Are you looking for things that you can do to stop your employees from calling in sick? Are you wondering if you can do something to help your employees make better lifestyle choices? Are you interested in helping your employees to have a healthier lifestyle? If you answered yes to any of the above questions then the good news for you is that there is something that you can do to help your employees choose a healthier lifestyle. The best thing that you can do to help your employees choose a healthier lifestyle is to offer them various choices that they can make to help change their lifestyles, the tools that they are going to need to make those changes, but most importantly you are going to have to offer them some kind of an incentive to make those changes.

If you are running a business then you are already aware of the fact that the cost of health insurance is actually spiraling upward, in fact the cost of health insurance is rising faster than the average cost of inflation each year. What this means for businesses is that it is becoming more expensive to provide health benefits to our employees. What this means for employees is that if something isn't done to lower or offset the cost of the health benefits more and more companies will quit offering these kinds of benefits. According to numerous studies it has been proven that chronic diseases are actually the culprit behind the rising health costs. And in these studies it has also been shown that 91% of all diabetes cases and almost 90% of all heart attacks can be traced back to people's lifestyle factors. So according to researchers in order to lower your health care costs you are going to need to make wellness programs a central part of your business strategy.

It has also been found by other studies that employers feel that more needs to be done in terms of wellness and getting their employees to participate in wellness programs. In fact over half of the corporations that were surveyed actually planned to introduce or expand their wellness programs for their employees, and this doesn't include the multinational companies that are offering these types of programs in other countries. But even though more corporations plan on offering wellness programs they still have to get over the hurdle of getting their employees involved in these programs. It has been found that around 35% of employees feel that incentives actually need to be offered to get employees to change their lifestyles. While other studies have actually shown that employees can be influenced to improve their long-term health status and minimize their use of health care resources by simply being rewarded for their improvement.

Here are some incentives that you can offer your employees to have a healthier lifestyle.

Number one:

You can offer your employees some kind of financial reward for participating in wellness programs. In fact this incentive is probably the best incentive that can be offered to your employees. In one study researchers found that the larger the financial incentive the greater the short term weight loss was. This was an actual study that was done with 200 people who were assigned no money, $7 or $14 to try and lose 5% of their body weight. But the best part about offering a financial incentive is that you don't have to pay anything out if the employee doesn't meet their goal.

Number two:

Offering discounted memberships to health clubs or weight loss programs has also proven to get employees to lose weight and to stay in shape. But not only that if the health club or weight loss group is near the office and they also receive a discount it has been proven through various studies that the employees are more likely to sign up. Not to mention y the employees joining a weight loss program they are going to receive a lot of support to help them loss weight and reach their target goal.

Number three:

Offering seminars on a variety of health related topics can cause employees to eat right and change their lifestyles. This has been proven to work because a lot of employees actually have no idea where to start when it comes to changing their lives, according to quite a few studies. So by providing them with the beginning tools that they will need you are encouraging them to make a much needed change.

Number four:

You can also require that people who decide to make unhealthy lifestyle choices pay a higher health care premium than those employees who choose to live healthier lifestyles. In fact according to a poll done by the Wall Street Journal 53% of the people surveyed felt that it was fair to ask people who choose unhealthy lifestyles to pay the higher premiums compared to the 37% who were polled in 2003. This means that more and more people are supporting healthier lifestyles and feel that people who choose healthier lifestyles deserve some kind of a break.

Number five:

Instead of giving employees a financial incentive you can offer your employees some kind of point system for participating in physical activities. Basically what happens is that the more time they spend doing physical activities the more points that they earn. But when doing a point system you are going to have to have some good rewards that they can redeem their points for, make sure that you find things that your employees will want but still promote a healthier lifestyle.

Number six:

Instead of cold hard cash another financial incentive that you can offer employees would be a discount towards their current health insurance premiums. It has been shown through numerous studies that employees favor this incentive just as much as they do cash because it helps them to save money in the long run. Not to mention that as insurance premiums are raising our out of pocket costs for those premiums are going up so every little bit helps. But what you need to do is to provide your employees with a set dollar amount for any wellness program they sign up for, preventive measures that they take, such as blood pressure screenings, and the credit that money back to their insurance premiums.

One thing that you need to keep in mind is that these are only some of the kinds of incentives that you can offer your employees. Several studies that have been done by health insurance companies, researchers and others have found that giving your employees any type of reward for their involvement and for their improvements is the best way to go about getting your employees to have healthier lifestyles because people like to be recognized for the hard work that they are doing. In fact it has been shown that for a $25 incentive you are going to get a 30% participation rate and that rate will continue to go up as long as the dollar amount goes up, but it usually peaks at about 90% for a $200 incentive.

Here are some examples of actual companies that offer their employees incentives to have a healthier lifestyle.

• Janus - offers their employees on-site fitness facilities in addition to discounts to nearby gyms. Employees also get a $25 rebate for yoga classes, smoking cessation programs, and other wellness programs, which means they have to be health-related classes. But in addition to the financial incentives this company also provided their employees with a wellness expo that had various screenings for certain diseases, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but they also had a chance to attend seminars that were taught by nutritionists.
• Aetna - employees have the choice of receiving up to $600 back on their paycheck or they can have that amount deposited into a health fund for future use. But the employees earn this money by engaging in physical activity, completing a health assessments or taking positive steps such as preventative screenings.
• Vail Resorts - this company has actually teamed up with the Mayo Clinic to offer their employees a $240 yearly discount on their employee health care premiums. In order to qualify for this discount the employees need to participate in a wellness program and they also need to consult with a healthy lifestyle coach to work on various issues that they might struggle with such as stress management, weight loss or nutrition.
• Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield - Rather than offering money or discounts towards health insurance premiums this company offers their employees points that they can earn doing various things to help improve their lifestyle. But basically they can earn points for participating in physical activities, what prizes you get depends on how many points you have earned. In addition to the points program the company also gives their discounted memberships in Weight Watchers and provides employees with an on-site gym and exercise classes.