Paying employees to lose weight? Think twice

by Tom Avril

Published Jan. 8, 2016, 10:03 a.m. ET

To encourage healthy behavior in workers, employers often use financial rewards such as reductions in health premiums.

That approach may not always be effective, according to a new University of Pennsylvania study.

Researchers asked 197 obese people to lose 5 percent of their weight, and randomly assigned them to four study groups.

One group got a $550 reduction in health premiums for achieving the goal, but not until the following year. Another got the same benefit in the next pay period, while a third group earned rewards through a daily lottery.

The fourth group got no reward.

Researchers found no significant difference in weight loss among the four groups.

After 12 months, all four groups had average weight losses of less than 2 pounds.

The study authors said the lottery program might have worked better if they could alert participants with "regret" messages on days that they did not win money.