Are Wellness Programs Cost-Effective?

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that robust health promotion programs, or Health Promotion Programs, can lower healthcare and insurance costs, lower absenteeism, and improve performance and productivity.

Other benefits demonstrated in studies include improved ability to attract and retain key personnel, greater employee allegiance, and improved public image of the organization.

Health Care and Insurance Costs

A number of studies provide evidence of lower medical and insurance costs for participants in health promotion programs, particularly health promotion programs involving exercise.

For $30 per person, the Bank of America conducted a health promotion program for retirees using a risk assessment questionnaire, self-care books and other mailed materials. Insurance claims were decreased an average of $164 a year in this group while they increased $15 for the control group.

Since they were able to document meaningful changes in risk behavior, they anticipate greater savings in future years.

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks participants claim $300 less per case for a one-year savings of $700,000. Savings for conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle are $722 per case.

Coca Cola stated a reduction in health care claims with a workout program alone, saving $500 per staff member per year for the employees (60%) who joined their HealthWorks fitness program.

Prudential Insurance Corporation reports that the organization’s major medical costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each participant in its wellness program.

Decreased Absenteeism

Absenteeism has been shown to be impacted by company wellness and wellness programs.  The evidence indicates a significant reduction in absenteeism and resultant dollars saved then of worker fitness programs.

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks wellness program reduced absent days .8 percent to save $2 million in one year. FitWorks members also spent 3.3 days less on short-term disability for an additional savings of $4.7 million.

Focusing wellness efforts on high-risk workers can lead to better results. A national manufacturing business reports a decrease of 12.2 percent in disease days for these workers.

A two-year study by the DuPont Company of the effect of its robust wellness program on absences among staff reports that blue-collar staff at intervention sites had a 14% decline in disability days vs. 5.8% decline for controls. There were a sum of 11,726 fewer net disability days.

Increased Performance, Productivity and Morale

A number of employers with wellness programs report documented betterment in job attitude, work performance, energy level, and/or overall morale among wellness program participants–all crucial factors in enhancing productivity.

A Johnson and Johnson study found that worker attitude changes were greater at wellness intervention sites with meaningful positive attitude changes noted in the categories of organizational commitment, supervision, working conditions, job competence/security, and pay/benefits.

In a Canadian government study, the Canada Life Assurance Business experimental group realized a 4% increase in productivity after starting an worker fitness program, compared to the control group.

Further, 47% of health promotion program participants reported that they felt more alert, had better rapport with their coworkers, and generally enjoyed their work more.

Swedish investigators found that mental performance was significantly better in physically fit workforce than in non-fit workers. Fit workforce committed 27% fewer errors on tasks involving concentration and short-term memory, as compared with the performance of non-fit workers.

The Bottom Line

The following sample of company health promotion health promotion program results have been reported by individual companys -

Company -  Dollars Saved/Dollars Spent

o  Bank of America (Fries) -  $5.96/$1

o  PacBell -  $3.10/$1

o  Wisconsin School District Insurance Group -  $4.47/$1

o  Prudential Insurance -  $2.90/$1

o  Bank of America (Leigh) -  $4.73/$1

o  General Mills -  $3.50/$1

Summary

There’s compelling evidence that a sizable portion of the billions of dollars currently spent by companys on health-related costs is avoidable by means of health promotion programming.

Well-planned, extensive wellness programs (wellness programs and staff member wellness programs) have been proven to be cost-effective, specifically when the wellness programming is matched to the medical problems of the specific staff member