A 36-year-old exercise junkie, Terri Talton looks like a model employee. When off the clock, the senior security specialist at Progress Energy works out at least five days a week and regularly competes in 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer charity races.

Talton's athletic feats would normally go unrecognized by the boss, but in an era of soaring costs for health insurance, employers are increasingly rewarding the office gym rats and organic-food enthusiasts for good health.

Progress Energy, the Raleigh electric utility, in July introduced a wellness program that offers $500 to workers who score high on a health evaluation and don't use tobacco. In joining the ranks of companies that offer financial rewards to employees who count calories and hit the treadmill, Progress Energy expects to cut insurance costs and boost productivity.

"I'm getting paid to do something I do anyway," Talton said. "It doesn't get any better than that."

But such programs also raise concerns about creating a corporate culture that rewards workers for activities that have little to do with their job descriptions.

"The motives are completely suspicious -- it's scapegoating and it's dangerous," said Sandy Schaffer, who is a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.

"If I didn't get the $400 bonus but Joe Schmoe did, but he's a [lousy] worker, do you think I'm going to work hard?" added Schaffer, a New Yorker who weighs more than 250 pounds. "It is a very unfair way of looking at work once you start pulling in things that are not work-related."

Wellness programs can be generous, sometimes covering an employee's insurance premiums and deductibles for the entire year. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina offers $600 to employees simply to take a half-hour health screening and risk assessment and review their score.

Other Triangle employers such as SAS Institute, GlaxoSmithKline and IBM award cash, discounts and prizes for participating in company wellness programs.

Some pay cash and prizes -- not only to employees, but also to dependents and domestic partners -- for dieting and exercising. Businesses are providing complimentary gym memberships and full coverage for smoking cessation programs. Also popular are free consultations with nutritionists, dietitians and other health therapists.

A few employers nationally have gone further, assessing higher premiums to unhealthy workers. At least one business disqualified smokers from employment altogether, a move that recently spawned a discrimination lawsuit in Massachusetts by a smoker who failed a nicotine test and was fired by Scotts LawnService.

As well-intentioned company health policies encroach into employees' private lives, some workplace experts say that wellness programs could feel like Big Brother sending a not-so-subtle message on how employees are expected to behave in their private hours.

"You get this CEO who's a born-again nonsmoker or born-again marathon runner and he thinks that people who aren't in shape just aren't as good, and they get treated differently," said Harvey Schwartz, a Boston lawyer who filed the smoker's discrimination lawsuit, which is pending.

Wary of physical stereotyping

The paternalistic streak behind the wellness initiatives could provide a dangerous scientific rationale for the age-old tendency to judge people by their physical appearance, said Dan Cable, a UNC-Chapel Hill business professor who has studied the link between salary and height.

"We are walking billboards for our firm's values," Cable said. "In today's appearance-conscious society, there's the possibility that overweight employees discredit the company brand. There's all this research out there showing that a firm's image is the most important asset it has."

Businesses usually have the law on their side when setting policies that discourage smoking and obesity. A boss may not fire or force out an employee who has a disability related to smoking or weight or paying the insurance bill. But unlike protected categories such as race, religion and national origin, smoking and obesity are generally not covered by discrimination laws.

And human resources executives will defend those policies by citing scientific evidence on the consequences of smoking and obesity, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and RTI International in Research Triangle Park concluded the medical treatment and absenteeism stemming from obesity costs $460 to $2,500 per year per employee.

Problems 'on our dime'

"If they get their heart attack, they're going to do it on our dime," said Gale Adcock, director of corporate health benefits at SAS, the Cary software company. "They may be our employee only seven, eight or nine hours a day, but what they bring from home is what impacts the quality of their work."

Adcock described the wellness program at SAS as a form of corporate altruism that is rooted in sound business principles. The company rewards exercise and nonsmoking with movie tickets, massage therapy, salon services and gift vouchers.

Employees who have other obligations and time commitments may have to change their priorities to win awards. "It's a lot of work to say, 'I'm going to change what I eat forever,' " Adcock said.

In Progress Energy's new program, the $500 bonus isn't awarded all at once. It has started paying $100 to workers to take a health screening and blood test, and answer 50 personal questions, such as: How often do you drink alcohol? How many whole grain servings do you eat? How many hours do you sleep? Do you wear seat belts?

The employees are provided a score on five health measures that include body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol count and blood sugar level. Workers who meet the company goals on those health measures next year will qualify for an additional $400 bonus. Less than half of Progress Energy employees who try are expected to qualify for the extra $400.

Craig Ellis, a performance behavior specialist at Progress Energy, is aiming for the $400 but currently falls short on two of the five measures, according to the initial health screening. The 51-year-old Durham resident -- who plays tennis and lifts weights -- doesn't reproach co-workers who don't push themselves to meet the wellness goals, but he describes his commitment as an obligation.

"I'm getting philosophical here, but my life affects other people's lives," he said. "We're not an island."

Confidential for workers

Human resources executives at many Triangle companies emphasize that the wellness programs are voluntary and confidential. The programs are typically run by third-party administrators to keep the employers from running afoul of federal privacy laws.

Still, some workers are skittish about entering their personal medical information into a database. At Blue Cross, about 15 percent of workers opted not to take the health screening and risk assessment this year, forgoing an easy $600. Privacy concerns could be a reason for the employee reluctance, said Fara Palumbo, vice president for human resources.

No more than 10 people within Progress Energy will know who qualified for its $400 bonus and who failed to make it, and the information will not be disclosed to an employee's boss, said Barbara Ortiz, the company's director of corporate health and safety.

The administrator, StayWell Health Management, will not disclose Progress Energy employees' responses on the health screening questionnaire to the utility, Ortiz said. Instead, StayWell will analyze the information to help the company develop health education programs, Ortiz said.

Richard Smith, a 34-year-old lineman, said he welcomes the structure and discipline of the wellness program. The Youngsville resident had to lose weight to qualify for the company's 275-pound limit for linemen and has long struggled with weight control.

"They call me big-boned. I'm just a big guy," said Smith, who used to weigh 319 pounds. "I've tried doing things like this on my own but now the company has given us a third-party resource and support."