EMC To Offer Employees Who Meet Health Goals A Break On Premiums

EMC, the data storage company seen as a model for employers working to improve employees' health, is taking the model to the next step.

EMC was among the first corporations nationwide to survey employees’ health and then connect them to nutrition or fitness counselors through Wellness programs. Next year, EMC will ask employees to choose a personal health improvement goal — to lose weight or lower their cholesterol, for example — and give those who meet the goals a substantial reward: a 12% break on insurance premiums.

Says Delia Vetter, the Senior Director of Benefits at EMC: "It’s smart on two fronts. One, it contains health care costs and two, it also increases productivity."

Many employers have felt that discussing employees health is an invasion of privacy but Wellness programs are gaining interest as health care costs continue to rise.