Does Your Company Pay You to Stay Healthy?

While reading Smart Money's list of ways to maximize your benefits plan, I ran into this paragraph that I found very interesting:

Plenty of companies offer financial rewards in exchange for a pledge of healthy behavior. Pioneer Natural Resources Company in Dallas, for example, offers workers up to $700 a year for exercising regularly, not smoking and minimizing sick days and major medical claims. Employees at Westinghouse Electric in Monroeville, Pa., get $200 annually for performing 10 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week.

Wow! Cool!

I'm sure that the company benefits financially from arrangements like the ones noted above. After all, an employee who exercises will probably save the company money on medical insurance, medical bills, lost time at work, and so on -- probably saving much more than the incentive the company is giving the employee. And the employee wins as well -- not only financially, but also simply by feeling better and living a more productive life.

My company doesn't offer a benefit like this (we're all pretty healthy anyway -- many runners and cyclists here), but I began wondering how many companies do. Does your company? If so, let us all know what it offers and how you like it in the comments below.

For more thoughts on the relationship between money and good health, see these posts:

• Save Money: Some Insurers Pay You to Get Healthy

• More Important than Money: Your Health and Your Mind, Part 1

• How to Stay Younger

Comments

[Dave]

We get an extra $20 a month to fill out a health survey once a year (easy extra $240!) plus free gym membership. We also have a health center with lots of programs and classes.

[Brad]

Yes, we get $200 every quarter if we don't have a driving accident or injury at work. Very nice getting an extra $800/year.