Workplace dress codes can be irksome: “What, no Hawaiian shirts on Mondays?” Employee codes of conduct may be fraught with ethical and legal landmines.

But a hypothetical “health code of conduct?” That’s something workers can sink their teeth into, according to a Cornell workplace wellness study.

“Adoption of health codes of conduct in workplaces is a feasible way for managers to effectively engage employees in wellness activities,” says Rebecca S. Robbins, Ph.D. ’15, lead author of a study published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management Aug. 4. Robbins conducted research for the paper at Cornell and is now a postdoctoral fellow at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.

A typical health code of conduct might include annual physical exams and screenings, exercise routines and simply encouraging employees to stay home when ill, according to co-author Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and author of “Slim by Design.”

“Rewarding employees for complying with health initiatives can be as easy as lowering co-pays, offering prescription discounts, vacation days and vaccinations,” Wansink says. “Offering recognition is also a great way to show employees that their health and well-being are valued by the company.”

Responding to telephone interviews or email surveys, a significant majority of 157 working adults – chosen at random from a list of business professionals – gave moderate or strong approval for a hypothetical health code of conduct in their workplaces.

To the researchers’ surprise, even workers who self-identified as being overweight (but not obese) thought a health code of conduct would improve their wellness and help them lose weight.

And disincentives – like having to pay higher health insurance premiums when health goals aren’t met – were okay with many workers in the study. But positive incentives and rewards – like extra vacations days – rated higher in the survey.

Robbins and Wansink noted piecemeal efforts to improve employee health, including smoking-cessation programs. Some employers provide on-site gyms and showers, chair massages and other benefits, they wrote.

“One flaw of such many workplace wellness programs is that the burden for employee health is often shouldered by the employer, instead of the employee. Creating the conditions that will inspire employees to make small changes goes a long way toward promoting everyday positive choices,” the authors write.

Workers, they suggest, could sign a health conduct code at the beginning of their employment of the employee. Creating the conditions that will inspire employees to make small [and] promotes everyday, holistic health from good nutrition, to exercise and healthy sleep.”

Visionary employers, the researchers suggest, can customize their company’s health code of conduct with monetary and nonmonetary incentives.

Maybe even Hawaiian Shirt Mondays.

The paper is titled “Health Codes of Conduct: What Would They Look Like and Who Would Accept Them?” The study was supported by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.