CVS’ recent press coverage regarding their use of penalties to increase health tracking is causing many companies to reconsider if and how they put more teeth into their wellness incentives strategy.

Whether you’re evaluating how to make your current incentives more effective or trying to reduce your company’s dependence on incentives, this event will help you firm up your game plan.

Join us on Thursday, May 23^rd (2:00-2:30pm ET) for a webinar presented by Ron Hildebrandt, Vice President, Product Marketing at Virgin HealthMiles.  Along with best practices from leading employers like Cummins, Ochsner Health System, and Coca-Cola, we’ll also share the results of a recent Virgin HealthMiles incentives survey of 350 wellness and benefits leaders.  During this webinar, we’ll explore:

•             Incentives’ role to drive participation and long-term engagement

•             What incentives work the best (and worst) – differs by employee population

•             The importance of incentive positioning and communications

•             The growing role of non-monetary incentives

Reserve your spot today!

Got a question about wellness incentives? Post it in the comments below and we’ll answer as many as possible both during the webinar and following it here on The Uprising Blog.

Organizations Join Virgin HealthMiles, STOP Obesity Alliance, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease and WorldatWork to Promote Workplace Wellness this June

Now in its fifth year, National Employee Wellness Month (NEWM) will once again kick off in June, helping employers focus on engaging employees in healthier lifestyles. This year, more than 175 companies have pledged their support, joining sponsoring organizations Virgin HealthMiles, the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease and WorldatWork to demonstrate their commitment to promote healthy lifestyles and provide motivation and opportunities for employees to adopt healthy habits.

For half a decade, National Employee Wellness Month has showcased how engaging employees in sustainable lifestyle change helps to improve employee health and productivity, lower healthcare costs and create a workplace culture of health. This annual initiative helps employers learn from best practices of how companies are developing successful engagement strategies that lead to healthier lifestyles.

This year’s participants include some of the world’s largest companies. All Proud Supporters of National Employee Wellness Month have demonstrated a commitment to employee wellness, taking an active role helping employees improve their health and shining a spotlight on this important issue.

National Employee Wellness Month’s supporting organizations include:

AGCO, Alliance for Work-Life Progress, Alliant Energy, Alpine Bank, American College of Preventative Medicine, American Diabetes Association, American Institute for Cancer Research, American Society of Bariatric Physicians, AOL Inc., Ascend, Ascension Health, Aspect, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), Austin Diagnostics Clinic, Austin Radiological Association, Avon, Balance Concierge, Baptist Health, BBVA Compass, beBetter Health, Belmont University, Benchmark Senior Living, Best One Tire, BestCompaniesAZ, Better Hearing Institute, Bingham Greenebaum Doll, Blue Cross Blue Shield Louisiana, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, bswift, Buffalo Rock, Canyon Ranch Institute, Care Continuum Alliance, Casa Grande Regional Medical Center, CBIZ, Chandler Chicco Companies, Charles Schwab, Children’s of Alabama, City of San Antonio, Coca-Cola, Complete Care Center, Continental Tire The Americas, CPSI, Cummins, Dignity Health, Domino’s Pizza, EBSCO, EnPro Industries, Epicor, Equifax, Exelis, Fairchild Semiconductor, Fender, Ferguson, Finish Line, First Horizon, FitDesk, Frost Insurance, Fyda Freightliner, Georgia-Pacific, Gore Design, GlaxoSmithKline, Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health, Gregory & Appel, Greystar, Harlandale Independent School District, Harry & David, Harvey Building Products, Hawaii Medical Assurance Association, Hawaii-Western Management Group, Healthcare Leadership Council, Healthways, Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, HollyFrontier Corporation, Horizon Healthcare Services, The Horton Group, Howard County Public School System, Hunter Douglas, InfusionSoft, Ingersoll Rand, Innovize, The Institute for Family Health, Intuit, IRIS International, Jack in the Box, Jarden, KapStone Paper and Packaging, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Louisville Water Company, Luxottica, Lyons Companies, Maidenform Brands, MainSource Financial Group, meQuilibrium, Marketing Innovators International, Inc., MetroWest Medical Center, Michael Best and Friedrich, Midwestern University, The Motley Fool, Mutual Benefit Group, MWV, National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, Norbord, Norfolk Southern, NW Natural, Nypro Packaging, Obesity Action Coalition, Ochsner Health System, Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services, OhioHealth, Open Symmetry, Oregon Medical Group, OWL – The Voice of Midlife and Older Women, PHH, Pillager School, Polar, PVH Corp., Regions Financial, Resource Training and Solutions, The Retirement Advantage, Inc., Rush-Copley Medical Center, Ryan, SAIF, Sanofi US, Santa Rosa County District Schools, Sapers & Wallack, Inc., Schulze and Burch Biscuit Co., Schwabe North America, SEI, Severn Trent Services, Sharp HealthCare, Sonic Automotive, Southwest Business Corporation, SpaFinder Wellness, Spalding County, Sprint, St. Joseph Health System, Stearns County, SWIMKids USA, Texas Health Resources, The Christ Hospital, The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center, The Horton Group, The Ohio State University, Timberline Knolls, TotalWellness, The Tower Companies, United Methodist Church/General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, US Healthiest, Vera Bradley, Verallia, Verso Paper, Veterans United Home Loans, vielife, Virgin America, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Produced, Virgin Wines, Visant, Wellness & Prevention Inc., Western Connecticut Health Network, Willamette Dental Group, XLA, Inc.

Companies can celebrate the spirit of National Employee Wellness Month by promoting healthy lifestyles to employees. Employers and employees are encouraged to promote at least one employee health activity in the workplace and share their success stories on social media. Please share your photos and videos on Facebook and Twitter (tweet to @HealthMiles, hashtag #NEWM2013).

Learn more about National Employee Wellness Month at www.nationalemployeewellnessmonth.com. The site offers a variety of resources that employers can use to promote healthy lifestyles, including wellness insights, workplace wellness success stories and more.

Gamification has become a big part of wellness programs and a key motivational tool to boost employee engagement (learn more in an earlier blog post).  In a recent survey of employers from WorldatWork and Buck Consultants, it was reported that approximately 62 percent of respondents are currently using gamification in one or more instance to promote wellness engagement.  While everyone loves a competition, the idea of using games to foster healthier eating habits, increased fitness levels and improve overall well-being  is becoming a reality for more and more companies.

Let’s take Jarden Corporation for example.  Jarden is a company that owns more than 100 popular consumer brands such as CrockPot, Mr. Coffee and Sunbeam to name a few.  Recently, the company’s   Executive Chairman, Martin Franklin, appeared on CNBC in a segment that looked at the surging stock price and increased productivity of Jarden.  In it he mentions how successful their implementation of Virgin HealthMiles has been at the company and how employee wellness is important to Jarden.  “We make it fun….it’s creating an environment where people want to be healthy.”

Part of that fun environment includes employees challenging one another and participating in things such as company-sponsored races.  WPRI, a Fox affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island, ran a segment this week that profiled Kurt Augustine, Director, Global Security at Jarden Corporation who said participating in the company’s HealthMiles program is motivating him to achieve personal goals, while beating fellow co-workers in a challenge.  “”It’s something you think of every day. You’re really fighting for bragging rights.”

Games getting employees healthy

At Virgin HealthMiles, we believe that healthy and more engaged workplaces translate into more productive and “present” employees.  And this is a great example of one our customers that has a staff that’s collectively thriving in body, mind and output.

Jarden, like many other large companies, is taking a more “fun” approach to wellness – moving the focus away from forcing employees to eat better and exercise and instead making it more about a personal game and encouraging healthy lifestyles.

The benefits? According to Julie Stich, Director of Research at the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans, “Healthier employees are more productive. They’re happier, they’re more engaged, and they’re at work instead of absent. And all this can have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line.”

We love hearing client success stories like Jarden’s and the healthy changes their employees are making as a result of participating in our programs.  Recently we posted another success story from a Jarden employee – Chris Hockley.  Chris lost nearly 100 lbs., got healthy, and no longer needs a CPAP machine at night as a result of the healthy changes he made.  He’s now a runner and inspiring others. Give his story a read if you missed it.

For more workplace wellness success stories, check out this video.