Insights

It’s no secret. Over a decade of research and dozens of studies provide irrefutable supporting evidence.  Organizations that focus on the wellness of its employees experience greater success and prosperity and lower healthcare costs.  The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to reassess an organization’s current Employee Wellness Plan, or to develop one if one does not already exist.

Employee wellness, or workplace wellness as it is sometimes called, is a concept which incorporates any workplace health promotion activity or organizational policy designed to support healthy behavior in the workplace and to improve health outcomes.  It consists of a variety of activities which are created to assist and encourage employees in areas including nutrition and healthy eating, fitness, weight control, and stress management. 

It is estimated that 75 percent of high-performing companies now measure employee health status as a key part of their overall risk management strategy, and most of these pursue active wellness programs.  The best results from wellness programs come to those organizations that have high employee participation.  Optimal results are achieved when there is at least an 80 percent employee participation rate. 

The following strategies have been suggested to encourage and increase employee participation in an organizational wellness plan: 

1. Do not charge employees for their participation;
2. Make the plan convenient;
3. Create participation incentives;
4. Request employee feedback;
5. Respect employee privacy;
6. Be committed as an organization to the plan and to the well-being of the employees; and
7. Make useful information easy to obtain. 

There are a variety of cost-effective programs and benefits that can be implemented in a plan to promote employee wellness.  Some ideas include: health fairs, health education seminars, medical screenings, health coaching, weight management programs, wellness newsletters, fitness programs, allowing flex time for exercise, providing on-site kitchen and eating areas, offering healthy food options in vending machines, holding “walk and talk” meetings, etc.  A good plan does not necessarily need to include each of these ideas.  But for wellness initiatives to succeed, they must be a party of the organization’s culture.  This will require engaged leadership at all levels of your organization.

The potential benefits to a quality wellness plan are many.  For an individual, benefits may include weight reduction, improved fitness, increased stamina, lower stress levels, and increased self-esteem.  An organization overall will benefit as well.  Generally, health care costs and employee absenteeism will decrease and employee productivity will increase. 

A report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shared findings that at work places that have exercise programs as components of their wellness plan, those work places experienced decreased health care costs by 20 to 55 percent, lowered short-term sick leave by 6 to 32%, and increased productivity by 2 to 52 percent.  Other reliable studies have shown that the return on investment, or ROI, on specific wellness programs ranged from $1.17 to $6.04.  It is estimated that most employee wellness programs result in a benefit-to-cost ration of $3.48 in reduced health care costs and $5.82 in lower absenteeism costs per dollar invested.  The Affordable Care Act, our nation’s new healthcare plan, also contains employer incentives for establishing wellness programs.

Indeed, there are many reasons to make improving employee wellness a focus of your organization.   And there is a multitude of information available on the web that can give your organization guidance on improving or creating a plan.   Health and productivity are closely linked and a healthy workforce leads to a prosperous organization.

1 http://www.shrm.org/about/foundation/products/documents/wellness%20exec%20briefing-final.pdf
2 http://www.corpmagazine.com/management/health-wellness/itemid/10004/7-strategies-to-improve-employee-wellness-engagement
3 http://healthandwellnessintheworkplace.org/benefits-of-wellness-programs/
4 http://health.mo.gov/data/pdf/WorksiteWellness.pdf