A new study shows that paying overweight employees to lose some pounds can be a facilitator to weight loss.

American researchers found that employees who were paid to lose weight were more successful in their efforts than those who did not receive money, reports Reuters.

“Lots of companies are experimenting with rewarding people for weight loss, and this study provides evidence that paying people to lose weight works,” Eric Finkelstein, a health economist with RTI International, a non-profit research organization in North Carolina, says.

Finkelstein and researchers from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill looked at over 200 overweight or obese employees in North Carolina.

A third of the participants received no financial rewards for their weight loss after three months. Another third were given $7 for every 1 percent decrease in weight and the final third of the group received $14 for every 1 percent decrease.

The participants were not required to follow a particular diet and fitness program.

Finkelstein and his colleagues found that the employees who received the most substantial financial reward for their weight loss were the most successful in shedding the extra pounds.

At the end of the three months, those who received nothing lost an average of two pounds. Those paid $7 lost an average of 3 pounds, while those in the $14 group lost 5 pounds.

Finkelstein said that people in the $14 group were more than five times more likely to lose a clinically relevant five percent of their body weight, according to Reuters.

The findings are published in the September issue of Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The North Carolina study also notes that it isn’t only individuals that suffer, in more ways than one, from obesity. Companies are also affected through higher medical bills and absenteeism.

According to statistics from the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, more than 64 percent of adult Americans are either obese or overweight.

Companies could encourage their employees to lose weight and become healthier by rewarding them financially and Finkelstein considers the strategy beneficial for both employers and employees.

“The beauty of incentive based strategies is they're essentially costless. If nobody changes behavior, you don't pay anybody money,” he says.