Comstock's magazine 1119 - November 2019 | Page 82

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
A LITTLE
MOTIVATION
The perks and pitfalls of wellness incentives in the workplace
BY JESSICA LASKEY
82
comstocksmag.com | November 2019
In the past three decades, a growing
number of businesses have been provid-
ing more than just basic benefits to em-
ployees. Amid complex health care plans
and retirement savings plans, businesses
have been adding wellness programs to
not only help their employees, but also to
bolster their bottom line. Healthy employ-
ees equal productive employees, so com-
panies now offer incentives for workers to
stay — or get — as healthy as possible.
“Changing long-standing behaviors is
difficult,” says Alicia Lowe, health and well-
ness manager at Western Health Advan-
tage. “Employees — anyone, really — usu-
ally need extra motivation to try to make
changes to their lifestyles that will improve
their health. This is where incentives come