Here’s an incentive: good health

So, you want to quit smoking? Or maybe you want to shed a some pounds?

Well, it turns out that a little financial incentive can motivate you to achieve your health-related goal-- whether it’s losing weight, exercising more regularly, quitting smoking or making other positive life changes.

According to a 2008 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), dieters who had a financial incentive to lose weight were nearly five times as likely to meet their goal than those who had no potential for financial reward. On average, participants who received financial rewards lost more than 13 pounds in 16 weeks, compared to an average loss of only 3.9 pounds in the control group.

"Incentive approaches based on behavioral economic concepts appear to be highly effective in inducing initial weight loss," the researchers wrote.

Financial incentives can also help people quit smoking. In a separate study, the same team of University of Pennsylvania researchers found that smokers who were given a cash reward were three times more likely to kick the habit than those who only received educational information.

It may come as no surprise that money is a powerful incentive to change your behavior. But that’s not all. Research also suggests that if you publicly announce your goal, you’re more likely to stick to your commitment.

So, tell your friends and family members about your goal and stake some money on achieving success. It’s a win-win: you’ll be motivated to succeed and if you achieve success, and they’ll see returns on their investment (a healthier you). Now that’s a powerful combination!

Beyond Workplace Wellness

As Ron Leiber points out in his New Year's Day article Incentivize Yourself to Good Health in 2011, the power of financial rewards has come to corporate America. 

Two things have happened recently that will probably bring more incentives to more people. First, the new health care law explicitly grants permission to employers to offer rewards of at least 30 percent of the total cost of health insurance to employees. Those winnings, often in the form of lower premiums, will go to people who join wellness programs and hit certain health goals.

Right now companies are experimenting with new ways of leveraging financial incentives to improve the health of their employees because of the real bottom line benefits.  In a recent meeting with one of the wellness incentives thought leaders, Ken Shachmut at Safeway Health, he mentioned to me that he is taking a broad approach and looking for new arrows to add to his quiver to help his employees improve their chance of success and enable them to reach their wellness targets. My recommendation was to look beyond the enterprise, to the real social network that surrounds their employees and figure out how to get them engaged. In short, try the HealthRally approach. He liked it.