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This month, more than half of Americans probably made health-related New Year's resolutions, judging from past data, but few are likely to stick to them. Employees at CFI Westgate Resorts, an Orlando, Fla.-based vacation properties company, might consider themselves lucky: They have an incentive to get healthy. If they join in the company-wide weight-loss contest this month and succeed in reaching their goals, they could win cash prizes or a luxury vacation.

Inspiration for the contest, now in its second year, came from CEO David Siegel, who himself recently lost more than 20 pounds. "He put it on the radar," says Mark Waltrip, chief operating officer at Westgate, adding that in the contest's first year, some employees lost up to 60 pounds.

Employers like Westgate are trying to push employees into healthy lifestyles, including reducing obesity, a condition estimated to cost U.S. companies $13 billion per year, according to the Washington D.C.-based National Business Group on Health. But using incentives, and in some cases, penalties, to change employee behavior raises a host of legal, moral and practical questions, according to Wharton experts and others.

Comments: The carrot and the stick are in place as employers use incentives to help employees get healthy - or at least at a healthy weight - while also penalizing those

who continue living at too high of a BMI level. The carrot is the bonuses that are being dangled in front of employees to incentivize them to get healthy, while the stick (used to poke the rears of those who need a somewhat painful method of motivation to get them healthier) is the penalties that overweight or obese workers face if they continue on the unhealthy lifestyle they're on. One of the exercises (figuratively) that is used in The Health & Wellness Institute's weight loss plan, is for the dieter to write down all of the benefits that they want to realize with a healthier and more fit body - any related to work, family, activities, relationships, energy level, longevity, abilities, etc. - while also writing down all of the things that they may be missing out on or dealing with if they continue to live the unhealthy lifestyle they're on. In this way, a clearer picture is provided to the individual on what they're choices will bring them - either more unhappiness in their life or more opportunities. It is an effective way to get the person to see on paper that the choices they make today will make a difference in their life tomorrow and many days to come.

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