Rewards for fitness are the points, gift cards, extra time off and recognition an employer gives employees for completing activity goals inside a wellness program. Cash and gift cards, fitness goods like trackers or gym access, and paid time off or public recognition all count.
Vantage Fit runs this as points. Employees earn them on challenge tasks, milestones and completion, then redeem them through its wellness rewards program. The balance sits in the same wallet as Vantage Circle rewards, so people see one total.
Getting fit is the top New Year’s resolution for Americans, and most of us struggle to keep it going alongside the 9 to 5. That gap, between wanting to be fit and staying at it, is where a reward does its work.
Let’s find out how and why.
Key Takeaways
- Rewards for fitness turn a wellness program from something employees can join into something they use.
- The employees who exercise least are the hardest to enrol, and they gain the most once they join.
- Points attached to challenge tasks give employees something to earn every week a challenge runs.
- A beginner needs a prize they can realistically win, which is what tiering a leaderboard by fitness level provides.
- The measured gain shows up in activity. Medical spending and productivity held flat in the strongest trial.
Why Is Fitness Important In The Workplace?
Promoting health and fitness is the surefire way to achieve an individual’s full potential. Corporate wellness programs are well-known among companies seeking productive employees.
Here are our top five reasons to promote fitness among your employees:
- Keeps a check on employees’ mental health
- Motivates employees to face challenges
- Boost interpersonal relationships
- Reduces severe health risks
- Save healthcare cost
How Rewards For Fitness Boosts Employees’ Wellness Participation?
We agree that losing weight and getting healthy are challenging goals. It requires one’s full commitment and focus. But you can make the entire process fun and much easier to achieve with rewards.
You would be amazed to find its practical application during a corporate wellness program.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota followed 2,972 staff on a $20 monthly payment for gym use.
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Those who joined exercised hard on 0.59 more days each week than those who stayed out, and were still ahead two years later.
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The least active staff signed up at the lowest rate, and improved most once they were in.
Besides boosting wellness and reaching new health goals, rewarding your employees reinforce new habits and enlighten them to continue their fitness journey.
Vantage Fit makes it easy to reward healthy habits at scale. Employees earn points on challenge tasks, on journey milestones, and on finishing a challenge. Admins can also award points directly. Points are redeemed from a gift card catalogue organised by category.
Recognition arrives along the way. Badges land on specific achievements, and a completion certificate is issued when a challenge ends if the company enables it, so progress is marked more than once per cycle.
Rachel Arthur, Director of Benefits & Wellness at Brazosport ISD, saw exactly this dynamic play out with her team:
"It's a great way to log activities. Employees are also rewarded with points, recognition and prizes."
— Rachel Arthur, Director of Benefits & Wellness, Brazosport ISD
5 Rewards For Fitness Benefits In Wellness Program
1. Boost The Effectiveness Of Wellness Programs
Wellness programs cost thousands of dollars, but have you ever considered their effectiveness? Without employee participation in these programs, achieving those health goals becomes slim. It’s high time to consider the factors for the lower interest among employees.
Whatever the reason, wellness incentives are where to start, because they act on the step an employee has to take first, which is signing up at all.
For instance: Are you more inclined to set a goal of 10,000 steps per day if the incentive is a new Apple Watch or if the goal is to lower your cholesterol? RAND’s 2012 employer survey put median participation at 20% where no incentive was offered and 40% where one was, across a nationally representative sample of US employers.
Wellness gift ideas for employees like insulated sports bottles, running shoes, fit bands, free fitness classes, smoothie makers, gym trinkets, and so forth. Pairing incentives with gamification mechanics (leaderboards, badges, and streak tracking) compounds the effect further, turning one-time participants into consistent contributors.
2. Boosts Team Spirit
Employees who work together share common fitness goals with their co-workers. So, organizing a group exercise will teach them the value of teamwork.
Reward their exceptional team spirit for making the program a success. Also, acknowledge their team-based incentive plans. It will encourage them to continue their fitness journey with others. It will also help them to keep a competitive edge and aim for higher fitness points.
3. Considers Employee Morale
What do we mean by boosting employee morale? It is an intrinsic factor that determines an employee’s attitude, satisfaction, and outlook at the workplace.
Fitness rewards are one of the factors that lift participation in fitness programs. Employees who keep up with their high spirits are more confident than those who don’t follow any wellness incentive program.
4. Promote Culture Of Wellness
Wellness incentives can be a powerful medium for boosting health and well-being in the workplace. Regardless of monetary or non-monetary rewards, the feeling of being recognized is surreal. Research on the benefits of employee wellness programs consistently shows that when recognition is built into the program structure, participation sustains itself long after the initial launch.
Employees complete wellness challenges that identify areas for improvement. Such as losing weight, smoking cessation, eating healthy, and beginning an exercise routine.
5. Keeps Your Employees Inspired
Our employees feel motivated post-workout and are, thus, more productive in their work and satisfied with their job. They also motivate one another to continue working out! The link between movement, recognition, and output is why employee wellness and productivity research consistently points to fitness rewards as a driver of both.
Exercising during work can reduce stress, increase energy, and improve overall mood. It makes you feel great after!
Well, now you get the idea? Even though it might seem like a carrot-and-stick policy, the sole motto of offering exercise rewards is to boost fitness. It helps in bringing out the competitive spirit among co-workers to achieve wellness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do fitness rewards actually increase participation?
They increase the exercise itself, by a modest amount. The University of Minnesota's $20-a-month Fitness Rewards Program was linked to 0.59 more vigorous exercise days a week among participants, and the gain held through 2010. A randomised trial of nearly 5,000 employees found the program raised health screening rates while showing no significant effect on medical spending, productivity or self-reported health after more than two years.
What fitness rewards work best?
Rewards the employee chooses. A range of gift cards suits more people than one fixed prize, because each person picks what they want. Fitness goods such as a tracker, a water bottle or paid gym access suit people already exercising. Paid time off and public recognition reach the employees who value neither cash nor kit. Most programs carry more than one so nobody is left without something worth earning.
How much should a fitness reward be worth?
Enough to be noticed every month rather than once a year. The Minnesota program that produced a measured activity gain paid $20 a month for using the fitness centre. A regular, modest amount tied to a repeatable action gives employees a reason to come back each week, which a single large end-of-year prize does not.
How do you keep fitness rewards fair when some employees are much fitter?
Tier the competition so people are ranked against others at their own level. Wellness Leagues sorts employees into Gold, Silver and Bronze on a rolling daily average of steps or active minutes, recalculated daily, with the thresholds and the averaging window set for each company. A beginner competes inside Bronze, so the same few athletes stop taking every prize.
Final Words
With the sole purpose of improving employees’ health and reducing healthcare costs, a fitness reward system helps your wellness program stand out. It helps gain your employees’ interest and inspires them to keep up with their wellness journey.
When supported by a wellness platform like Vantage Fit, you may witness a significant increase in participation rates. With lucrative redeemable rewards like gift cards that employees can redeem from the app within seconds, the return on a wellness investment becomes measurable and lasting.
