Employee wellness plans and employee wellness programs

Armed with data, Worksite Wellness Program topic preferences and objectives – and a Worksite Wellness Program Committee rearing to get things done – it is now time to decide how best to take action.  This website supplies tools to help you!  You can read about the various types of wellness programs available by other employers to get an idea of what could possibly work for your business.  There are Statewide Resources listed along with national non-profit groups offering resources, and specific examples of resources available on various wellness subject matters.  In addition, keep looking under Steps to an Effective Program for ideas to get you started!

If your planning phase was well executed, you ought to simply have to follow through with the plans you have already made.  

Important Workplace Wellness Program considerations include:

1. Formally Introduce the Employee Health Promotion Program and consider policy statements that state the significance of the wellness program.  Examples include a general policy concerning the responsibility to employee health and safety as well as specific policies such as No Smoking, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity.
2. Communicate Your Program: The best planned program with great wellness programs won’t be beneficial if your workers are unaware of it or do not know the options or how to participate.  Communicate your wellness program using a variety of methods to ensure the message and “how-to’s” are heard!

   Employee Health Promotion Program Communication Strategies might include:

   • Newsletter articles
   • Postings on the company’s intranet or internet
   • A designated Champion of the program
   • Formal or informal meeting to announce program, “the kick-off”
   • Flyers / pamphlets / brochures / table tents,
   • Bulletin boards / kiosk where all material is promoted or found,
   • Email / phone messages,
   • Mailings or distributions  

3. Use Corporate Health Promotion Program Incentives:  You’ll be amazed to learn what people will do for a free T-shirt.  Incentives are able to both support and excite participation among staff members.  Consider both formal or organization incentives and informal or program rewards/prizes from local resources to reinforce participation in Corporate Health Promotion Programs. Either way, it’s important to provide incentives that are attractive and meaningful to your staff members.

   Formal Employee Wellness Program Incentives:

   • Discounts on employee medical insurance premiums or co-pays, or contributions to 401K programs, employee stock options, or other mechanisms.  
   
   Click here for more information on health plan incentive ideas
   
   • gym/Fitness Center discounts or enrollment fee coverage
   • Public transportation vouchers
   • Flexible work time options
   • “Wellness Days” off work  

   Prizes or Informal Employee Wellness Program Incentives:

   • Cash – a most effective incentive!
   • Prize incentives and rewards such as gift certificates to heart-healthy restaurants; music player to use while exercising, emergency kits, or any other prizes that would encourage your employees.
   • T-Shirts, water bottles, or other inexpensive rewards

4. Assess community resources available to offer some of the wellness services.  The local health department or your employer medical care provider may be able to support  you with this information.  There are also vendors throughout the State providing great wellness services for employers.  They are available to help you strategize and find the best options available.

5. Launch your program as planned documenting information and outcomes as you go such as numbers of participants, dates of activities, and any other special details you are tracking.

The Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee must set out a plan for the entire year that outlines accomplishing goals/objectives, as well as supports details for marketing and evaluating the program. The plan is the detailed map of what types of programs will be offered, when and where they will be scheduled, how they will be marketed and evaluated, and what the budget is.  It is significant to plan your wellness activities based on your goals/objectives, as well as the budget since different strategies will yield different outcomes.  By way of example, if your mission is to broaden awareness on a topic, then distributing handouts or scheduling a one-time education session may be appropriate.  However, if your intention is to change behavior, then different strategies may be necessary, such as ongoing weekly meetings and support groups.  Click here to link to Program Design Options for additional ideas.

Company Wellness Program Marketing

Now is the time to plan your marketing strategies!  How can you market the wellness program and ongoing activities?  No matter how you decide to, market often, keep it fresh, and remind employees repeatedly!  Consider having an overall kickoff activity to inform everyone of the wellness program.  Senior Leadership should offer the introduction or invitation so that all employees are aware of their support and leadership in the program.

Possible marketing methods:

• Sending email messages, including reminders
• Design flyers,
• Hanging bulletin board postings,
• Composing articles,
• Mailing letters or
• Mailing special invitations.  

Other Company Health Promotion Program Considerations:

• Is the Company Wellness Program promoted to all workers or to a specific group?
• Do you have a Employee Wellness Program champion (someone who is joined with different groups in the organization, and well respected) who can help in your promotion efforts?
• If your marketing efforts don’t seem to be working, do you have a way to revisit and change your strategy?
• How will you determine effectiveness and evaluate your program?  And how will you collect the information needed to evaluate your program?  

Topics most frequently included in Worksite Wellness Programs:

• Nutrition
• Physical Activity/Exercise
• Tobacco Use Cessation
• Bone Health
• Cardiovascular Health
• The Spine
• Stress Reduction
• Chronic Disease Awareness & Prevention
• Self-care; Wise Medical Care Consumer
• Screening Services (BMI, Blood Pressure (BP), bone density, blood lipids, glucose, posture, vision, and other…)
• Ergonomic Assessments
• Health Fairs
• Kids/family Events
• Others topics that employees have interest in  

The topics and type of Employee Health Promotion Program planned depend on the needs and interest, overriding goal and resources available.  Program Design Options   include awareness programs such as brochures and/or education sessions, behavior modification programs such as smoking cessation and weight loss classes, and environmental or business backing such as no smoking policies or healthy selections in vending machines.  

The programs planned also depend on the demographics of your workforce.  If you have a young, healthy workforce, you may want to focus the wellness attention on keeping workers healthy and not need to screen for disease.  Instead you might want to focus on healthy lifestyle behavior such as exercise and great nourishment to prevent the on-set of disease.  Click here for more information on strategies for keeping workers well, identifying disease early, or returning workers to work who already have a chronic conditions.

It is also valuable to consider, and plan how you will evaluate the success of your wellness program.  The system needs to be shown for tracking certain data and recording events depending on the program goals.  Step 7 discusses program evaluation in more detail.   And Step 6 will launch your program!

A Company Health Promotion Program without goals is somewhat akin to taking a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even whether or not you have arrived!  The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.  Yet, with a little thoughtful planning, you increase your chances for a successful experience.  Clear goals are necessitated to plan your wellness program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program objectives and goals are different from one corporation to another depending on the population, needs, interests and resources.  Nonetheless, well thought out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the foundation of a successful wellness program!

Company Wellness Program Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Corporate Wellness Program. The mission statement is the central expression of what the Corporate Wellness Program Committee wants to accomplish by launching a wellness program.  It is valuable to consider how your Corporate Wellness Program fits in with the company mission statement, contributes to the central mission and supports the company bottom line.  This will integrate your efforts throughout the company operations.  

Below are some examples of Company Wellness Program mission statements:

“At XYZ Company, maintaining an environment that supports employee health and safety is our underlying value.  It is the mission of the Company Health Promotion Program to assist  in planning Company Health Promotion Program services that fosters and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee to foster healthier lifestyle choices to reduce health risk factors, better central well-being, and maintain a beneficial, active work force.”

Workplace Health Promotion Program Goals

The objectives and goals further define your mission and are based on your needs assessment.  Depending on the needs assessment, management expectations and employee interests, examples of objectives and goals can include:

The objective(s) of XYZ Worksite Health Promotion Program in year XXXX is to:  (one or more of the following examples)

• Decrease absenteeism by one day per employee
• Cut down on musculoskeletal injuries by ten percent
• Lower unnecessary emergency room visits
• Cut down on or contain medical care costs
• Improve dietary habits of staff members
• Cut down on health risk factors  

Employee Wellness Program Objectives

Specific Worksite Health Promotion Program objectives help meet your long-term goals/objectives.  Both short term and long term objectives must be developed as the stepping stones to accomplish the goals/objectives.  In addition to objectives for the expected participant outcomes, process objectives must also be developed for the program process itself.  For example, process objectives may include the number of staff members you want to participate in the programs, the number of sessions on a topic will be offered, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented, etc.

Objectives must be easily measurable within a set time frame.  Try using the SMART formula to create both your long and short-term objectives and goals:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be monitored or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months – up to 5 years)  

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method.  By way of example, the mission for a weight loss program that has an central goal of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Participants (who) will lose an average of .5 – 1 lbs per week (specific what that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per attendant (attainable and realistic).

Or:

Participants (who) will go to 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable) and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific what, when, where)

An example of an intention for coaching workers with high cholesterol might be:

To cut the total cholesterol (specific what) of elevated risk staff members with cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much) through one-on-one counseling sessions available at the workplace (where) by X date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to cut the risk factor for heart disease (why).  

And one last example of a process goal for a smoking cessation program with an overall intention to support  participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week smoking cessation program, ten percent of the participants will have quit smoking.  Each attendant will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process objective) and ten percent of those who quit will still be tobacco-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including instituting your Company Health Promotion Program Committee.  It is now time to plan your wellness activities!

Before you begin laying out your Company Wellness Program you need to have a benchmark.  Attaining a thorough needs assessment is vital to the effectiveness of your wellness program for two reasons:  First it ensures that your Company Wellness Program activities will be targeted to meet your company’s specific needs so that outcomes are able to be achieved.  Secondly the needs assessment supports the information you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of your wellness program.

It is frequently tempting to hurry through the assessment – especially when time is limited or those with experience already have an idea of needs.  Do not give in to this temptation!  It is critical that you be aware of what your corporation needs are, what upper management expects, and what workers want as well as expect, before you establish a Workplace Wellness Program.  

Consider and collect data on:

• Employee Demographic Information
• Employee Health Risk Factors
• Medical Claims
• Injury Rates & Causes
• Workers’ Compensation Claims
• Short and Long Term Disability Claims
• Absenteeism
• Company Culture Audits
• Employee perceived needs and health risks
• Senior Management’s expectations or desired outcomes

There are many ways to evaluate this information.  Although some of data gathering process may be time consuming, remember that it is nonetheless essential to plan programs that target specific problems.  This information will be essential to set goals and objectives and for evaluating program effectiveness.  How else can you know if outcomes have been achieved?

Options to help gather the information:

• Confidential Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) with a Employer Group Summary Report
• Wellness Screenings such as blood lipids, Blood Pressure and blood glucose click here for additional information on wellness screenings.
• Employee Needs and Interest Surveys
• Suggestion boxes placed around the organization
• Focus Groups or hosting a luncheon meeting as a focus group
• Sending out a confidential email questionnaire
• Review records and databases including OSHA logs, first aid reports, insurance expenditures  

Once your needs assessment is complete, the Corporate Wellness Program Committee can review the results and start creating and prioritizing program options.  Creating ought to be based upon goals and identified outcomes, Step 4 of the seven step process!

Organizing an active Workplace Wellness Program Committee provides opportunities for both upper management and employee involvement in the program.  The Committee ought to be a team of staff members and managers who formally meet to plan activities to promote healthier employee lifestyles.

Typical Functions of a Employee Wellness Program Committee:

• Analyzing needs & interests
• Brainstorming program ideas
• Planning activities
• Implementing communication plans
• Promoting programs to co-workers
• Serving as champions of the Workplace Wellness Programs
• Assisting with evaluation  

Your Workplace Wellness Program Committee should be representative of all echelons of the corporation.  Consider all sections of the workforce – multiple sites, shift employees, diversity (race, gender, ethnicity), and departments.   It’s also important to consider who will chair or co-chair the Workplace Wellness Program Committee and whether or not there are the finances to support a Workplace Wellness Program manager or occupational health consultant, even on a part-time or contractual basis.  Click here for more information on the benefits of a health consultant.  

Depending on your corporation size and resources, if you already have a corporation Safety Committee you might want to think about making it the Safety & Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee.  You are able to request volunteers or invite employees to participate.  

The number of Corporate Wellness Program Committee participants is dependent upon the size of your business; however, you need sufficient participants to get the work done and yet not too many to keep it manageable, usually at least 4 participants and maximum of 12 to 15 participants.  It’s valuable to include skeptics of wellness as well and not just those employees already living healthy lifestyles.  

Depending on your workplace, consider representatives from the following areas:

• Employee representatives from a cross section of different departments,
• Upper Management
• Health and safety professional(s),
• Human resources consultant(s),
• Employee benefits representative or someone from finance,
• Your EAP provider (if applicable), Click here for more information on EAPs
• Occupational health employee (if applicable).

Establish a strong Corporate Wellness Program Committee!  The Corporate Wellness Program Committee must meet often with a planned agenda and action items.  Effective Wellness Committees have a shared mission, vision and goals.  Members need to believe that their participation is worthwhile and appreciated, that their work is valuable, benefits the organization and co-staff members, and they are appreciated for their contributions. Refer to the NC Workplace Programs section for examples of what other employers have implemented.

As with any program, the two critical elements for the effectiveness of your wellness program are senior staff backing & employee involvement.  Senior Leadership determines the vision and supports the resources from which action plans flow.  Genuine backing from senior personnel also brings credibility to the wellness initiative.  It is important that senior staff be visible supporters and role models for your Workplace Health Promotion Program.

employees need to be involved on several levels so that they feel ownership of the wellness program.  Employees are the program stakeholders!  All employees should have an opportunity to support input and feedback through needs & interest surveys and program assessment tools.  The information gathered should be used to plan programs that target those needs and interests to ensure participation, buy-in, and reinforcement.

There are several methods to identify employee needs and interests such as:

• Having Employee Focus Groups
• Discussing Wellness Interests During Department gatherings
• Distributing and Summarizing a Needs & Interest Survey
• (Including|Allowing for|Making sure to include} a Time to Give Opinions on Each Evaluation Tool  

Any one or combination of several techniques will ensure that the wellness program meets what staff members want.

Step 3 supplies additional information on determining wellness program needs.  But first, instituting a Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee can help you involve upper management & workers, determine need, and plan your wellness program.

A key to a efficacious Worksite Health Promotion Program requires management responsibility and employee participation.

Workplace Health Promotion Program Step 2: Form a Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee

An active Employee Wellness Program Committee sees to employee participation, supplies buy-in, management reinforcement, and maintains a crew that is prepared to take action to launch wellness programs.

Worksite Wellness Program Step 3: Gather Data to Determine Key Needs and Expectations

The next essential component is to base the Workplace Health Promotion Program on the needs and interests of your organization and its workers.

Employee Wellness Program Step 4: Set Goals and Objectives

Goals and objectives are the road maps to guide you where your program needs to go.   These constitute the foundation for planning and evaluating activities to see to it that your wellness program will meet your special needs.

Worksite Wellness Program Step 5: Design a Detailed Action Plan

There is no such thing as over-planning!  The best of intentions can get lost, overstepped, or forgotten in the absence ofadequate planning, and then it would be all for naught.

Worksite Wellness Program Step 6: Choose and Begin a Plan

Once you have the needs assessment information, a Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee, objectives and goals it’s now time to put your plan into action!

Workplace Wellness Program Step 7: Oversee and Evaluate Your Workplace Wellness Program

Evaluation is an important step to keep a program focused, as well as to guarantee that the program is reaching its goals and objectives or achieving favorable results.

In Summary

These Seven Steps outline considerations for a inclusive approach to designing and launching an effective wellness program.  Would you be able to enable components of wellness activities without following these steps?  Absolutely, but you may not have the sustainability or ability to obtain desired outcomes.  Following the Seven Steps does not have to be confusing or burdensome.  A very simple approach can achieve a successful wellness program!

Therefore, to ensure a successful wellness program remember the key components as you plan your program or improve your current program:

• Upper Management Support & Employee Involvement
• Active Worksite Wellness Program Committee
• Employee Wellness Program is Based on Employee Needs & Interests
• Workplace Health Promotion Program Goals and Objectives are Determined
• Detailed Worksite Wellness Program Action Plan Based on Resources & Budget
• Company Wellness Program Implementation & Internal Marketing
• Evaluation of Workplace Health Promotion Program Outcomes

The program design options hinge upon the goals/objectives and desired outcomes of your program.  If your goal is to help workers make a change behavior, cut risk factors, or save health care dollars then your wellness program would be designed to accomplish those outcomes and a budget would be crucial to support that design.  

Wellness program design options vary, depending on desired outcomes and budgets.  Each level has advantages and disadvantages.  The intentions or results are quite different, are not interchangeable in terms of obtaining the same results, and therefore ought not be confused.  For example, scheduling activities such as an employee health & wellness fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having pamphlets available do not usually result in behavior change, but may expand awareness on a topic.  If the goal is behavior change then a different design is required, such as Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs and Company Support.  The outline below describes the wellness design levels with a brief explanation.

Awareness Programs:  At this level a business makes health information available and accessible to staff members.  This type of program can include brochures on a variety of issues, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc.   Also, most health & wellness fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors offering information and offering health screenings to staff members.  

Awareness programs are inexpensive and do not require extensive employee or business time commitments.  However, these programs do not usually result in behavior modification.  Improving awareness isn’t usually enough to generate lifestyle changes for most individuals, unless used to arouse workers to register for a program being available at the business or area on the topic.  An example of this would be offering information on the dangerous effects of smoking and inviting workers who use tobacco to register for a smoking cessation class.

Education Programs:  Educational programs frequently support more information on a topic and are able to also provide time for questions & answers, but are similar to awareness programs.  An example is lunch-n-learn sessions on a health related topic.  These cost the organization a modest amount more than awareness programs; however, they are still inexpensive and do not require a great deal of time for planning or attending a session.  Again, expanding awareness and providing information may not lead to the desired behavior modification unless ongoing support or rewards and incentives are also planned.

Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs:  These programs are designed as 4 to 12 weekly sessions or classes to support wellbeing and health education, address barriers and support opportunities to practice the desired skills.  Behavior change programs therefore require additional corporation resources, cost more, and also require additional employee responsibility, time and effort.  The results are frequently the desired beneficial lifestyle change, which if sustained can lead to potential cost savings.  

Examples include smoking cessation classes, weight loss and weight management meetings, or an ongoing fitness program.

Environmental and Business Support:  Environmental support is frequently considered the highest and most valuable level to include when designing your wellness program in order to support and maintain healthy behaviors.  These types of design options include policy changes such as:

• Creating a smoke-free workplace
• Designating a walking path,
• Establishing worksite fitness centers,
• Ensuring healthy vending machines choices,
• Offering healthy meal choices in the cafeteria, and/or
• Organizing flex-time policies.  

Other examples include subsidizing healthy vending machines or cafeteria choices; reimbursing fitness center or weight loss and weight management program memberships; or offering insurance incentives/rewards for healthy behaviors.

Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of all of these options.  The more integrated the approach, the more efficacious the outcome will be.  By way of example, a organization can have tobacco cessation information available; can schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of smoking and how to quit; can enable an worksite tobacco cessation program, supply self quit smoking kits, or support staff members to catch a neighborhood program; and/or on an environmental reinforcement level can establish a tobacco-free workplace and grounds, offer lower healthcare insurance for non-smokers, or provide pharmacological quit smoking aids for free.

Employee Wellness Program: Components for Success

There are many key parts that have to be considered to see to the success of your Corporate Wellness Program or Corporate Wellness Program.  These include:  

• Senior Management Support & Employee Involvement
• Active Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee
• Program is Based on Employee Needs & Interests
• Goals and Objectives are Established
• Detailed Action Plan Based on Resources & Budget
• Program Implementation & Internal Marketing
• Evaluation of Outcomes and Program

Major advantages of healthy workers include:

• Decreased Health Care expenses
• Reduced Injuries
• Reduced Rates of Absenteeism
• Boosted Morale and Loyalty
• Higher Productivity
• Lowered Use of Health Care Benefits
• Reduced Workers’ Comp/Disability
• Positive Perception in Community
• Lowered Turnover
• Better recruitment for competent employees

What is NOT Having a Corporate Health Promotion Program Costing Your Company?  

Let us look at the health risk factors that are contributing to chronic diseases for adults:

• 59 percent of American citizens are overweight or obese
• More than 60 percent of American adults do not exercise regularly
• Greater than 75 percent of American adults do not consume the minimum recommendations for fruits and vegetables
• Heart disease is the leading common cause of death and the leading cause of death in smokers
• 26 percent of workers reported they were often or very often burned out or stressed by their job  

Health Care costs are Growing:  Health Care expenditures are at a record high of $1.7 trillion with no signs of leveling out, let alone going down.  The average cost of yearly medical spending is over $5,000 per person and with dependents almost $10,000.  Recent data shows that medical related costs now cost North Carolina businesses thousands of dollars per employee, each year.

Most Illnesses Can Be Avoided:  Although it sounds unrealistic, experts indicate that avoidable illness makes up 60 percent – 70 percent of the entire burden of illness in the U.S..   In North Carolina, it is estimated that more than 53 percent of all deaths are avoidable, and that 2/3 of all avoidable deaths are due to tobacco use, a sedentary lifestyle, and poor nutrition.

Stress Levels are On the Rise:  As business resources dwindle and employers adopt cheaper work practices, the effects of absenteeism and lost productivity have a more powerful influence.  In a current national poll, 78% of American citizens described their jobs as stressful, and the majority felt that stress levels have become worse over The last decade.  Moreover, high levels of business stress have the potential to adversely affect a business by increasing injuries, absenteeism, and healthcare costs while decreasing productivity.  Simple solutions such as stress management education, flexible work schedules, quality social interaction, and increased participation in business decision-making have the potential to better stress levels in the workplace.

What is the Initial Cost and Time Investment for a Company Wellness Program?

The expenditure is dependent upon the type of Worksite Health Promotion Program implemented.  There are several options to reward employee health with pros and cons of each.  The program design is dependent upon the objectives and goals of the wellness program, the company resources, and the area resources available.  

Improving dietary practices, building physical activity levels, managing stress or discussing work life balance concerns, and decreasing/eliminating tobacco use, are primary strategies for preventing many of the most common preventable chronic diseases. The possibilities of how your organization deals with these concerns are endless and can range from building employee awareness, which may include purchasing a few handouts on a variety of topics, and quantifying walking distances around your facility, to instituting organization reinforcement such as funding a full-time occupational health consultant or building an worksite fitness center.  

When well-planned and based on your goals, any of these programs are able to help you succeed.  Refer below to Employee Health Promotion Program Design Options for additional ideas.

A Company Wellness Program is a comprehensive program to help and support workers in instituting healthier lifestyles.  This might possibly include rising employee awareness on health subject matters, scheduling behavior modification programs, and/or instituting company policies that support health-related objectives.  Programs and policies that encourage increased physical exercise, tobacco use prevention and cessation, and healthy diet selections are a few examples.  

Dimensions of Wellness

Wellness is more than physical fitness.  In addition to physical fitness, the ranges of ideal health include:

   • Spiritual Wellness,
   • Emotional Dimension of Wellness,
   • Social Dimension of Wellness,
   • Intellectual Dimension of Wellness

These dimensions are frequently illustrated as a “life wheel” with examples of health dimensions that include fitness, nutrition, purpose in life, financial organization, social connections & backing systems, stress management, mind-body health, career planning and continued learning.   The key behind individual health is keeping the “life wheel” in balance.  A comprehensive workplace wellness program addresses most, if not all, of these dimensions.

Why Company Wellness Programs?

workers spend much time on the job, and the bottom line is that our traditional work-week is increasing.  In fact, the typical American now is at work about 47 hours a week.  Additionally, technologies such as modems, laptop computers, cell phones, voice and email have confused the line between life and work.  These realities cut down on the amount of time that the average worker is able to devote to wellbeing and health pursuits, and yet workers are predicted to be top of their game when at work.

A current study conducted by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses found that workplace wellness or Corporate Health Promotion Programs are efficacious in assisting workers to make positive health changes due to several factors such as convenience, environmental backing, and co-worker or social acceptance.  

What’s the Association between Wellness and the Workplace?

Programs and policies that encourage healthy lifestyles are able to make a tremendous difference on employee wellness AND have an impact on the company’s bottom line.  Studies have shown that for each dollar invested by employers in Company Health Promotion Programs/wellness programs, there were savings ranging from $1.49 to $4.91 with a median savings of $3.14*.  In company vocabulary, that’s more than a 3:1 minimum ROI – a number that is hard to overlook, and a best practice that ought to warrant serious consideration from employers.  In fact, a Company Health Promotion Program literature review published in Health Promotion Practitioner Journal observed:

   • 19 studies observed a 28.3 percent decrease in sick time
   • 16 studies demonstrated a 5.6:1 return on investment
   • 23 showed a 26.1 percent decrease in health care costs
   • 4 found a 30 percent decline in direct healthcare and workers’ compensation claims

There is little doubt that a accross the board wellness program designed to meet a employer’s specific needs can save money by lowering absenteeism, reducing medical care costs, reducing employee turnover, and building work rate.

• The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003