Incentives can be broken down as simply as the carrot or the stick – and often a well-balanced combination of both.
My kids got their quarterly grades right before Christmas break. My daughter's string of A's and B's earned her $50 and a happy holiday. My son's less-than-acceptable performance delayed his Christmas until March (when the next round of reports cards drop), landed him in his room for the winter vacation and cost him $50.
Each of them got their carrot or stick, but maybe more importantly, they each also saw what the other got, too, tacking on a little added reinforcement.
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The overall incentive strategy written into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act remains one of the few highlights of the law. So lawmakers at least realize the growing important of employee health – and especially its impact on loyalty and productivity.
Specifically, PPACA doubles down on the wellness bet, allowing employers to pass on financial incentives to workers as much as 30 percent of the health plan's cost – up from 20 percent before – who meet certain health standards.
And there's little doubt incentives play a vital role in any employee health plan and remain one of the most effective ways of actually shaping behavior. I guess it's just refreshing to the feds – who manage to consistently get so much so wrong so often – get something right.
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