They complete the challenge. Participation numbers climb. There may even be a little friendly competition along the way.
Then the challenge ends. The prizes disappear, participation drops, and the wellness committee starts wondering what they need to offer next time.
The problem isn’t that incentives don’t work. It’s that we often expect them to do more than they realistically were meant to do.
Wellness Incentives Can Get People Through the Door
There is good evidence that wellness incentives can encourage people to try something new or complete a specific wellness activity. Sometimes that small nudge is exactly what someone needs to get started.
Trying the meditation app because there is a challenge attached to it may introduce an employee to something they genuinely find helpful. Joining a walking challenge with colleagues may get someone moving more than they have in months. Completing a health assessment because there is a reward attached may prompt someone to pay attention to an issue they have been ignoring.
There is nothing inherently wrong with any of that, however, where organizations run into trouble is when participation becomes the goal rather than just the beginning.
Signing up is one thing. Creating a behaviour or support that people continue to value after the reward is gone is something quite different.
Sometimes Low Participation Is Telling Us Something
When employees don’t engage with a wellness initiative, the first reaction is often to ask how we can make it more appealing.
Maybe we need a better prize.
Maybe we need more promotion.
Maybe managers need to remind people again.
But low participation can also be useful information.
An employee may genuinely want to attend the resilience session at noon, but noon is when they are catching up from the morning. Someone working shifts may have access to a great wellness program that operates almost entirely during regular business hours. Another employee may be interested in the resources but uncomfortable with how personal information will be handled.
And there is also the employee who is being encouraged to practise self-care, while staring at a workload that makes taking a proper lunch break feel unrealistic.
A gift card won’t fix that.
Before increasing the wellness incentives, it is worth decreasing the barrier.
Wellness Has to Fit Into the Work
One of the frustrations I hear from employees is that using those resources or participating in that event can feel like one more thing they are supposed to fit into an already full day.
We can offer mindfulness sessions, fitness challenges, financial wellness programs and mental health resources, but employees still need the time, access and support to use them.
Manager behaviour becomes part of the wellness program whether we intend it to or not.
If the message says, “Take care of yourself,” and the manager’s response to someone taking an hour to attend a wellness session is irritation about what isn’t getting done, that speaks volumes.
Wellness lives in these everyday signals as much as it does in the formal program.
One Wellness Incentive Won’t Motivate Everyone
We also need to be careful about assuming that one reward or our wellness initiatives will matter equally to everyone.
Employees are dealing with very different realities. One person may welcome a step challenge. Someone else is caring for an aging parent and desperately needs flexibility. A younger employee may be worried about finances. Another employee may be trying to manage exhaustion and would find another workplace competition anything but energizing.
The question becomes less about, “How do we get people to participate?” and more about, “What would make this useful to them?”
That shift usually requires listening.
Ask employees what gets in the way. Look at when and how programs are offered. Pay attention to who participates and who consistently does not. Give people choices where possible rather than assuming wellness looks the same for everyone.
Measure More Than Who Showed Up
Participation numbers are easy to report.
Three hundred employees registered. Seventy-two per cent completed the challenge. Eighty people attended the webinar.
Those numbers tell us a part of the impact, but not enough.
Did employees find the initiative useful?
Could they realistically access it?
Did the behaviour continue after the program ended?
Did people feel supported in participating?
Are workplace demands reinforcing the wellness message or working against it?
These types of questions give HR and wellness professionals much more useful information than sometimes just the participation percentage.
Use Wellness Incentives for What They Do Well
There is still a place for wellness incentives.
Use them to create interest. Give employees a reason to try something unfamiliar. Make participation fun. Celebrate progress.
Just don’t confuse the wellness incentives with the reason someone will continue.
Sustainable workplace wellness depends much more on whether people have access to resources, support from their leaders, opportunities to recover, some control over how they participate and a workplace that doesn’t undermine the very behaviour it says it wants to encourage.
So before adding another prize to the next wellness challenge, take a closer look at what is happening around your overall program.
Sometimes the most important question that you need to ask is not, “What can we give employees to get them involved?” but “What is making it difficult for them to participate in the first place?”
Contact Beverly about hosting a workshop for your leaders on how to address the essential needs of their team. Learn strategies to create a positive engaged workplace!
If you have some strategies to share – comment on this posting!
Additional Postings:
Workplace Wellness: Psychologically Health Workplaces
Psychological Safety Is Not A Program
Designing Wellness Programs That Align With Business Strategy
From Perks To Practicality: What Employees Actually Use
Taking Your Wellness Programs To The Next Level
Building Wellness Programs Across Multiple Locations That Actually Works
How To Build A Positive Workplace Culture
What Is Adaptability Quotient (AQ)? A Leadership System for Navigating Change
Effective Communication For Leadership Success
What Is the S-O-S Resilience Principle ™ – A Practical System for Managing Stress in Real Time
Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Wellness Incentives
Do workplace wellness incentives actually work?
They can. Incentives often help increase initial participation in activities such as challenges, assessments, screenings or wellness programs. The limitation is that they do not usually create lasting behaviour change on their own. Ongoing participation depends more on relevance, access, manager support and whether the workplace makes healthy choices realistic.
What are the biggest barriers to employee participation in wellness programs?
Common barriers include lack of time, heavy workloads, inconvenient scheduling, limited access, concerns about privacy, lack of manager support and programs that do not feel relevant to employees’ actual needs. Before adding a bigger incentive, it is often more useful to identify and reduce these barriers.
How can organizations improve wellness participation without relying on rewards?
Start by making wellness easier to use. Offer meaningful choices, provide programs at accessible times, involve employees in identifying what they need, make sure managers support participation, and look closely at workloads and workplace expectations. Employees are more likely to engage when wellness feels useful and realistic rather than like one more task to complete.