Gift cards, cash, prizes and discounts on health insurance premiums are all good incentives to encourage participation. But even when you dangle a carrot, some participants may still lose interest in your wellness program. Is there another way to keep participants engaged?
Yes. Recent research suggests that social incentives, such as a team weight-loss challenge and cash incentives based on group participation may keep participants engaged longer.
In a recent study of 1,300 employees, social incentives combined with financial incentives increased participation rates by 20 percent. Cash incentives for individual participation combined with cash incentives for group participation produced the best results (64 percent participation rate for individuals on a team; 44 percent participation for participants without a team).
Financial incentives may not be the only reason people embrace your wellness program. The peer pressure of being part of a team, desire to support the group, and encouragement from team members are also motivating factors that can increase participation.
To take advantage of the benefit of social incentives assign participants to a team or group. Or encourage employees to form their own teams to receive group rewards for participation.
You don't need to invest a lot of money into an online social media platform. You can be just as effective by using existing free platforms such as Facebook® or Google+®, or your company's intranet site.
Financial incentives are still a valuable tool to encourage participation. And adding social incentives is gaining ground. In a recent study by Towers Watson Consulting, an estimated 42 percent of major U.S. companies planned to use some form of social networking as part of their employee health initiatives by 2014.
If you're looking for a way to add social incentives to your wellness program:
Source: American Journal of Health Promotion. 2012.