Human Resource Management Compensation, Essay Example

The below paper is designed to provide an overview of human resource management standards for health care and wellness monetary incentives that ensure that work-life balance is maintained within the organization. The authors would like to reveal the standards that meet the expectations of employees, motivate them, and provide long-term benefits for both the organization and workers, improve retention and add value to the role.

The research question of the below study is: Are there any associated benefits with creating monetary wellness and health incentives for employees in the form of cash, health insurance discount and personal health goal achievement rewards?

Wellness programs paid by the company provide not only increased motivation for employees, but also promote a healthy balance between work and life outside of work.  Mattke et al. (2013) created a study about workplace wellness programs. Reviewing the incentive programs with a monetary value, the authors found that 47 percent of employers used gift cards for wellness programs, while 42 percent offered gym discount, a further 37 percent used health plan premium benefits, and 21 percent of employers created cash rewards for employees. Participation rates among employees were constantly growing, according to the findings of the study, therefore, this monetary benefit can, and should be implemented in organizations’ human resource management compensation strategy.

Health care and welfare benefits, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (2013) are becoming more popular among employers. Health care premium discounts offered for participating in wellness programs were offered by 9 percent of employers in 2013, according to the report ( Society for Human Resource Management, 2013, p. 21). The financial benefits of signing up for wellness programs, completing weight loss, and oher health related goals is an effective motivator and promotes loyalty, a positive culture, while providing companies with the added benefit of reduced budgets for sick pay.

The Office of Policy and Research (2013) reviewed several monetary incentive programs related to employee compensation and evaluated the outcomes of the implemented programs. The reviewed case studies varied from incentives to quit smoking to screening and setting/completing own health goals. The employers offered an annual incentive ranging from $15 to $2600. Most organizations studied worked alongside with insurance providers to help employees reduce their premium, and offered cash incentives upon completing different health related tasks, such as meeting personal goals, quitting smoking, or completing health screening. The study showed positive impact on employee satisfaction, retention, health-related behaviors, and corporate culture alike among all organizations studied. However, the return on investment was not measured, and most of the benefits associated with health promotion were hard to measure, as they were associated with lower number of sick pay days and improved performance.

Burton (2012) studied the motivational effects of financial and non-financial incentives to promote healthy lifestyles and wellness at workplace. The author used Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the Four Motivation model to evaluate and predict the effectiveness of health-related incentive programs. Intrinsic motivation was determined as the most effective approach, while it was proven to be the hardest to implement in human resource management policies. The author also found that in the recession, financial motivation might be more important for employees, however, due to the restricted budget of companies, it was less commonly used. One of the pitfalls Burton (2012, p. 19) identifies related to financial incentives was that they might become “expected or unappreciated”. Therefore, tying the incentives to completed goals, in line with the employee’s preferences and personal motivations, when creating health-related financial incentives is crucial.

References

Beauregard, T. Alexandra and Henry, Lesley C. (2009) Making the link between work-life balance practices and organizational performance. Human resource management review, 19 . pp. 9-22

Burton, K. (2012) A study on motivation: How to get your employees moving. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/

Mattke, Soeren, Liu, Hangsheng, Caloyeras, John P.,  Huang, Christina Y., Van Busum,  Kristin R.,  Khodyakov, Dmitry & Shier,  Victoria. (2013) Workplace wellness programs study. RAND Health Retr from http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/workplacewellnessstudyfinal.pdf

Society for Human Resource Management (2013) 2013 employee benefits – An overview of employee benefits offerings in the U.S. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/research/surveyfindings/articles/documents/13-0245%202013_empbenefits_fnl.pdf

Office of Policy and Research Employee Benefits Security Administration Department of Labor (2013) Workplace wellness programs study. case studies summary report .