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Benefits of offering incentives to employees for healthier lifestyle choices

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More and more companies today understand the benefits of creating a healthy workplace and encouraging their employees to make healthier lifestyle choices.Considering the average American spends 2000 hours a year at work feeling underpaid and underappreciated, the need for health becomes a major issue.So as the owner of a company, what are the benefits of offering incentives to employees for healthier lifestyle choices?

How to Encourage Change
A healthy culture is one where the entire body or workforce experiences the need and commitment for a change to health and wellness.Bottom line, if you don't have the commitment from everyone, it's not going to be successful.All levels, employees and employers need to commit to the change in order for your company to succeed.It is extremely important for your upper management to make the commitment and actually "walk the walk" if you know what I mean.It is one thing to say you will do it; it is another to actually do it.Make sure you have good leaders who will follow through with the plan, as employees will follow their example.Employees need to understand that their habit outside the workplace will greatly affect the way they perform inside the workplace.The first step in change is understanding.If an employee has been up all night and comes to work the next day exhausted, they compromise their own safety as well as others around them.

Promoting Healthier Lifestyle Choices
There are many ways to promote wellness inside and outside the workplace.Here are some effective techniques for keeping employees healthy in order to foster a healthy workplace.

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  • Financial Incentives.Yes it is sad, but the best way to motivate people is to offer some sort of financial incentive.There are of course different ways to go about this and ultimately it is up to you, but try and be creative.You can offer a $20 reduction in monthly employee insurance for employees who complete and pass a health assessment.If employees begin to see that increasing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is directly related to their health care costs, they are more likely to stay motivated to stay healthy.Another idea might be to offer monthly bonuses for individuals that fulfill a physical fitness requirement.Keep in mind that not everyone will be at the same level and you will need to make adjustments here and there.
  • - Changes to the workplace.You can demonstrate your support of a healthy lifestyle by making changes within the workplace.Change the menu choices in the cafeteria or vending machines such as water instead of soda.You can offer walking classes or onsite exercise classes for employees.Even a stress management and meditation class can encourage employees to live a healthy life outside of the office.Encourage people to use the stairs instead of the elevator, and allow them some time to stretch and rejuvenate themselves daily.Some companies (if they have the time and money) will go as far as adding a fitness room so employees don't have to pay for a membership to be healthy.Small or large, the advantages to a change in the workplace can help encourage a healthy lifestyle.
  • - Health Screenings and awareness campaigns.Promoting specific health topics to educate your employees is a great way to encourage healthy lifestyles outside the office.This helps employees understand the costly health conditions like high blood pressure, heath disease, and so forth.Campaigns encourage healthy eating, and stress management.And by offering health screenings you can effectively get employees thinking about improving their way of life.Nothing tells it better than actual evidence that your blood pressure is too high, or that you need to lose a few pounds right?

The benefits of offering incentives to employees for healthier lifestyle choices are evident in how your employees perform their duties at work.Helping them understand the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and educating them will encourage them to live it.Incentives are just a means to an end and will help create a positive change. Healthy Lifestyles outside the workplace can only mean a healthier workplace.

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