If you wish to know more about the Kersh Risk Management wellness program offering, click here to request a free
corporate wellness proposal.
Employee Incentive
Employee incentive systems are an important part of any organization. Employee salaries, bonuses, prizes, trips, gift
cards, and recognitions of achievement are all forms of employee incentives.
Corporate wellness is no different than any other company objective and requires some type of incentive system in
order for employees to prioritize and feel accomplished for meeting company goals. Some employees will be satisfied
by simply improving their health. Other employees may need a little carrot in order to push themselves a little further in
their wellness program participation.
What exactly is an employee incentive system? Successful incentive systems usually have two components. The first
component is usually some type of monetary or tangible reward for accomplishment. The second, perhaps more
important type of employee incentive, is showing employees that you really do care about them and their achievements.
Surveys conducted by The Jackson Organization (www.healthstreamresearch.com) found that the majority of
employees feel unrecognized. The number one person that most employees want to feel recognized by is their direct
supervisor. This means that in order for corporate wellness programs to be most successful, they must not only provide
incentives for participating, but they must also provide a means to satisfy the emotional plea of its employees for
recognition.
What are some practical ways to help incentivize employees? Some of the most successful companies implementing
wellness programs choose to include a DVD to employees each year with video testimonials coming straight from toplevel executives stating what was accomplished last year and giving thanks to employees. For larger organizations,
some companies choose to have health fairs and allow directors and other supervisors to express their thanks and
appreciation to individual employees based off of their accomplishments.
Another practical way to help employees feel appreciated is by posting success stories or video testimonials on the
company website or website of your corporate wellness provider.
At Kersh Risk Management, we feel like it is important to first help the individual employee and then, by doing so, help
the entire corporation. We would love to post video testimonials of your employees and their accomplishments. We
would also like to help you setup a monetary employee incentive system that tracks points earned for various activities
such as wearing a KAM device, working with a health advocate, or attending biometric testing.
Health Fairs
Health fairs are meant to inspire employees and often-times family members to improve their health status. There are
many different topics that can be discussed during health fairs. Here are some ideas for possible health topics:
Arthritis Education, Back Health, CPR and First Aid, Dental Care, Disability Awareness, Hand-washing, Home Health
Center, Mental Health, Nutrition, Occupant Protection, Poisonous Snakes, Poison Prevention, Skin Cancer Prevention,
Tobacco Use Prevention, Traffic Safety, Safety Belts and Child Safety Seats, Drinking and Driving, Bicycle/Pedestrian
Safety, Zoonosis Control, Bicycle Safety, Cancer Prevention and Early Detection, Child Health, Fire Prevention, Health
Care/Self Care, Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and Early Detection of Heart Attack and Stroke, Occupant
Protection, Physical Activity, Prenatal Care, Women’s Health, and Stress Management.
One easy way to setup health fairs is to choose various topics and create health booths for each subject. For instance,
you could setup different booths for Hand-washing, Tobacco Use Prevention, and Physical Activity. If these were you
choices, you could setup a sink and have a health-minded individual discuss good hand-washing techniques such as
always washing when you go to the bathroom and using a paper towel to open the door before you exit the bathroom.
For Tobacco Use Prevention, you could have a booth with slides showing blackened lungs for people who have smoked
for long periods of time. For Physical Activity, you could setup a treadmill and have people race to a certain caloric
value.
These are just a few ideas about how setting up health fairs can help promote health within your organization. One of
the primary activities that many companies choose to implement is to have Biometric Testing (Health Screening) at
each of their worksites. For help with planning Biometric Testing or Health Fairs, we would love to help.