Wellness programs and lifestyle discrimination--the legal limits.

Health and Wellness Policy Ethics

This perspective is an ethical brief overview and examination of “wellness” policies in the modern workplace using practical examples and a general application of utilitarianism. Many employers are implementing policies that provide incentives to employees who lead a “healthy” lifestyle. The authors address how these policies could adversely affect “non-healthy” employees. There are a wide vari...

Corporate Wellness Programs: Implementation Challenges in the Modern American Workplace

Being healthy is important for living well and achieving longevity. In the business realm, furthermore, employers want healthy employees, as these workers tend to be more productive, have fewer rates of absenteeism, and use less of their health insurance resources. This article provides an overview of corporate “wellness” efforts in the American workplace and the concomitant challenges which em...

Workplace Wellness Programs: Services Offered, Participation, and Incentives.

This article leverages existing data on wellness programs to explore patterns of wellness program availability, employers' use of incentives, and program participation and utilization among employees. Researchers used two sets of data for this project: The first included data from the 2012 RAND Employer Survey, which used a nationally representative sample of U.S. employers that had detailed in...

Wellness Programs and Means of Getting Employees to Stay Healthy: A Response to Kristin Van Busum and Soeren Mattke

Financial Incentives: Only One Piece of the Workplace Wellness Puzzle; Comment on “Corporate Wellness Programs: Implementation Challenges in the Modern American Workplace”

In this commentary, we argue that financial incentives are only one of many key components that employers should consider when designing and implementing a workplace wellness program. Strategies such as social encouragement and providing token rewards may also be effective in improving awareness and engagement. Should employers choose to utilize financial incentives, they should tailor them to ...