Health Wellness ProgramHealth and Wellness Programs and Wellness Program Consulting

25 percent Jump in Employer Interest in Employee Health and Wellness

Worksite wellness for their staff members, corporations are discovering, is good for the health of their corporations as well. Workplace Wellness Programs help to cut the expenditures associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of work rate and poor work quality.

A current Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 United States businesses indicated a valuable paradigm shift in how businesses view health benefits for their workers. Of those surveyed this year, 88% are committed to instituting long-term medical care assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their workers, with the goal of boosting the health and work rate of their workforce. This represents a 25% growth in interest in Corporate Wellness Programs over 2007.

A strong offering of Employee Health Promotion Programs to meet the demand has resulted. Health assistance providers have broadened their programs with tools that address general lifestyle factors, physical, social and psychological health factors. Programs look to predict chronic conditions in their workers and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Organizations also demand a way to measure the success of their health care spending.

“Self-care is our motive,” says Vic Lebouthillier, president of progressive wellness and health provider Exan Wellness.”We really believe giving workers tools to help them manage their own health, and promoting the benefits, while giving people resources to reach out for help is the key to successful lifestyle modification. Corporations are also telling us they need a cost-effective way to deliver Workplace Health Promotion Programs. The sort of program we have developed over years delivers the highest health care return on investment.”

Combining workplace wellness promotions, web-based assessments and health trackers, web-based health information, telephone conferences and self-help groups, and access to a wide variety of health professionals, is behind the success of the Exan program. “Having web-based statistics about workers’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – ROI” says Vic Lebouthillier.

“Corporations are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of health care benefits to develop holistic programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their employee populations, drive employee behavior change and eliminate barriers to healthcare,” says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.

Still, in a separate survey of 30,000 employees, 74% said that, even though they felt their employer had an obligation to help them know how to use their health benefits program, only 12% felt the employer had any right to tell them how to be healthy. Based on these results, businesses need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their employees as well as the employer. It’s a win-win situation.

Employers and employees did learn common ground when it came to future healthcare. Both surveys indicate that 95% of employees be aware of that their taking care of their health today will impact future healthcare payments. A similar percentage also be aware of the valuable of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on healthcare expenditures.

Cost is valuable for most organizations as well. Over 80 percent of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those reductions did not involve shifting responsibility for medical care onto staff members. Although 64 percent of organizations have shifted expenditures to their staff members, only 17 percent intend  to do so in the next 3-5 years. Similarly with health reimbursement accounts, 20 percent now offer these, but only about 5 percent intend  to use them in 2008.

These survey results indicate companies are getting more proactive in helping their workers to shift behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously great for the well-being of workers, but also for the well-being of the companies they work for. Almost half the companies surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to enhanced work rate and cut absentee rates. Over 60 percent aim  to institute programs that help workers modify and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle. Almost of these companies will also use data and measurements to make sure their healthcare strategies meet their healthcare objectives?