Corporate Wellness Program

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

Attempting to do more with less money? Here are three proven ways to align the dollars and cents of a health promotion program in your budget.

Common thread -  the way you prepare - and control - your budget for a wellness program is critical to its success.

1. Top-down health promotion budget

Depending on the size of your organization and health promotion program, you might have full budget responsibility or might need to work with a C-level who’s budgeting specialistise.

Regardless of the arrangement, you’re likely to face one of two distinct challenges -  a top-down budget or a zero-based budget.

A top-down budget is when you’re given a finite dollar amount and told to run the health promotion program within the limit. When that’s the case, here are three critical questions to ask -

• Does this limit include money set aside for staff member incentives and future programs?

• Should we keep long-tenured wellness programs that keep going up in price, and

• Does Benefits/HR have to deliver all education about the wellness program, or is there additional funding to hire staff?

2.  Zero-based wellness budgeting

In zero-based funding, you submit to senior level management an itemized list of the health promotion programs/features you want and the cost of each. Best practices -

• Rank health promotion programs by priority (health-risk assessments must be at or near the top)

• Indicate which expenses are fixed and which are variable, and

• List ways to incorporate existing resources (like an employee assistance program (EAP) program) for a better return on investment.

3. Estimating health promotion ROI

On average, health promotion programs typically take at least 18 months to break even. After three years, you ought to see savings.

When not, it’s time to take a fresh look at the wellness program design.

Given the immense growth of wellness programs over the last two years, it was inevitable resistance would creep up among watchdog groups.

In Washington, lobbyists have spearheaded a push for Congress, the DOL and IRS to crack down on “punitive” wellness programs.

Particularly, the groups seek to limit wellness programs in which employees’ share of their healthcare costs are directly tied to their willingness to participate in a wellness program.

HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules prohibit companys from creating negative financial incentives for workers with health risks.

For example, you can’t raise someone’s premium share because he or she smokes. What you are able to do is offer a discount if someone completes a smoking cessation program.

Reason -  the law does allow for financial incentives to employees who willingly take part in health promotion programs.

The watchdog groups seek greater regulation to be sure incentives and discounts are used only as rewards for healthful behavior, not as a thinly veiled form of discrimination against high-risk personnel.

A recent survey finds nearly 42% of corporations with 200 or fewer workforce have some sort of disease management (DM) program.

That’s a enormous increase from four years ago, when just 28 percent of smaller employers offered such wellness programs.

There’s more to come, too. Fifteen percent of respondents that didn’t currently have a disease management (DM) component to their medical plan hope to add one by 2011.

The highest-demand disease management (DM) programs are for diabetes, asthma and heart disease.

Source -  Small Corporation Benefits Survey, PDR Consulting Group, 9/1/2008.

Thinking about an obesity-related disease management (DM) program for your business? Here’s what you need to know.

In order to be effective, the health promotion program must meet participants’ individual medical and psychological needs, not to mention your own organization’s need to control long-term health costs.

Exactly how wide-reaching should the program be? After all, it does not make sense to pay for services your workers don’t want or can’t use.

Mary Beth Chalk of Resources for Living suggests that obesity programs could be broken down into four tiers of staff member need, from which your organization’s Return On Investment (ROI) can also be measured.

Tier 1 -  Education

Tier I personnel struggle with weight management problems but don’t need a health Coach.  Instead, they might benefit from a self-directed program that provides weight-management related materials online, targeted mailing, and/or access to nurse call line.

Precisely how to measure ROI -  utilization. Do staff members click on the Web site? Do they return to the site regularly? Do people  use the nurse line? Your wellness program vendor should provide you detailed use stats.

Tier 2 -  Clinical supervision

If the worker has been diagnosed as obese - a Body Mass Index  score over 30 is obese, over 35 is clinically obese - he or she would do better working with a wellness coach in a clinically supervised wellness program.

Three keys to getting maximum results -

1. Periodically have participants rate their relationship with their health Coaches. Not everyone clicks, so a change could  be in order.

2. Coordinate your disease management care with your employee assistance program (EAP)services. Reason -  Inability to control weight is often closely tied with psychological health issues - and one can negatively affect the other.

The more closely your EAP and obesity program managers work together, the higher the chance for success.

3. Beware of the fade-out effect. A lot of personnel in weight-loss programs get off to a excellent start and then fall back into old habits. People  should re-commit to the program after three sessions, four months and nine months.

To measure ROI, look at utlization, goal achievement and reduced presenteeism. of course, presenteeism is notoriously challenging to measure with reliable dollar figures. So how can you overcome that problem?

• Start with employees’ salaries. Let’s suppose one participant earns $40,000 a year.

• Ask workforce to self-report how energetic and productive they feel on the job, on a percentage scale. Then have supervisors estimate the employee’s productivity and split the difference. for this example, let’s assume it averaged to 50 percent.

• Collect scores again six months and one year into the program and then multiply the difference by salary.  The result is your estimated productivity Return On Investment (ROI).

In the example above, when the employee earning $40,000 improves from 50 percent to 75 percent after one year, the productivity related ROI is $10,000.  

Tier 3 -  Medical management

At this level, the obese employee needs a higher level of care than a health coach can offer.  The employee has chronic health conditions related to obesity - such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and/or sleep apnea - and needs a physician case manager.

Namely, the employee needs to set up regular visits with the physician and develop a treatment plan.

To measure Return On Investment (ROI), start with the lower-tier criteria, then track quarterly and year differences in FMLA or compensated absences, and prescription drug costs. Then compare it to the per-participant cost of the obesity program.

Tier 4 -  Morbid obesity

At this level, the employee has been diagnosed as morbidly obese - Body Mass Index over 40 - and is considered a potential candidate for gastric bypass surgery.

Return On Investment (ROI) is measured through ongoing health claims as well as the previous criteria.

Create a culture of wellness within your business

Create Exemplary Management Support

In the most successful Health Promotion Programs, upper-level managers lead their businesses by example.  And they work to ensure that the upper management structure not only allows, but actively encourages their workforce to participate.

Organize a Wellness Advisory Team

Health Promotion committees serve as the eyes, ears, arms and legs of the health promotion program, representing coworkers ideas and concerns, and assisting reshape the organizational culture toward health.

Conduct an Assessment of Financial and Human Assets and Liabilities

Successful Health Promotion Programs are built upon a foundation of information, including claims review, demographic analysis of the workforce, executive management and employee surveys, health risk data, history of organizational wellness, and health benefit plan design.

Create Clearly Stated Vision, Mission and Outcomes

Establish a clear vision of wellness program direction, expectations and measures to answer the questions, “Where are we going and how’ll we know when we get there?”

Create a Robust and Strategic Health Promotion Program

A multi-component plan should consist of strategically created and implemented awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment programs, as well as policies and activities that target appropriate health risk behaviors and needs of the employees.

Identify an Incentive and Reward Strategy

Incentives show the organizational commitment to the health promotion program and motivate individuals to participate. Incentives vary widely from program to program, but can include such things as time off, reduction in medical insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to fitness centers, free pedometers, etc.

Communicate to Employees

Your health promotion program ought to be simple and concise, use an identifiable brand, and rely on a variety of media to communicate with staff and managers.

Evaluate Outcomes

Evaluate health promotion program participation, satisfaction levels and behavioral change. You could want to track the number of workers’ compensation claims, productivity, turnover morale and absenteeism.

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Wellness Program - Management Support.

Develop Exemplary Management Support

Goal -  A Health Promotion Program established into the organization’s culture.

Focus - Develop support and excitement for the wellness program from all levels of the corporation -  upper management, mid-level management, and grass-roots employees.

Obtaining upper management’s buy-in is essential to launching an effective health promotion program.  The staff members must understand that upper management is supportive of the health promotion program.

Actions -

Create an Senior Management Executive Team to determine high-level decisions - positions that must be included are the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Communications Officer, and other appropriate division-level managers and wellness program specialists, as necessary.

The Upper-Level Management Executive Team will -

• Communicate to all levels of senior management about the wellness program and drive the integration of the Health Promotion Program as a part of the company culture.

• Ensure that organizational resources are available for health promotion program planning and implementation.

• Be sure to encourage workforce to participate and to assist in “recruiting” other workforce, get the momentum going, and keep it growing.

• Share success stories within the corporation, and continue to increase the perceived value of participation.

Organize a Wellness Advisory Team

Goal - Develop a working committee that consists of personnel and essential functional parts of the company.

Focus -  to assist in reshaping the organizational culture to support employee-wellness activities by serving as couriers and supporters for the wellness program.

Health Promotion Advisory Committees serve as an essential part of the infrastructure of your Health Promotion Program.  The team members are the eyes, ears, arms, and legs of the wellness program.

They represent their peers by sharing ideas and concerns about the wellness program.

Actions -

The Wellness Advisory Committee will -

• Make certain to work with upper-level management and the Health Promotion Program coordinator in the design, implementation, and analysis of the health promotion program.

• Create methods to enhance the acceptance and success of the activities of your Wellness Program by stimulating employee ownership of the wellness program.

• Hold periodic meetings to keep the committee informed of upcoming plans and events and to provide feedback to the wellness program coordinator about their thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, and those of their coworkers.

• Recommend policy and environmental changes that are aimed at bettering the safety and health of staff.

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Wellness Program - Vision and Mission.

Goal - Create a baseline of information and identify human and organizational needs.

Focus -  Review a selection of information to better understand past and current conditions regarding health care utilization, organizational culture, demographic overview, and wellness programs.

Data collection plays an important role in planning, monitoring, and investigating  a health promotion program. It will also set the baseline for continued and future evaluations of health promotion program efficiency, effectiveness, and feasibility.

Actions -

• Claims review (health care, pharmaceutical) -

• What have been the 10 most expensive major illness categories in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars compensated for each?

• What have been the 10 most costly therapeutic classes of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars paid for each?

• What have been the 10 most frequently prescribed and filled therapeutic classes of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars compensated for each?

• Demographic analysis of staff member population (may include dependents) -

• List your number of personnel, by gender, for each of the past five years and the percentages of males and females by age groups.

• Think about any other factors that may have affected the health of your staff and their use of the health care system.

This might include mergers, acquisitions, worksite trauma, staff member strikes, layoffs, early retirement offers, etc.

Management survey -

• Conduct surveys of mid-level management to understand their concerns and measure their level of interest and buy-in.

• Employee-interest survey -  Gather information to determine what the staff want and to measure the level of participation, satisfaction, and “success” of any previous activities.

Risk data (health-risk assessments) -

• Is there any data from health-risk appraisals over the past five years?

Participation in similar activities -

• List and describe all health promotion programs that have been implemented over the past five years, including participation rates.

Design of the health plan, and anticipated changes -

• Have there been any meaningful changes in the health plan’s design in each of the past five years, such as a change from an health maintenance organization to a PPO, increased co-payments or deductibles, or increased staff member contributions?

Develop Clearly Stated Vision, Mission and Outcomes

Goal -  Establish a clear vision of health promotion program direction, expectations, and measures.

Focus - Establishing a vision, mission, objectives and objectives to keep your Health Promotion Program focused toward its desired outcomes. It’ll answer the questions, “Where are we going?” and “How’ll we know when we get there?”

Actions -

• Identify two to five clearly announced objectives. Be certain that your wellness program is capable of having an impact in the area desired, and be certain that you’re capable of measuring that impact.

Example Goal - Workers having access to healthier food options

• Establish two to five measurable goals that in particular state what your health promotion program is going to accomplish, by when, how, and how it’ll be measured.

Example Objective -  Modify all vending machines to include 50% healthy food options.

• Identify several activities that will help you achieveyour objective. Activities are very specific.

Example Activity - Make sure to work with vending machine owners to identify healthful food options and restock with 50% of items that are healthier food options.

• Identify who’s going to do what, by when, and what resources are needed.

Example Detail -  the Program coordinator will contact XXX Vending Corporation by September 30.

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Wellness Program Incentives.

Create a Comprehensive and Strategic Wellness Program

Goal -  A comprehensive Health Promotion Program plan.

Focus -  Development of a plan that consists of a selection of awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment program, policies, and activities that’ll target risk behaviors, needs, and interests of employees.

Your Health Promotion Program should provide an integrated, strategic approach specific to the needs, objectives, and culture of your company, designed throughout an annual cycle.

It will be crucial that you review and revise existing policies governing such areas as use of tobacco, vending machines, and the staff cafeteria. Moreover, it’s useful to examine what employee wellness or health-promotion activities are offered under your existing health-benefit plan.

Actions -

• Create activities based on your wellness program objectives and the specific needs of your employees. Focus on those topics that are of greatest interest to your employees and the greatest needs of your company, in that order. Avoid topics with narrow appeal.

• Keep it simple. Design the health promotion program so it’s easy for the participants to understand and track. Let employees focus their learning efforts on their own behavior, not on the rules and regulations of the health promotion program.

Furthermore, simplify the wellness program administration. Let individuals  record their own activities when possible; create a mixture of self-reported activities along with verified activities.

• Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior elements. Link the activities throughout the year to allow for desired behavior repetition.

• Pick activities that every employee can participate in.

Examples -

• Challenges -  Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior and continue for 4-8 weeks and focus on specific topics (such as physical activity, nutrition, or stress management).

• Learning experiences (seminars, videos, classes) -  One-time activities that last for a relatively short time and focus on a specific topic; these can precede “challenge activities” to prepare participants for behavior change.

• Behavior changes (such as smoking cessation) -  Interventions may or may not be offered at the workplace; individuals should be encouraged to make lifestyle changes that they wanted to make even without the incentive.

• Disease management (support and education groups for diabetes and hypertension) -  These may  be provided or supported by the business through disease-management vendors, or by community, health, or religious companies.

• New skills (first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation) -  These could  be provided or supported by the business, or by community, health, or religious corporations.

• Screenings, wellness assessments, physical exams -  A wellness assessment provides the corporation with aggregate data that could be used in wellness program planning and investigation; preventive screenings and physical exams could be encouraged by awarding credits to employees.

• Program support (membership or leadership in wellness committee or challenge team) -  Reward those who work with you to help make your Wellness Program a success.

• Community events -  Reward participation in events like the Heart Walk or March of Dimes Walk; limit the number of these events that may be counted toward the annual total, and be selective about which events you allow to be counted.

Create an Incentive Strategy

Goal -  to motivate and reward worker participation and completion.

Focus - Develop a sense of interest in participation and completion of wellness activities.

Providing incentives and rewards will send an important message to the workers that the corporation is committed to improving their health and will share the rewards that these changes will bring. It also plays a significant role in arousing person to participate.

Actions -

• Identify through employees what incentives they value most.

• Identify what incentives the organization can provide.

• Integrate your incentives into your benefits strategy.

• Ensure that every participant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.

• Give participation incentives.

• Avoid offering incentives for the “best” or the “most.”

• Avoid rewards for biometric changes.

• Use incentives to promote your Wellness Program, through logos and branding.

Examples -

Compensated time off, reduction in health insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to health clubs, free pedometers, etc.

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Health Promotion Program Communication.

Goal -  Increase awareness of and participation in the Wellness Program.

Focus -  Promote the Health Promotion Program to workforce to encourage participation in activities and benefits.

A well-designed communications strategy is paramount to successful wellness program awareness and participation. Even a “world class” wellness program design won’t succeed when nobody knows that it is available or how to get involved.

Workers who don’t get involved in the health promotion program should be doing so because they select not to participate, not because they didn’t know about how, when, or where to participate.

Actions -

• Conduct a Resources and Communications Audit to identify internal and external resources available to support your Health Promotion Program, as well as knowing how information will be disseminated.

• Keep the health promotion program simple and concise -  easy to peruse about, understand, and act upon.

• Build the brand; be sure it’s something that employees can identify with. Add the brand to T-shirts, water bottles, mouse pads, stress balls, etc.

Use a variety of media -

• Print - flyers, fliers, posters, banners, paycheck inserts, newsletter articles, bulletin boards, literature racks, post cards.

• Electronic - Web, intranet, e-mail, closed-circuit TVs, sign lines, audiovideo productions.

• Staff meetings and company events; word of mouth.

• Use existing channels of communication - what works best in your company - and make certain to know about all points of contact and systems of distribution.

Timing for communications -

• Prior to activity to create awareness and to educate.

• During activity to stimulate participation.

• After an activity to report results.

• Between activities to maintain momentum and interest.

Consistency of communications -

• Use branding; maintain a consistent look, feel, and tone of messages.

• Maintain this consistency throughout the health promotion program.

Surveys and forms -

• Collect information.

• Disseminate information.

Research studies show that untargeted health-promotion campaigns have little long-term impact.
Chronic diseases, which rob individuals and families of their health and happiness, represent major costs to companys in the form of health care and disability costs, lost productivity, and absenteeism.
Health Promotion Programs should address risky behaviors that can help your staff eat healthier, increase their level of exercise, help reduce stress, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and quit smoking. Wellness programs should focus on helping staff achieve and maintain their optimal health status.

Comprehensive wellness programs focused on changing lifestyle behavior have been shown to yield a $3 to $6 return on investment for each dollar invested. It takes about three to five years after the initial wellness program investment to realize these savings.

Ninety-three percent of U.S. businesses offer some type of health promotion program for their personnel, but is it the right type?

Main Kinds of Health Promotion Programs

Programs focusing on illness management. These wellness programs monitor and treat specific illnesses. Illness management follows the 80/20 rule -  80 percent of healthcare costs are spent on 20 percent of staff.

Illness management is announced to have a $7 to $10 return on investment within a year.  The 20% of personnel requiring the greatest medical expenditures today are ordinarily different 20% who will cause the greatest health expenses a year or two down the road.

Programs focusing on health enhancement and risk management. These health promotion programs focus on lifestyle behavior change, and offer a $3 to $6 return on investment within two to five years, as reported by a 2004 report issued by the National Corporation Group on Health.

It is vital that you note that a $3 to $6 return on an entire worker population produces a higher sum savings than does illness management.

Good Data Drives Good Business Decisions

• Based on more than 120 research, the National Company Group on Health reported that, within five years of wellness program implementation, overall benefit-to-cost ratios (return on investment) of -

• $3.48 in decreased health care costs per dollar invested.

• $5.82 in decrease rates of absenteeism per dollar invested.

The Facts Speak for Themselves - Wellness Helps Reduce Costs

• A 2003 analysis of one big USA corporation found that simply assisting employees control their blood pressure (BP) alone can save $547 per person each year.

• Johnson and Johnson claims to have saved $38 million in healthcare costs for its workers between 1995 and 1999 by promoting healthful lifestyles.

Healthcare costs decreased $224 per worker a year (averaged over four years), and this rate improved over time.  The corporation found most benefits in the third and fourth years after wellness program initiation.

• A 2004 Univ. of Michigan study of 23,500 General Motors employees showed that nonexercising employees claimed at least $100 more a year in healthcare costs than exercisers.

The published study  also reported that obese, sedentary staff who started exercising at least twice a week lowered their costs by an typical of $500 a year.

• The Washoe County School District in Nevada estimated that, in a single year, it spent $300,000 on direct costs associated with obesity and $1 million for gastric-bypass surgeries. It instituted a weight-loss program that paid staff $10 per pound lost, up to 25 pounds.

Program participants missed three fewer workdays annually, producing a cost savings of $15.60 per program dollar spent.

Staff Time
Building a successful Health Promotion Program requires staff time as well as money. Some larger corporations may spend 20 hours per week for three to six months preparing all the steps before launching a Health Promotion Program.
Company Costs
Monetary costs can fluctuate commonly, depending on whether the employer compensates all costs, the workers pay all costs, or the costs are shared.
A 1992 study indicated that 28% of companies spent $5 or less per employee, and 19% spent between $6-10 per employee.
The Health Promotion Council of America estimates the cost per staff member to be between $100 and $150 a year for an effective health promotion program that produces a return on investment of $300 to $450. A sample expenditure for various levels of health promotion programs include -
Program Type
A minimal (largely paper) wellness program          $1 - $7         

A moderate health promotion program
A medium wellness program with a few activities       $16 - $35            

A fairly extensive health promotion program             $36 - $75      

A very robust, effective wellness program       $76 - $112            

• The news isn’t encouraging. As reported by Corporation Week, family health care premiums increased 49 percent from 2000 to 2004.

Another increase of 12-15% is expected in 2005. General Motors expects to spend $5.6 billion on health care costs in 2005, or 40% more than it earned in profits in 2004.

• More and more research shows that poor diet andlack of exercise are major drivers of increases in health care costs for businesss.  The number of obese adults has doubled since the 1970s.

• The rise in obesity has a significant impact on healthcare costs. on average, 2002 healthcare costs for an obese individuals were $1,244 higher than for a individuals with a healthy weight.

• Obesity is causing rapid increases in type 2 diabetes and contributes directly to a 65% increase in diabetes treatment from 1987 to 2002. Almost $1 of every $5 spent on healthcare in the USA is for a person with diabetes.

Treating employee healthcare as an investment, rather than a cost, can yield long-term dividends

• At least 50 percent of your organization’s healthcare costs are driven by the lifestyle related behaviors of your workforce, such as smoking, poor diet, and lack of exercise.

• In the past 10 years, the annual return on investment for Wellness Programs has been as much as $6 saved for every $1 spent, doubling the return on investment of earlier wellness programs.

• The typical reduction in health-plan costs, sick time, disability costs, and workers’ compensation is more than 25 percent for well-designed Wellness Programs.

• Fit workforce are more productive workforce, with fewer sick days, fewer accidents, higher morale, and lower job turnover.

The concern for employee wellness is an increasing trend for American company. Why? the link between employee wellness and the bottom line is clear and consistent.

Corporations who integrate wellness in their overall goals find they experience reduced absences, better morale, reduced health risks, and reduced health care costs.

The purpose of this guide to is to encourage and help you launch your own Health Promotion Program. If you already have a wellness program, but aren’t receiving the results you expected, perhaps some ideas and best practices in this toolkit will help you and your personnel reap the benefits of a healthier workforce.

At least 50% of health care expenditures are lifestyle-related, and therefore, potentially preventable. Yet despite the $5,000 an typical company spends on health care per employee each year, most companys are spending less than 5% of that on health testings and prevention.

The most robust meta-evaluation of Wellness Program studies shows something very exciting! It shows that Wellness Programs are not only effective at assisting to reverse the rising spiral of healthcare costs, but these health promotion programs are also becoming more effective.  The average cost-benefit ratio has increased from 1 - 3 for earlier health promotion programs to 1 - 6 today.

Simply put, the typical reduction in health care costs, sick leave, disability costs, and workers’ compensation is more than 25% for well designed wellness programs.

Corporate health promotion provides a long-term approach for helping keep employees well.  The single most important thing you are able to do for your employees is to start a Health Promotion Program now.