Increases Participation at a Minimum of 60%

Offering incentives increases participation at a minimum of 60% says Melissa Van Dyke, research Foundation. Wellness programs are gaining steam and there’s huge opportunities.  Were beginning to reward employee wellness.  You want people to around to play with their grandchildren instead of being hooked up to some device.  Says Michael Beavais,  Director of worksite wellness at Corporate Synergies Group.  “This is about lives”.

Juliann Schaeffer -Today’s Dietitian

Recognizing that healthy workers equal better returns, savvy employers are making on-site wellness job one, outfitting cafeterias with organics and even forbidding the hiring of smokers.

Many employers, however, are finding that corporate wellness programs aimed at keeping employees healthy is a win-win for everyone. According to a recent survey by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health, almost one half (46%) of interviewed employers said they currently offer financial incentives to employees to encourage healthy behaviors.

“Employers are looking at wellness programs not only as a way to help them contain their healthcare costs, but wellness programs are also really important in terms of recruitment and retention of employees, especially in industries where it’s tough to find people,” says Fiona Gathright, president of Wellness Corporate Solutions LLC. Gathright adds that many companies establish wellness programs to stand out from their competition and control healthcare costs. With roughly 70% of healthcare costs directly related to lifestyle choices, she says, “All we can do is try to get people to live healthier lifestyles.”

R. Douglas Metz, DC, executive vice president and chief health services officer at American Specialty Health (ASH) Incorporated, says health improvement has waxed and waned for many decades in the healthcare system, but corporate America is definitely opening its eyes to the possibilities of programs aimed at health improvement and prevention for employees.

“In the last five years or so, there has been a crescendo of interest across the industry to implement health improvement programs as a way to improve the health and productivity of workers while managing costs,” he says. “Healthcare cost management is an important part of the rationale by both improving productivity and reducing the cost of absenteeism, presenteeism, medical loss, [etc]. So right now, there’s great interest by many employers and many health plans to incorporate such programs.”

While corporate wellness programs are not a new trend by any means, they’re picking up speed as more employers are catching on that prevention may be the key to lowering employee healthcare costs. In addition to decreasing doctors’ visits, hospitalizations, and prescriptions, employers and employees also benefit by reducing absenteeism and presenteeism and by having a more productive workforce overall. With programs entailing everything from health coaches and reduced fitness club rates to walking trails and cafeterias filled with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, America’s employers are getting creative to convince employees that living healthy is better for all involved.

Following Its Own Example; ASH doesn’t just personify the workplace wellness concept; it helped design it. As a provider of worksite health improvement programs, it provides health coaching, fitness, weight management, and other health improvement programs to both national health insurers and directly to small and large employer groups.

About five years ago, ASH decided to follow its own example, implementing a “Get Healthy” program for its 600-plus employees. For its efforts, ASH received a gold award from the National Business Group on Health in its 2008 “Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles” awards, was named one of the “Fittest Companies in America 2008” by Men’s Fitness magazine, and was the 2007 recipient of the California Fit Business Silver Award from the California Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness.

“We’ve taken the concept of employee wellness from our own services, and we’ve brought that into our company and made it available to our employees, which I think you could expect from an organization that considers wellness and health improvement to be a cornerstone of the product offerings that they have,” says Elizabeth Thompson, MPH, RD, clinical director at ASH.

As an additional incentive for employees to get their wellness act together, ASH offers a Get Healthy! annual award to one employee who has attained significant wellness goals during that year, such as losing weight, quitting smoking, or even gaining weight, if necessary. “The employee is rewarded with unique and valuable business gifts, a trophy for their desk, and recognition at our annual all-employee awards banquet,” says Thompson.