On June 30, 2009, incentaHEALTH and Hercules Industries were awarded the 2009 Promising Practices award from the Colorado chapter of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease. The award—presented by Colorado Lt. Governor Barbara O’Brien—is designed to recognize innovation in workplace wellness programs.
Highlighted during the event was a 19% reduction in health care expenses experienced by Hercules Industries as a result of their embrace of work site wellness programs. Through the incentaHEALTH program available to all employees at Hercules, participants receive the following:
- tailored email coaching on physical activity, nutrition, and overcoming barriers
- private weigh ins on the HEALTHspot kiosk
- quarterly cash incentives for sustained improvements in Body Mass Index (BMI)
- social media and real-time team competitions tied to their BMI progress (as tracked by the kiosk)
- access to health coaches for personal assistance when needed
Top-level support for the program has been critical to the success of the efforts to date. In the words of Hercules Industries CEO Bill Newland:
“This program is very popular with our employees because it puts them in charge and gives them confidentiality and positive reinforcement,” said Bill Newland, President of Hercules Industries. “Our employees are healthier and more productive, and healthcare costs have been cut by 19.6 percent. This is a great ‘win-win’ program.”
We have built incentaHEALTH around the principle that the most direct way to reduce health care costs is by improving health and well being at the individual level. We have helped our customers accomplish this by putting powerful behavior change tools in the hands of the individual employees as they make decisions about their health. And the incentives tied to performance don’t hurt either. Executive leadership supporting a culture of wellness has demonstrated that an employer can enable bottom-up success at the point where real change is possible: with individual employees, consumers and citizens like you and me.
A full overview of the Promising Practices award event and the corporate wellness efforts at Hercules Industries can be viewed here.
