Finding the right
Weight loss benefit provider Wondr Health surveyed 73 employers who use their product, comparing the employee engagement levels between companies that offered financial incentives in the form of wellness points or dollars and companies that offered nothing at all. It became clear that financial incentives can motivate employees to start a program, but not necessarily
According to Wondr, employers with financial incentives edged out companies without by less than 2% when it came to the average sign-up rate. However, there was just a 0.1% difference in weight loss results, with financial incentives barely coming out ahead.
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"Financial incentives are just not enough to change behavior in the long run," says Dr. Tim Church, chief medical officer at Wondr Health. "Incentives can be a powerful tool to get people to do a step they maybe wouldn't have done otherwise, but they're not a cure-all."
Dr. Church points out that monetary rewards are limited in what they incentivize. For example, if someone gets points towards a gift card for drinking a certain amount of water, then they will likely drink more water — but that incentivized action does not push the individual to adopt more healthy habits overall.
"If you incentivize someone to get on the scale more, they'll get on the scale more," says Dr. Church. "That doesn't mean they're going to lose weight. You get what you incentivize for, but even that's short-lived unless you build long-term life skills."
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Wondr's program centers on behavioral education, providing personalized digital tools, videos and coaching that coincide with an individual's set weekly goals. Rob Sutton, chief financial officer at Wondr Health, can attest that even the simplest insights can completely change someone's weight loss journey.
"I'm a typical finance guy who's cramming his meals down in five minutes," says Sutton. "Wondr encourages you to take your time when you're eating. After the first 10 minutes, you pause for five. Then, if you're still hungry, you eat for another 10. You eat what you want, but you do it slowly and in moderation. I'm learning to be much more mindful when I eat and drink."
Sutton has lost 60 pounds in the last year, in part thanks to changing this one eating habit.
Similarly, Kris Finnestad, a senior software engineer at Medtronic, an employer partner with Wondr, has benefited from the program's behavior-based approach. After suffering a heart attack in 2017, Finnestad struggled to find an effective weight loss program until he joined his current employer over three years ago and started Wondr's program.
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"All the Wondr techniques are easy to stick to, including recognizing your hunger levels, drinking more water and doing a sugar reset," he says. "The program helped me establish healthy habits and tune into my body to recognize when to stop eating."
Dr. Church notes that if employers want to include incentives in their programs, they must ensure they are incentivizing healthy behaviors and not the number on a scale or cash points. This goes for employers offering GLP-1 access, too.
"The future of weight loss [programs] is not going to be about weight loss," says Dr. Church. "The future of weight loss is behavioral change."
Sutton encourages anyone interested in joining a weight loss program to focus on their ability to add or eliminate certain habits. Consistently eating breakfast in the morning or adding a short walk after lunch to one's routine is worth feeling proud of. He adds that it helps to have a strong "why" driving one's weight loss journey.
"I want to look better, but more than that, I want to be around for my kids — and when my
kids have kids," says Sutton. "I think I found Wondr at just the right time for me."
