Carrot vs. stick
It is said that humans are motivated by both desire and fear—the carrot and the stick. “Both approaches have their advantages,” says Dr. Vallis. “The stick approach reduces choice, and one of the challenges in weight management is having too much choice.” The carrot approach, in turn, “may result in more sustained changes because the motivation is not imposed.” Compensating overweight employees for their efforts can also increase the amount of weight they lose, as shown by a recent study reported in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
In the United States, some companies have started penalizing employees who don’t meet BMI and other health criteria. According to a 2007 Wall Street Journal report, a Geneva, Ind.-based bank has recently raised employee health insurance deductibles from $500 to $2,500, but offered $500 credits only to those employees who passed screenings for BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure and tobacco. Clarian Health, an Indianapolis-based hospital chain, has announced that employees who meet certain health parameters (including BMI cut-offs) will pay lower health insurance premiums than others.
A similar cost differential faces the employees of U-Haul International, headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz. In order to enrol in U-Haul’s medical plan, employees (and spouses, if applicable) need to participate in the company’s wellness program, says Angie DeWinter, director of operations, human resources. The participation fee of $7 per individual per week, which gets deducted from the paycheque, is waived in people with a BMI under 30. (People whose BMI exceeds the cut-off may also have the fee waived if they meet certain criteria.) “We were geared up to have people concerned at the policy,” DeWinter recalls, “but we didn’t get much negative response at all. We have a very good benefit program, and our employees know that.”
CFI Westgate, a privately held timeshare company with headquarters in central Florida, has taken a hard line on smoking— all employees must be non-smokers, both in and out of the office—but a softer stance on obesity. “We view obesity as less of a choice than smoking,” says Mark Waltrip, the company’s chief operating officer. Two years ago, the company launched a voluntary three-month weight-loss contest with cash and vacation prizes ranging from $500 to $5,000. The first contest (in which 600 employees participated) spurred individuals to drop as many as 60 pounds and yielded a combined weight loss of more than 2,000 pounds.
Personal choice is also de rigueur in Canada, where employment laws don’t allow for a thou-shalt approach, says Caroline Ursulak, a Toronto-based employment lawyer. “Under the current human rights laws, the workplace is not allowed to enforce fitness initiatives, including requirements to lose weight or quit smoking,” she explains. “It has to be voluntary—and confidential.”
Keeping it simple
The Lifescale health-tracking system, which meets both these requirements and also scores points for simplicity, has been making the rounds in Canadian workplaces. Developed by the Toronto-based company Global Diagnostics Inc., the computerized scale “tracks previous and current weight, body fat and BMI, and awards points to participants for losing weight and keeping it off,” says Lifescale director Jeff Howe. The points can be redeemed for gift certificates or cash rewards.
Campbell Canada has been using the Lifescale system as part of its comprehensive Wellness Within program. “Our team of specialists help participants establish reasonable weight loss goals, and we encourage them to use Lifescale to track their results,” says Fanny Karolev, Campbell’s manager of worklife, health and wellness. An annual weight loss and lifestyle enhancement challenge called New U, also tracked by Lifescale, has teams from Montreal to Calgary vying for the largest group weight loss. “We give out gift cards to the winning team and individuals,” says Karolev.
Kevin Kwan, founder and president of Kwantum Inc., a wellness consulting firm in Edmonton, sees such friendly competition as a natural fit for the business world. He helped one of his clients, a major construction firm, develop an executive challenge that had 14 top-level executives competing to lose the most weight, a $2,500 prize adding a note of excitement to the effort. “They were already competing with each other in other realms, so this fit right in,” says Kwan. “I call it working with the momentum.”
