Worksite Wellness: A Field Experiment on Participation Incentives and Selection into Wellness Programs

Workplace wellness programs have become a $6 billion industry and are widely touted as a way to improve employee well-being, reduce health care costs by promoting prevention, and increase workplace productivity. Yet, there is little rigorous evidence available to support these claims, partly because the voluntary nature of these programs mean that participants may differ from nonparticipants for reasons unrelated to the causal effects of the wellness program. Researchers will implement a randomized control trial with the aim of answering three questions: (1) how do incentives affect the level of participation in wellness programs; (2) what types of workers select into wellness programs, and how do incentives affect that composition; and (3) what is the causal impact of worksite wellness participation on health, health care costs, and productivity?

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RFP Cycle:
HCDI Off Cycle RFP [2015-2016] , HCDI Off Cycle RFP [2016-2017]
Location:
United States of America
Researchers:
Type:
  • Full project
  • Other