Study: Employees will lose weight if you show them the money

A new study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds that even small cash incentives can entice employees to lose weight. (Source: "A little cash can motivate diet," Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept. 25, 2007.) While employers can not be certain that "offering fitness centers or improving offerings in the company cafeteria" will help their employees be healtier--and therefore save the company money on health benefits--this study suggests that cash incentives for losing weight are an almost sure bet. "The study involved about 200 overweight employees at several colleges in North Carolina. One group received no incentives while two other groups received $7 or $14 for each percentage point of weight lost." Even though participants didn't receive help in losing weight, those employees who received the most incentives lost the most weight, an average of almost 5 pounds after three months.