Description: Some companies offer incentives for sharing medical data and undertaking health-improvement regimens. Others impose penalties for not doing that. Either way, the programs raise troubling questions.
Source: NYtimes.com
Date: Oct 30, 2015
On the surface, the programs are seemingly a win-win: Encouraging workers to get up and move or submit to annual blood tests to prevent future problems appears to help both workers and their employers.
But the program’s biggest critics say the programs are yet another way to push more costs onto employees, and even worse, potentially a backdoor way to discriminate against less healthy workers by making them pay more if, for instance, they fail to meet a goal of lower cholesterol. Read Rest of Story
Questions for discussion:
- How do these benefits motivate or demotivate employees? Why or why not?
- As an employee would you want to participate in these wellness plans?
Real Management in Practice 
2. As an employee would you want to participate in these wellness plans?
As an employee I would not want to participate in these wellness plans because it costs a lot and invades my own privacy. I’d rather not pay my money in the plans. I have the insurance and there is no need to worry about it. The purpose of these plans is a good intention however it is not a good idea that the companies force us to join these wellness plans. Also, it violates my privacy because if I participated in these programs, plans something, there would be a danger that my body state, measurement, and attribute information can be unveiled. How much weight or height I am, actually I don’t care of height…, Which diseases I have, and so on… Suppose that I have a serious disease. My disease becomes known to my co-workers or a boss because of these wellness plans. Then there will be a possibility my boss fires me before I quit a job because I cannot keep my work some time or other. Out of blue I lose my job. And even though I keep my work on, the co-workers sympathize with me. This can be very stressful at least to me. Therefore I don’t want to go in this program.
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These benefits that employers provide to their workers should be motivating. By giving employees these benefits, it allows workers to save a thousands of dollars in medical expenses. It should be motivating for that reason alone. Another reason that should motivate employees is that you have another party that knows about your health or your families historical health. Certain precautions can be put into place, and a more healthy and appreciated relationship between employee and employer can be started. That will allow people to work longer and not get fed up with their jobs as easily. Also, it will help increase productivity and decrease employee turnover because the workers will be working longer. A decrease in turnover will save a company money in the long run because costs won’t be dedicated to recruiting and training new workers.
I would want to take part in these wellness plans. Even though I have insurance coverage, the company would still make it a lot cheaper for things such as dental or eye care. By answering a few personal questions, I would save thousands of dollars and receive benefits. I would also have different health goals to try and reach. The company would be motivating me to make myself a healthier person. The relationship is mutually beneficial. I, the employee, would be becoming healthier, and the employer would be getting a more productive worker. The benefits do outweigh the costs, and for those reasons, I would participate in health plans
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These benefits motivate employees because they have to get fit and don’t motivate employees because if you are not fit, you will either not be employed or you will get fined. If my company did this, I wouldn’t want to participate. I’m a pretty fit person so I would probably wouldn’t have a problem getting the benefits but I would have a problem with knowing that there are some unhealthy people out there that would be discriminated against. I can’t say I’ve heard of these wellness programs before but I’m surprised that they are allowed in Canada. It’s a real example of the “stick and carrot” theory. I’m also not too sure how the word “volunteer” comes out of this. It’s like the opposite of volunteering. They made it clear that you either give them your personal health info or you pay a fine for not handing it over. Employers obviously have the upper hand in this but they really shouldn’t. If they want their employees to be fit then they should start some kind of reward system with no punishments. It makes sense to have this in place since the more employees that are fit equals the less you have to pay for their health benefits. I just don’t think it should be done the way it says in the article.
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I like the idea of providing benefits to people who are healthier. It benefits the employee and the employer. I think it was interesting how this article was written. I feel like they could have taken the same facts and wrote about how Honeywell was motivating its employees to be healthier through cheaper insurance premiums but the writer of the article seemed to take a very negative stance about it. I think that the people that thought this up have good intentions. It’s funny how much we hate getting told what to do. When we were kids, we were told we had to eat more than cake because just eating cake was bad for us but now that we are adults, someone says I’ll give you money if you don’t eat cake, we get mad because we don’t want to be told what to do. That example is oversimplified but I think its still relevant. And the article said that people who are physically unable to meet the goals in place will be exempt so everyone that is asked to complete these goals are able to complete them. Even though some people don’t want to put the effort into getting healthy, I think it’s great that their employers care enough to put these programs in place, even if the employers do it for slightly selfish reasons.
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In my opinion, these benefits demotivate employees because the programs is not fit every employee in spite of the programs are seemingly a win-win. Firstly, the programs may become another way to push more cost onto employees. Even worse, if you are a lower-income employee, you will have more pressure to participate the programs. Another problem is privacy, some employees fear that their sensitive medical information could end up in the wrong hands. Finally, some people do not have specific health goals. Therefore, I think these benefit is not fit to everyone.
As an employee, I would not want to participate in these wellness plans. One reason I do not want to participate is costing. I think I can take care of my body and I also have own doctor to treat me very well. I do not need extra cost to keep my body healthy. I do not want to do annual blood tests. Another reason I do not want to participate is privacy. I do not want to colleague know my body’s condition. If the wellness programs disclose who receive the data, I will think it over. Therefore, Even though there are some benefits, I still do not want to participate in these wellness plans.
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I think those benefits should be motive because it reminds employees to pay more attention on their own and their family member’s health. Also, the insurance helps employees save money on medical expense. However, if I am an employee, I would not want to participate in these wellness plans. First reason is I do not think those plans are wellness enough, in most companies, employees have to participate or leave. Secondly, those wellness plans are not always cheap and fit, as the article said, “The program’s biggest critics say the programs are yet another way to push more costs onto employees, and even worse, potentially a backdoor way to discriminate against less healthy workers by making them pay more. For lower-income employees, who may feel more pressure to participate, there is the potential for another type of discrimination”. What is more, privacy is another concern that I would worried about, since those plans need lots of personal medical information, but the information may be exposed in a data breach. For me, I do not want anyone know that I have high blood pressure or some other healthy problem, my medical information is even more private than my age.
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To me,I think this benefit motivate and demotivate the employees.Every body went to be physically fit with their body shape but not every body would like to bear the risk. according to the programs he says this are ways to push more costs to the employees and a backdoor ways to discriminate against less healthy workers by making them pay more if they fail to meet a goal of lower cholesterol, and also their is no room for privacy in the company. some people will get to know your medical condition which suppose to be confidential to you as an individual.I think the company is also considering is own interest and not the interest of the employees.To me i think its should be a voluntary stuff to do in the company. As an employee in the company i will not participate in the wellness plans because i have insurance coverage.
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I think this type of wellness testing would be a big motivator for people to have a healthier and better lifestyle. When you are living a healthy life style you feel better and are able to do more things in your day. This could result in better employee productivity and better results for the company as a whole. It is a simple test that could save you lots of money and give you better coverage if somethings ever happens to you. I do believe there has to be exceptions for people with existing health problems that can’t meet the requirements or people but looking at it as a whole I think it is a very big motivator.
I would participate in this wellness program because personally I think it would motivate me as well. When I eat healthy I feel better and I do more with my day. Having this type of atmosphere where everyone is motivated and motivating others to be better is something that is a huge contributor to a companies culture and success. Also if you are achieving these goals you are saving yourself money by just rating your body better. I already have health insurance but having this type of bonus on top of it would help keep me motivated as an employee.
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I think it would be motivate and demotivate the employees for a few different reasons. It would motivate them to become healthier and receive benefits because of this. our society pushes being healthy on people so in that sense it would be good. However, I think it would demotivate those people that are already a little over the healthy status to either because if they try to become healthier and fail, then their failure will result in an extreme failure resulting in them paying a lot of money or looking for another job. As an employee, if I had no other choice and the cost of boycotting or challenging this wellness plan was too much, then I would participate. Do I think it’s right to have this in place in a company? No. I don’t think it’s fair to those that have been trying to be healthier that physically cannot reach their specific standards where as other people can be healthy without even trying. I think it puts a gap between the employees and they start to despise each other, especially those that have to pay more. It will create an unhealthy workplace.
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I feel like it would be motivate and demotivate, in that it would help motivate people to try and have healthier life choices and feel like they get an incentive like how most things work in life if you get something out of it you are more likely to achieve it. Although it is also demotivate because employees are already stressed and now your adding more stress to them by trying to change the way they live. it is not easy for some people who have addictions and can not quit them, its unfair, and unjust. as an employee i would like to participate in these wellness plans because i feel if it good to push employees to be healthy especially in today’s world, although i feel like there should not have an incentive that means you pay far less for it, because those who struggle with health problems will have more problems.
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How do these benefits motivate or demotivate employees? Why or why not?
These programs would motivate employees to make healthier life choices which in long term is a good thing for employers. Healthier employees equals less chance of illness and an increase in production.
As an employee would you want to participate in these wellness plans?
Although these programs are a great idea, I don’t see myself participating in them. If I’m working 8-10 hours a day the last thing I would probably want to do is engage in more activities with my co-workers. Although that may seem harsh I feel that there is a fine line between work and private life. Quality of life in my eyes is defined as the balance between the two and with these programs I would be spending more time with colleagues then with my family and friends.
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1. How do these benefits motivate or demotivate employees? Why or why not?
These benefits motivates employees because what does employee want more of rather than money, which is basically what these benefits are. you get these benefits just for being healthy which is a win-win for you and your employer as said in the article.
2. As an employee would you want to participate in these wellness plans?
As an employee I wouldn’t involve in this practice because I value my privacy and also I already would have a personal doctor that knows my medical history and who I have already created a personal relationship with.
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These benefits of employee wellness programs should be motivation for employees. A large motivating factor would be that these benefits can allow employees to save a lot of money in medical treatments and expenses. As well, it is motivation to live a healthier lifestyle which not only will benefit the employee at work but outside of work as well. It is to adopt a healthy lifestyle which can simply just lead feeling better. These programs both benefit employee as well as the employer because a healthier lifestyle can lead to more productive work as well as the want and ability to work longer.
As an employee i would be interested in participating in these wellness plans for two main reasons. One, because it would simply save me a lot of money on health care. And two because it would be a motivating factor to live a healthier lifestyle. I can understand the importance of privacy so as long as that is sound, I wouldn’t see an issue with answering a few personal medical questions. It could turn into a fun program where workers have made walking groups and hey, maybe even a company hockey or baseball team for employees to play on the weekend.
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1. These benefits could cause one to be motivated because it could cause the employees to feel that their employers care about them and want them to have a good health and to make sure they are healthy to be able to do their job properly. This could also cause employees to be demotivated because it might make them feel like the employers want them to take these tests just so that they employer knows that they are not a threat to the company and could cause a incident while at work so that they do not have to pay money for the employees health.
2. I would want to participate in these wellness plans because the best thing for you to do while working for an employer is to allow them to know any health issues you may have because it allows them to know anything that could happen at work and what could have caused any problems you may have. As a person with Diabetes i understand the risks of not having people know what could happen to you in the work place and i feel that letting the company know about any health problems you have could allows them to make sure nothing bad can happen to you, more or less.
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I understand where these wellness programs are coming from. They promote positive health and wellness. Healthy employees will reduce turnover rate. This can save companies a substantial amount of money. A healthy, long living employee is going to be able to work harder and longer. It could also be an eye opener for less fit employees to change their lifestyles and elongate their lives! I know I am extremely competitive so I would be extremely motivated to stay fit and healthy alongside my coworkers. I really do think this has a lot of benefits and I would probably participate in these wellness plans. However, some people do not want to participate in sharing their personal medical records. It is in fact an extremely private matter. Nor would some employees want to participate in the physical activities. It is simply not fair because everyone should have the right to do what ever they want with their body and their personal files. Another factor that is not very fair is the cost. For people who cannot afford to pay the fee or people who are able to maintain a healthy lifestyle without this program it is also unfair.
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These benefits motivate and demotivates employees at the same time, it motivates the employees because it allows them to see an area in their life where they need help or fixing. By giving those who are healthier rewards it also motivates the employees to get fit, and live a healthy lifestyle. When an individual has a healthy life style they live longer and better than those with an unhealthy lifestyle. This can demotivate certain employees because if they are seen as over weight or unhealthy which can be caused by medical reasons or an unhealthy lifestyle they may feel attacked by something they feel is impossible to change. I would not participate in this for my first year working in the company, I would participate because it gives me the extra push I need to live a healthy lifestyle. The program allows me to live a healthy lifestyle, which will reflect on my work performance in the company.
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I think that having the programs available to employees is a good idea. They help employees cover the costs of healthcare (which are substantial in the United States) and give people incentive to take care of themselves. People should be able to choose whether they want to take part in the programs, and companies should be able to set their own standards, seeing as they are paying for the healthcare coverage. The programs themselves are profitable to the companies as they foster a better work environment by keeping employees secure, happy, and looked after–not to mention healthier.
I think the biggest problem with these programs would be the mandatory requests for medical data. People should have a right to keep their medical records private if they so choose. Companies may do more for employee moral if they trust their employees and don’t demand they turn over aspects of their private life to work.
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I think that these benefits demotivate the vast majority of employees, while very few employees would agree with how this helps their health. Of course there will be the ones who will reach the goal of low cholesterol but what about the ones who don’t? The prices for how much employees have to pay are a large amount of money in which could go to something else like their family. The employees who agree with the benefits are most likely already close to reaching the goal, another part is that they might be getting paid more than those who don’t want to participate because they need the money more. If you get paid more then you obviously don’t mind putting off a few dollars for your health and participating with your other employees. It is understandable that employers want to increate the health rate of their employees but it will not be a positive outcome for everyone because if they are seen as “unhealthy” or “overweight” they will feel discriminated by how they are viewed by others. These programs are also somewhat invasion of privacy because of mandatory requests for data that you must provide. Employees have the right to refuse providing data if they want to keep it to themselves. Yes a healthy work environment is important but there are other ways in doing so.
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To be honest i would start looking for a new job if i were these employees. Forcing me to pay money of get healthy so the company can save some money, doesn’t sound like what these employees signed up for. I feel like some people might enjoy the health programs but for big guys like myself it would seem that i would end up paying more on my insurance than the rest of the employees, who may or not be in better shape, but just look like they are in better shape. This would go against many ethical codes, unless they signed up for this in there interview and hiring process, in that case if they dont like it they can leave. I feel this explains my stance fully.
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1.) How do these benefits motivate or demotivate employees? Why or why not?
These benefits may both have a positive and a negative affect on employees. These benefits may motivate an employee to better themselves and become healthy with the help given from their employers alongside the financial “benefit” of completing such a task. On the other hand these benefits may demotivate an employee as it may seem a task unrealistic. It may also very much so demotivate an employee if their only motivation is to not face a financial penalty for missing their health plan goal.
2.) As an employee would you want to participate in these wellness plans?
As an employee, I would like to participate in a wellness plan, but without being forced to. I would like to participate if it was truly voluntary, facing no financial penalties alongside my employer not using my medical information I feel as if they are both trying to better their employees and their company to see if healthy employees are more productive and efficient as a result. I also believe that it if was fully voluntary, possibly more people would utilize it without feeling pressured or forced.
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I think that these benefits would be motivating for employees. It saves them money, helps them work longer, has the potential to build a stronger relationship between employer and employee, and encourage people to be healthier giving them a better lifestyle. It encourages them to not be lazy and even work for more reward than just a good figure.
As an employee I would want to participate in this sort of wellness plan, sure I would need to give them some personal information about my body but to me that isn’t really a huge issue. It would inspire me to be a healthier person and be in a more motivational environment with my co workers which helps builds relationships with them as well as the employer, also allowing me to have better job security and would save me money in the long run for when it comes to the medical side.
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) was primarily a side business which Amazon would rent out its superfluous server farm space to several companies to make use of. It served as a more inexpensive method than the alternative of businesses running their own systems. This alluring notion has enthralled the attention of countless companies including Netflix and NASA,
By means of a BCG matrix, AWS can be classified as a star due to the fact that it owns a key part of this market and displays no imminent cyphers of reaching the majority stage any time soon. Referring to the article, AWS is on pace to bring in more than 7 billion dollars in sales this year and it could reach 16.2 billion dollars by the end of 2017. Amazon launched AWS merely nine years ago, which is much smaller than Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle, and the revenue of AWS is about six times bigger than Microsoft. AWS is the fastest-growing corporate IT business in history.
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I think these welfares could be encouraging as it prompts employees to be more attentive to themselves family member’s health. In addition, the insurance helps employees save on medical expenditures. As an employee, I would be tentative to partake in the wellness strategies. Privacy would be a chief concern for employees such as myself, as delicate medical information could up being misused. In accordance to the critique, the program can be demarcated as “yet another way to push more costs onto employees, and even worse, potentially a backdoor way to discriminate against less healthy workers by making them pay more. For lower-income employees, who may feel more pressure to participate, there is the potential for another type of discrimination”.
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These benefits can motivate employees to get in better shape and to adopt a healthier lifestyle. For a portion of the employees this could be a great thing. On the other hand these policies could have a negative effect on some people. They may see it as added pressure on top of their work duties. Some employees may feel as though the information they would have to surrender is very personal and may be embarrassed. On top of all this there is an expensive penalty to those who refuse to participate or to those who do not make the cut. Again, for some this may be motivating and for others this could be seen as demotivating.
Personally I think I would not have any problems participating in this. I lack motivation in many aspects of my life and I think this would help me become healthier. This may create a healthier atmosphere within the company which could potentially motivate everyone and help those who are not as motivated to being healthy. This being said Im not sure if this is the best method of going about things because of the possible large negative impacts this could have to some employees.
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1)How do these benefits motivate or demotivate employees? Why or why not? I think this benefits would be motivating for many employees for some reasons. Thanks to the benefits, I think we can save a lot of money for the medical treatment. Also, staying healthy in the lifetime is really important thing in working in some company. Staying healthy helps working well and it would be related the productivity. The health problem of the employees affects the productivity in the company. This programs would be good opportunity to pay attention to my health as well.
2)As an employee I would not want to participate in these wellness plans for some reasons. One of the reasons is that I think this plan would not preserve my privacy. I don’t want to give my privacy of my health and I want to protect the privacy. I think I don’t need to have a new doctor to see my health, I have a doctor who knows my health condition. And also it cost a lot of money to participate this wellness plans. Moreover I just think this program would be some pressure for me to work at the company. It means I have to think about my health condition in this company, and it affects my thought in the company.
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From my point of view these benefits would be great. Reinforcing a healthy lifestyle and making money off of it? Whats not to love about that. This is only my point of view though and many people have different lifestyles than me of course. But I think that a healthy lifestyle would also make you a better employee, making you more productive and overall happier. The extra money made from achieving these goals would be great positive reinforcement. The atmosphere created due to the plans being effective would be great to have in the workforce, then again that goes to everyone being on board with the plan. Separating a work and a private life is also important, if your working long hours and are tired the last thing you want to do is take part in this. I suppose sometimes in would be good and sometimes a little annoying, but that’s where the motivation comes in. If the activities were more voluntary and the benefits were large people may feel more motivated to attend them instead of feeling pressured because your job relies on your participation. In the end I beleive it would rely on the type of lifestyle you live.
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1) To my point of view,i think this benefit motivates the employees because everyone want to be in good and healthy lifestyle. You get benefits just for being healthy which is a good one for you and your employer as said in the article.,and this will show every employees that their employers really care about their health status and not only about the jobs the are asked to do. From my point of view these benefits would be great.
2) As an employee I would involve myself in this practice because it’s for me to be in a better shape and living a healthy lifestyle and earn more money while doing that.
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I think that these benefits are a motivation to the employees. It gives them incentives to be healthier people and being healthy makes people feel better about themselves and increases productivity and less time would be missed at work because no many people are getting sick. It also is better for overall lifestyle. When you’re healthy you can do more not only at work but with your family or friends too.
I don’t think I would participate in these plans as there is a certain degree of an invasion of privacy. Not everyone is comfortable sharing that private information and if it gets out then people with obviously talk about it which which just promote the insecurities that were built up inside.
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1 How do these benefits motivate or demotivate employees? Why or why not?
2 As an employee would you want to participate in these wellness plans?
1.I believe both of these to be true. I am confident that it would motivate as well as demotivate employees. The reasons why i think this might motivate employees is because it will motivate them to be healthier people in general and this is huge in living on a day to day basis. However i think on the opposite end of the spectrum it may also demotivate employees because people already have enough people and outside influences these days on the benefits of being healthy and the risks of being un healthy that they may get fed up
2. Being me i would not want to participate. Although i am a very healthy individual i believe that this is unfair and this is not something that should happen in the work place. These people are your employees and your main goals is to make sure these employees are happy and productive for your business when you add something that should be kept personal from work and make it about whos healthy and whos not , this is bias and will lead to employees lashing out.
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