Driving Real Behavior Change With Wellness Incentives
Behavior change is one of the hardest things for people to achieve – especially when habits are long-standing or tied to deeply rooted beliefs and routines. To help employees make meaningful lifestyle changes, organizations need more than education alone. They need motivation, support, and the right tools. That’s where wellness incentives can make a measurable difference.
Key Takeaways
- Wellness incentives help bridge the gap between wanting to be healthier and actually taking action.
- Incentive programs work best when they align with your company culture and are shaped by employee feedback.
- Using a mix of participation-based, progress-based, and outcome-based wellness incentives can support both engagement and long-term behavior change.
- Incentives don’t have to be expensive—non-tangible rewards like flexible schedules can be just as powerful.
What Are Wellness Incentives and Why Do They Matter?
Wellness incentives are rewards—financial, tangible, or experiential—that motivate employees to participate in health-promoting activities. They bridge the gap between wanting to be healthier and actually taking action.
Despite ongoing debate about their effectiveness, 75% of wellness programs use wellness incentives to boost engagement and encourage healthy behaviors. When designed intentionally and supported by the right wellness technology, incentives can drive sustainable behavior change.
Key benefits of wellness incentives:
- Increase participation in wellness programs
- Reinforce healthy habits
- Improve long-term health outcomes and reduce benefit costs
- Reduce healthcare and absenteeism costs
- Boost morale, satisfaction, and workplace culture
How Wellness Incentives Support Lasting Behavior Change
The long-term goal of any wellness program is not temporary action—it’s sustained improvement. Incentives act as a catalyst, helping employees cross the barrier from intention to behavior.
Why employees need more than education
Traditional wellness efforts focused on teaching people about healthy choices. But education alone rarely inspires employees to:
- quit smoking
- improve nutrition
- manage stress
- increase daily activity
- attend preventive screenings
Modern behavior science reinforces this: people need reinforcement, accountability, and tangible motivation. Wellness incentives provide that momentum—especially when paired with coaching, tracking, and a personalized wellness experience.
Best Practices for Implementing Wellness Incentives
Designing an effective incentive program requires understanding your employees, your culture, and the outcomes you want to achieve. The goal of a wellness program is for employees to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle for the long run. Here are some tips on implementing incentives:
- Align Wellness Incentives With Your Company Culture: Consider your company culture and how company values and goals are aligned with wellness. Culture and wellness need to be united in order to present a clear and believable message that employees can buy into.
- Use Employee Feedback to Guide Incentive Design: Listen and communicate with employees and their superiors. Find out firsthand what they are looking for in a wellness program and what types of incentives will motivate them the most. Incentive design that takes into account what employees want will support them and their goals and reflect well on the workplace environment.
- Use Data to Guide and Improve Incentive Programs: Do your research to avoid trial and error. Once underway, monitor and track your programs with reporting and feedback to determine if any adjustments or changes need to happen.
Technology plays a major role here. Wellness platform’s makes it easy to track:
- activity completion
- biometric improvements
- reward eligibility
- incentive redemption
- program ROI
This eliminates manual work and ensures every incentive is tied to measurable outcomes.
Wellness Incentive Ideas by Budget
15 Low Budget Wellness Incentives (<$100)
- Sports bottles
- Pedometers
- Gardening tools
- Running hats
- Fitness bands
- Exercise clothes
- Paid entrance fees to organized athletic events (e.g. marathon)
- Exercise videos and books
- Punch pass to community centers
- Kitchen appliance to make shakes and smoothies
- Exercise equipment (e.g. soccer cleats, tennis racquet, etc.)
- Gym bag
- Earphones
- Cooking lesson
- Yoga mat
15 Mid-Range Wellness Incentives ($100 – 300)
- Running shoes
- Health food store certificates
- Exercise lessons
- Massage certificates
- Camping equipment
- Wearable devices.
- Sports sunglasses/goggles
- Spa gift certificate
- Hiking gear (e.g. boots, backpacks)
- Snow shoes
- Ipod
- Gym memberships
- Helmets and protective gear
- Gift cards
- Kitchen cookware (e.g. pots and pans to encourage healthy eating)
15 High-Range Wellness Incentives ($300+)
- Bike
- Scuba gear
- Day off with pay
- Stand-up desks
- Home exercise equipment
- Kayak
- Hockey skates
- Trip or tour (e.g. weekend getaway, whitewater rafting)
- Camping gear (e.g. tent, vehicle storage)
- Car bike rack
- Skis or snowboard
- Paddle or surf board
- Golf equipment
- Water ski equipment
- BBQ
No Cost Wellness Incentives
Some of the most meaningful incentives require no budget at all:
- Flexible schedules for exercise
- Paid time for wellness activities
- Extra breaks for movement or mindfulness
3 Types of Wellness Incentives
Choosing the right incentive structure is just as important as choosing the reward. There are three primary types of incentives that may work better than others depending on the type of wellness initiative.
- Participation-based incentives – rewards for anyone who participates in the wellness program. This option is obviously the most inclusive and encourages overall participation.
- Progress-based incentives – these rewards are given to participants that are on route to reaching their goals, such as weight loss or number of steps counted. This option is fairly inclusive and ensures active participation.
- Out-come-based incentives – awarded to participants that meet a certain goal, such as healthy BMI levels or decreased risk for diabetes. Some look at this incentive rewards as the least inclusive as it excludes participants who haven’t reached their goal yet however, for the most part it still provides value as it shows employees where they need to be to really maximize their health.
The Business Benefits of Using Wellness Incentives
When designed well, wellness incentives help organizations:
- reduce healthcare claims
- decrease absenteeism and presenteeism
- increase productivity
- improve employee morale
- strengthen retention and employer brand
The ROI extends far beyond the incentive itself.
Wellness Technology Makes Implementing Incentives Easy
Administering incentives manually is difficult, time-consuming, and prone to errors. That’s why wellness technology is essential.
CoreHealth’s corporate wellness platform provides:
- automated incentive tracking
- real-time reporting
- goal-based reward logic
- integrations with fitness devices
- personalized wellness journeys
- scalable multi-program management
Whether you’re managing participation incentives or tracking complex outcome-based rewards, our technology ensures accuracy, transparency, and a seamless employee experience.
Interested in how CoreHealth makes incentive tracking easy? Contact us today!
FAQ’s on Employee Wellness Incentives
Q: Do wellness incentives really work, or do people just chase the rewards?
A: When wellness incentives are designed thoughtfully and paired with good communication and support, they do more than drive one-off actions. They help people start and sustain healthier habits. The key is aligning incentives with meaningful goals and tracking progress—not just handing out prizes.
Q: What are some examples of effective wellness incentives that don’t cost a lot?
A: Low-cost wellness incentives like water bottles, pedometers, yoga mats, community center passes, or cooking lessons can be very effective—especially when combined with friendly challenges and recognition. Even no-cost options like flexible schedules or paid time to exercise can be powerful motivators.
Q: How do I know which type of wellness incentive is right for my organization?
A: It depends on your goals, culture, and population. Participation-based incentives are great for getting people in the door. Progress-based incentives help build habits. Outcome-based incentives work best when targeting specific health risks. Many organizations use a mix of all three through a wellness platform like CoreHealth.
Q: How can technology help manage wellness incentives?
A: A wellness platform like CoreHealth automates tracking, eligibility, and rewards, so you don’t have to manage everything in spreadsheets. It connects activities, goals, and incentives in one place, making it easier for employees to see their progress and for admins to measure program impact.
About CoreHealth Technologies
CoreHealth Technologies Inc. is the leading corporate wellness platform trusted by more than 1000 organizations, ranging from medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises. At CoreHealth, we believe that developing the best employee wellness programs is all about giving wellness companies the right code, design and access to the latest innovations. With the most customization, integrations and reliability of any software in its class, CoreHealth’s powerful platform lets users focus on growing great companies. For more information, explore the CoreHealth website.
