The impact of alternative incentive schemes on completion of health risk assessments

Abstract

Purpose: The biggest challenge for corporate wellness initiatives is low rates of employee participation. We test whether a behavioral economic approach to incentive design (i.e., a lottery) is more effective than a direct economic payment of equivalent monetary value (i.e., a grocery gift certificate) in encouraging employees to complete health risk assessments (HRAs).

Design: Employees were assigned to one of three arms. Assignment to a treatment arm versus the nontreatment arm was determined by management. Assignment to an arm among those eligible for treatment was randomized by office.

Setting: A large health care management and information technology consulting company.

Patients: A total of 1299 employees across 14 offices participated.

Intervention: All employees were eligible to receive $25 for completing the HRA. Those in the lottery condition were assigned to teams of four to eight people and, conditional on HRA completion, were entered into a lottery with a prize of $100 (expected value, $25) and a bonus value of an additional $25 if 80% of team members participated. Those in the grocery gift certificate condition who completed an HRA received a $25 grocery gift certificate. Those in the comparison condition received no additional incentive.

Measures: HRA completion rates.

Analysis: Logistic regression analysis.

Results: HRA completion rates were significantly higher among participations in the lottery incentive condition (64%) than in both the grocery gift certificate condition (44%) and the comparison condition (40%). Effects were larger for lower-income employees, as indicated by a significant interaction between income and the lottery incentive.

Conclusion: Lottery incentives that incorporate regret aversion and social pressure can provide higher impact for the same amount of money as simple economic incentives.