When it comes to promoting healthy behaviors in workers,
managers should keep their cash and reach for gift cards. That was the finding by
a team of researchers at Brigham Young University, who found that gift cards
were far more likely to motivate participants in a workplace wellness program
to successfully complete their challenges.
Published online at Management Accounting Research,
the study was conducted by BYU researchers Bill Heninger, Steve Smith and David
Wood. It tracked an institution that rewarded workers who completed a six-week
wellness challenge, giving participants a choice between a cash bonus on their
paycheck, a gift card or a material reward of the same value. Approximately 60
percent of participants selected cash, 30 percent chose gift cards and 10
percent selected the tangible reward.
While cash was the most popular choice, the most effective
choice turned out to be gift cards. According to the findings, those who
selected gift cards were approximately 25 percent more likely to complete the
challenge than the participants selecting other rewards, taking into account
all other factors.
"You would presume that when people pick
the reward type that is the most appealing to them, it would have the most
motivational power," Smith said in a statement. "But that wasn't the
case. Employees choosing to be rewarded with gift cards actually reaped the
greatest health benefits.
The findings add more evidence to the assertions long held by leaders of the incentive industry that gift cards are a more effective incentive than cash. The authors suggest that the gift cards might have proved more effective because they strike a balance between flexible and specific when it comes to entertainment or fun.
"People keep mental accounts," Wood
explained. "If you work and make $10, that's your work money. If you find
10 bucks on the ground, then that's free money. You might go out to lunch with
the free money, when you normally wouldn't with your work money."
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