Health Benefits

It is important for the overall workplace health program to contain a combination of individual and organizational level strategies and interventions to influence health, including:

• Health Benefits – part of an overall compensation package including health insurance coverage and other services or discounts regarding health

Examples include:  

• Health insurance coverage for preventive services and screenings
• Coverage for tobacco cessation and/or nicotine replacement therapy
• Discounts and/or subsidies for fitness facility memberships
• Incentives such as gift certificates, cash, paid time off, reduced health insurance premiums or prizes for participation in health promotion programs or achieving individual or group health goals

Workplace health programs are not add-on benefits but basic investments in human capital, similar to training, mentoring, and other employee development programs.

Regardless of which interventions are selected, the program should strive to: 

• Use multiple interventions, such as combining a policy and a health benefit intervention, for a single health issue.  Combinations are more effective than any one intervention alone
• Use interventions that address multiple health issues at the same time, which is more effective than addressing each single health issue separately