Firms know that healthier, more balanced individuals are not only happier, but more productive at work. Most of us have habits or patterns of behavior in our lives that we would like to change, but most of us also need help achieving these goals. Examples include eating healthy, losing weight, quitting smoking, or dedicating more time to family. By articulating our desire to change and making a clear and public commitment to do so, and in some cases by placing money or other incentives on the line, we have a better chance of success.

The stickK Commitment Contract being offered in a subsample of branch office in the study is a binding promise by an individual to achieve a goal by setting rewards, penalties, reinforcement and accountability mechanisms to ensure success. Commitment Contracts are based on years of rigorous theoretical and empirical academic research conducted by economists such as Dean Karlan (founder of Innovations for Poverty Action and co-founder of stickK), Richard Thaler (author of Nudge), Matthew Rabin and David Laibson, George Loewenstein, and Kevin Volpp, amongst others. Professor Karlan's research in particular found extraordinarily high success rates from contracts designed to encourage savings and smoking cessation.

Compartamos, the largest microfinance bank in Latin America, has branch offices located throughout the country, mostly in urban or semi-urban areas. Employees who will participate in the study are loan officers, coordinators, administrators and managers in the branch offices who would generally be considered middle or lower-middle income in their communities.  The goals of the Commitment Contracts available to employees in participating branches will include smoking cessation, weight loss, and others as determined by the partner organization.

The objectives of IPA's evaluation are to understand 1) what types of Commitment Contracts are effective at promoting beneficial employee behavior, and 2) what effects Commitment Contracts may have on employee retention and productivity rates.