FORT WAYNE – Get fit and get paid.
Or get a credit toward a health club membership.
Or perhaps a gift card to a favorite retailer.
It just depends on where you work in northeast Indiana – if such opportunities exist at all.
Ken Lizer's employees can get an extra $20 a month if they're willing to work up a sweat – when they're not on the time clock – or at least have a membership to a facility where it's considered cool to sweat.
Lizer, owner of Employers Administrative Services of Indiana, says he has been providing the incentive for employees who join the YMCA or another fitness center since he started his company in 1997.
"I can't make them go," Lizer said, "but at least we help pay the cost of helping them go."
And Lizer, a YMCA board member, doesn't mind trading the professional dress for a T-shirt and shorts himself – all for the sake of good health. If he's not working out at the Y, Lizer might be burning calories on his home exercise equipment.
"I can't expect any more out of my employees than I can expect of myself," Lizer said.
Recent surveys have shown employers haven't given up on offering incentives, sometimes through health insurance programs, to workers who are conscious about fitness.
Wendy Spitznagel is community wellness director for the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne.
"I think corporations take an interest in wanting to help support employees," she said, "possibly subsidizing a membership fee or looking at ways to encourage their employees to become more active."
But Spitznagel said it's difficult to gauge how many people use the Y, driven by corporate wellness programs or insurance incentives.
Lizer's Employers Administrative Services has seven employees and provides human resources, payroll and benefits administration for dozens of other employers. He estimates 10 percent to 15 percent of the companies he works with – most of them employing 10 to 200 workers – provide some sort of fitness-related incentive for employees.
Most companies that offer a wellness incentive do so on the honor system, said Paul Martino, an executive with Indianapolis-based WellPoint, which includes the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance plan.
"For large employers nationally the prevalence of wellness programs is very high and has been on the pretty steep upswing over the past 24 to 36 months," said Martino, vice president of sales, Comprehensive Health Solutions, WellPoint.
The trend is also evident in Indiana, Martino said, although it's less common with employers who have 100 or fewer workers.
Martino said one concern employers often have is the cost of such incentive programs. But benefits can be achieved simply by having workplace fitness challenges that can be managed by employees who volunteer.
The most popular incentive programs involve cash rewards, gift cards or credits that allow discounts on what employees pay for health insurance premiums, Martino said.
Ryan Stoneburner, owner of Health Insurance Inc. in Fort Wayne, agrees with others who say people who are already fitness-conscious are often the ones who sign up for wellness programs or incentives. His company helps put together employee benefit programs for employers.
Although employers are "not going to convert a whole workforce," Stoneburner said engaging even some employees is worthwhile. He encourages employers to look at the big picture – overall wellness. And that can start by reviewing the selections in vending machines.
"It starts with providing healthy options at the employer's cafeteria," Stoneburner said.
