Today, the carrots and sticks of employee wellness turn into mainly just carrots, thanks to the new rules being applied to the Affordable Care Act. So what does this mean for employee wellness programs? The new rules are pushing employers to promote improvement in employee health, rather than penalizing unhealthy employees for being unhealthy. The limits to the percentage of health benefits that can be incentivized for qualifying healthy behavior are increasing from 20 to 30%.
This confirms the trend that carrots work better than sticks. When building your employee wellness program be sure to incorporate tiered rewards. For smaller benchmarks offering spot rewards like a gift card to GNC or CVS/Pharmacy is a great way to encourage an employee who lost their first 5 lbs to continue their effort. For larger benchmarks, health care benefit cost incentives are more appropriate. Carrots are the way to go, and now the law supports helping your employees find health and wellness.
