Many planners agree that it is in a company's best interest to provide incentives for employee health and wellness. These kinds of programs can decrease the overall burden on America's health care system and actually save corporate healthcare costs. They also reduce absenteeism in the workplace from chronic disease and other conditions, as well as what some call “presenteeism” or changes in productivity from health conditions for employees who do continue to come to work on a daily basis.

But the question is how to institute some of these strategies. It seems there is both a right way and a wrong way to encourage fitness and health for a company's employees.

Lead to the Water
It's a huge mistake for a manager to think that employee wellness and health can be mandated in any way. However, for some managers, the natural inclination to mandate leads to a dangerous kind of mismanagement in addressing employee health situations. Forcing employees to take part either in health scans wellness activities were competitions is an unforgivable offense against the rights of workers to freely choose how to handle their own lives.

In contrast, giving workers incentives to think about health and wellness is an entirely appropriate and beneficial way to look after a company's bottom line when it comes to health insurance, absenteeism, and other elements influenced by employee health.
Sensitivity to Privacy Rights

Another danger in administrating an employee health campaign is the very high sensitivity that some individuals may have about their personal health. Bringing attention to discrepancies in health or wellness can have a very negative impact on the workspace. “Leaks” in information about a staffer's health conditions can lead to some very charged relationships in the workplace, as well as the potential for some nasty lawsuits.
Any voluntary employee health testing that is done should be conducted one-on-one by outside contractors in a secure and private environment. The results should not be shared publicly, and planners should instruct those participating not to indulge in pointing out health differences among staffers.

Quid pro Quo
it's also ill-advised to create or allow the perception that workers or employees will be negatively affected when not participating in wellness programs. There are already some murmurings on the horizon about efforts by insurers to mandate personal health in the administration of healthcare policies. Companies do not need to be a part of this fight, and health incentives for employees should be clearly presented as the choice of the individual, with emphasis on how better health enables an individual to live longer and enjoy a higher quality of life.

Health Gifting
One of the easiest ways to incentivize employee health in the workplace without intensive participation in the workplace environment is to simply give out health gifts. Low cost fitness items such as jump ropes, many weights, or yoga and Pilates gear can be tools for helping employees to practice their and wellness outside of the workplace and to contribute to what is the ultimate aim of the company: decreasing healthcare claims on the company group policy and promoting better productivity through employee health.