Your work could pay you to exercise if you wear a smartwatch

Anyone who said 'they'll have to pay me to wear a smartwatch' may in fact get their wish, thanks to a new program announced at CES 2017 that will pay out millions to healthy employees.

You could earn up to $1,500 (about £1,220, AU$2,073) a year through your work thanks to an expanded exercise initiative from Qualcomm and UnitedHealthcare.

In addition to doling out what amounts to millions of dollars in total, the chip maker and insurance provider are also hooking employees up with free, custom-designed wearables to make it all happen. 

Of course, the 'easy' money only starts flowing when you hit certain goals for the number of daily steps taken each day.

While the scheme is currently only active in the US, there's every chance this could roll out to more countries given large chip-maker Qualcomm is onboard.

The cure for what's ailing wearables?

The adoption of wearables, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, has struggled in 2016, as sales and interest were generally down across the board.

We saw the launch of the non-surprise Apple Watch 2, the delay of Android Wear 2.0 and the desperate sale of Pebble to Fitbit. It wasn't a happy year for wrists, to say the least.

Even though there are several best fitness trackers and best smartwatches to choose from, it may just take paying people to discover the unique health benefits of wearing a little bit of their phone on their wrist.

We'll certainly see more surprise wearables at CES 2017, so stay tuned to TechRadar's week-long coverage of the Las Vegas convention.

Matt Swider