Employees lose, then they win

Version of reality fitness show motivates staff at Bob Barker

Health experts offer plenty of incentives to lose weight. Five thousand bucks probably isn't one of them.

But that's the prize workers are vying for in the Biggest Winner Health Challenge at Bob Barker Co. in Fuquay-Varina.

The company, a supplier and manufacturer of uniforms and other products for jails and other detention facilities, is in the first weeks of the competition, modeled after "The Biggest Loser," an NBC reality show. The top prize goes to the employee who loses the greatest percentage of body weight by June 30.

"That's an awesome motivator," said Jackie Martin, 44, a customer representative in the sales department who hopes to lose 50 pounds.

Many large companies -- among them Progress Energy, SAS, GlaxoSmithKline and IBM -- offer cash, discounts and other incentives to employees who participate in wellness programs.

The trend is spreading to smaller employers, which write the paychecks for the majority of working Americans. They also have been hit especially hard by soaring health insurance costs.

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 6.1 percent in 2007, according to the Employer Health Benefits survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust.

Premiums for family coverage have jumped 78 percent since 2001, far outpacing increases in wages and inflation.

For Bob Barker Co., the competition could be a winner, said Pat Schoeni, executive director of the National Coalition on Health Care, a nonprofit alliance of more than 70 organizations focused on improving health care.

"If ... [workers] are healthy, there won't be as much absenteeism, and they will be probably a happier work force and probably more productive," Schoeni said.

But companies' wellness programs don't necessarily translate into lower insurance costs. Weight-loss incentives might pay off in the long run, Schoeni said, but because of the mobility of today's work force, the employer that sponsored them might not reap the benefits.

Robert Barker, president of Bob Barker Co., said it would be great if his company's health challenge led to lower health insurance costs. The company has absorbed increases in premiums in the past two years and would like to be able to do so again, he said.

But, he said, lowering costs isn't the intention. "Ultimately, it's about our employees and their health and their happiness," he said.

Barker's incentives

To help employees, the company is offering discount health club memberships, sessions with a personal trainer, nutritional counseling and other educational opportunities, including a visit this month from "Eat To Live" author Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

It also started the Bob Barker Potbelly Basketball League, which holds Tuesday night games at a Fuquay-Varina gym.

There are also prizes for those who lose less weight, including $50 per 1 percent of body weight lost, and assistance and incentives for those who want to quit smoking or lower their cholesterol and blood pressure. About 75 percent of the company's nearly 180 employees, including those at its site in Utah, are participating.

In Martin's department, the competition has fostered an atmosphere of support, she said.

"We really keep each other accountable," she said.

That's not the case companywide.

'Just guys being guys'

Most of the workers in Jeremy Willoughby's department are men, he said, and they're more likely to talk trash about work or sports than to discuss who has dropped from a 38-inch waist to a 36.

"We're never going to encourage anyone out here, because we want to win," said Willoughby, 29, a freight coordinator in distribution. "That's just guys being guys -- can't help that."

He started the year with a goal of losing 35 pounds and lost several pounds before the contest started. Still, he doesn't expect to win the grand prize.

"As long as I weigh less when I step on that scale in June and they cut me a little money, I'll be happy," he said.