Grossmeier offered these findings as a basis for an evidence-based strategy that can enhance workplace health and deliver measurable outcomes:

Any incentive approach must be supported by an organizational commitment to a culture of health; senior leadership support; ongoing comprehensive communications; and SMART (i.e., specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) objectives.
Incentives that incorporate a combination of participation and health-related objectives are associated with higher levels of well-being program participation and statistically significant reductions in population levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose.
Incentives alone appear insufficient to produce significant improvements in population levels of body mass index.

Evaluation of employer data in the study revealed four common patterns in incentive designs, which evolved over the three-year average study period:

Incentives focused on participation (participation-focused);
Incentives focused on health improvement or outcomes (outcomes-focused);
Incentives focused on a combination of participation and outcomes (combination); and
Incentives that started with a focus on participation and then shifted to a focus on outcomes (participation-to-outcomes).

According to Grossmeier, while most employer well-being initiatives used a mix of outcome- and participation-focused incentives, the most successful also invested in creating and sustaining a more supportive workplace health culture. For example:

Combination companies offered the most cultural support for well-being.
Outcomes-focused companies offered the highest incentive amounts but the least organizational support.
Outcomes-focused companies had the highest participation in completion of health assessment surveys and biometric health screenings but recorded lower participation in health improvement interventions.
Combination companies recorded the second-highest completion of the incentive activity and a slight increase in participation over time

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Wellness program incentive design has impact on effectiveness, new study finds

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