Posts from — April 2009

Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are informational sessions planned and organized by you to meet specific goals and objectives. Decide on a topic and find a speaker. Choose a site for the “Lunch and Learn” session, usually a lunchroom or break room. Depending upon your budget and objectives, employees are able to brown bag the lunch or you could support the meal. Meetings are able to be mandatory or elective, your choice.
Experience tells us the most success will be experienced if these Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are elective and if the company supplies lunch.
Goals for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs

Education on a specific health problem. You may want to choose one of your group’s top diagnoses. Examples are:
• Diabetes – diabetes prevention and care by a certified diabetic educator
• Heart disease – cardiovascular health (individual counseling sessions with a dietician)
• Hypertension
• High cholesterol
• Flu and pneumonia
• Breast cancer – breast health or breast self-exam sessions have the potential to be taught by a trained instructor

Education on health care insurance benefits:
• Diabetes – what are the covered benefits, where to purchase diabetic supplies, support groups for employees with diabetes.
• Workplace Health Promotion Program Benefits
• Well baby/child care.

Education on the significance of enrolling in your health plan or local health department’s health education programs or disease management programs. Example programs:
• Diabetes
• Respiratory
• Low-Back Pain
• Cardiovascular
• Tobacco use

Community Resource Speakers for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs
• Local health plan office
• Local heart association
• Local cancer society
• Pharmacies – many pharmacists are available to speak on pharmacy-related problems.
• Prescription Organizations – many businesses have standard presentations developed for employers that are offered free of charge to use at your own direction. Some examples are:
   • Know Your Numbers (elevated cholesterol) – Pfizer
   • Respiratory Wellness (flu and pneumonia) – Pfizer
   • Men’s and Women’s Health – Pfizer
• Local gyms/personal trainers/YMCA – are able to discuss walking safety, benefits of walking, swimming and aerobics.
• Yoga and/or Pilates instructors
• Running, cycling club representatives
• Local hospital nutritionists
• Stamp Out Smoking – Tobacco Coalition representatives

Topics for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs

• Bicycling – benefits and opportunities for cycling
• Nutrition and health (Heart Healthy lunch for all attendees)
• Cardiovascular health
• Women’s health problems
• How to recognize the signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke
• National Employee Fitness Day within the office setting – Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness representatives can reward event
• Exercise tolerance and healthy heart concerns
• Beginning an exercise program – include the significance of seeing the doctor before beginning of any new exercise program
• Self-defense
• Domestic violence
• Safety in general
• Exercise safety
• Walking/running benefits and safety tips Tobacco dangers and avoidance

Conducting an Employee Fitness Challenge at your workplace is a fun and exciting way to raise awareness among workers about the effect of beginning and sustaining an exercise program. It is a concentrated effort in which to engage them in physical exercise for a specific time period that, hopefully, will help them start a healthy habit that will last a lifetime.
Nonetheless, it is important to practice wellness all year. This section supports a accross the board list of Company Wellness Program ideas that have been implemented within wellness programs.
All ideas presented in this section have been successful for one or both of the entities. Each exercise/idea is able to be used as a stand-alone event, even if you don’t conduct a fitness contest, or is able to be held in conjunction with your Employee Fitness Contest.
You may want to choose some of the ideas you think will work for your staff members or come up with others and start your program to establish a better state of health.

Research studies have repeatedly established that comprehensive Workplace Health Promotion Programs, or Workplace Health Promotion Programs, have the potential to lower healthcare and insurance costs, decrease absenteeism, and better performance and productivity. Other benefits established in research studies include improved ability to attract and retain key personnel, greater employee allegiance, and improved public perception of the corporation.

Medical Care and Insurance costs

A number of studies provide evidence of lower medical and insurance costs for participants in Workplace Health Promotion Programs, especially wellness programs involving physical activity.

For $30 per person, the Bank of America started a Workplace Health Promotion Program for retirees using a risk assessment questionnaire, self-care books and other mailed materials. Insurance claims were reduced an average of $164 per year in this group while they increased $15 for the control group. Since they were able to document significant 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 decrease in medical care|medical|medical care|healthcare} claims with an physical activity program alone, saving $500 per employee per year for the workers (60%) who joined their HealthWorks physical activity program. Prudential Insurance Business reports that the corporation’s major medical costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each colleague in its wellness program.

Decreased Rates of Absenteeism

Rates of Absenteeism has been demonstrated to be impacted by wellness programs. The evidence indicates a significant decrease in absenteeism and resultant dollars saved as a result of employee physical activity programs.

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

Focusing Worksite Wellness Program efforts on high-risk employees is able to lead to better results. A national manufacturing company reports a decrease of 12.2 percent in illness days for these employees.

A two-year study by The DuPont Corporation of the effect of its inclusive Corporate Wellness Program on absences among workers reports that blue-collar workers at intervention sites had a 14% decline in disability days vs. 5.8% decline for controls. There were a total of 11,726 fewer net disability days.

Enhanced Performance, Productivity and Morale

A number of employers with Corporate Health Promotion Programs report documented improvement in job attitude, work effectiveness, energy level, and/or overall morale among program participants–all essential factors in enhancing work rate.

A Johnson & Johnson study reported that employee attitude changes were greater at Employee Health Promotion Program intervention sites with significant positive attitude changes noted in the categories of organization commitment, supervision, on the job conditions, job competence/security, and pay/benefits.

In a Canadian government study, the Canada Life Assurance Business experimental group realized a 4 percent increase in productivity after starting a organization physical activity program, compared to the control group. Further, 47 percent of program participants reported that they felt more alert, had better rapport with their co-workers, and generally enjoyed their work more.

Swedish investigators saw that mental success was significantly better in physically fit staff members than in non-fit staff members. Fit staff members committed 27 percent fewer errors on tasks involving concentration and short-term memory, as compared with the success of deconditioned staff members.

The Bottom Line

The following sample of Corporate Health Promotion Programs wellness program results have been reported by individual employers:

Corporation: Dollars Saved/Dollars Spent

• Bank of America (Fries): $5.96/$1
• PacBell: $3.10/$1
• Wisconsin School District Insurance Group: $4.47/$1
• Prudential Insurance: $2.90/$1
• Bank of America (Leigh): $4.73/$1
• General Mills: $3.50/$1

Summary

There is growing evidence that a large portion of the billions of dollars currently spent by employers on health-related costs is preventable by means of Corporate Health Promotion Programs. Well-planned, all-inclusive Corporate Health Promotion Programs (Corporate Health Promotion Programs and Corporate Health Promotion Programs) have been determined to be cost-effective, particularly when the Corporate Health Promotion Programs is matched to the health issues of the specific employee.

Free Company Wellness Programs and Low Cost Health Management Alternatives

Organize a no cost Employee Wellness Program or run a successful health management program in the workplace for little or no expense to your company. The advantages of workplace wellness and learning how to start a health management program at work are numerous. The articles on health management have generated a variety of questions, mostly from wellness providers but also from employers trying to start their own wellness workplace programs. There are a number of things to do to start a successful health management program at work.

Recommendations for Starting a Free or Low Cost Company Health Promotion Program

Prior to starting a low cost or free wellness program for your business, learn more about what workers desire. Survey workers to learn more about their wellness problems. Keep the survey confidential to protect employees’ identities. Typically the most popular workplace wellness subject matters are smoking cessation, weight loss problems and heart and blood lipid health.

Look for Employee Health Promotion Program Freebies

Discover who will come in for no cost to talk to employees and explore partnerships with outside agents involved with workplace wellness. For example, contact a local branch of a well-known weight loss business and ask if someone can come in and talk to employees. Look for agencies that are willing to come in and talk about topics related to wellness at no cost to employees, in exchange for something from you.

Find Worksite Health Promotion Program Partnerships

Working with a weight loss employer to set up a speaking engagement for staff members is the perfect opportunity to explore a potential wellness partnership. The weight loss employer may say that if 10 staff members join the program, they will hold weekly meetings at employer headquarters for the people who joined. The weight loss group also might offer employer staff members a discount if several people join the program.

Nonprofits an Untapped Health Leadership Resource

There are also plenty of nonprofit agencies who would be thrilled to visit a employer to discuss health management. But it’s up to you to offer them something in return. By way of example, if the MS Society came in and talked about the signs of MS, the employer might offer to organize an MS walk (in keeping with employer health management objectives, right?), or an auction with employee and employer-donated items where the proceeds go to MS. The people at the nonprofit agencies would be glad to open a dialog with your employer and to talk about what they would want in return for a speaking engagement. In many cases, they won’t need anything at all for a first meeting.

Collecting Data and Analyzing Corporate Health Promotion Program Results

Collecting data and analyzing results of a Worksite Wellness Program has the potential to be tricky because of HIPPA laws. Nonetheless, if at least ten workers joined the weight loss program, or 20 people participate daily in the all-new “Let’s Walk a Mile at Lunch” program, that sort of progress has the potential to speak strongly to management. And, organization successes will potentially give management more incentive to support money for additional health management and Worksite Wellness Programs in the future.

Small business wellness programs are catching on. A well-designed wellness program can improve productivity, boost morale and vitality, decrease stress, cut absenteeism, and control preventable health care expenditures within a business. The beauty of it is that you’re simply supporting staff members to make smart choices so the expenditures of launching a wellness program are minimal compared to the benefits.

Employee health is a big concern for small organization owners. In a small organization, even a few sick employees are able to disrupt the flow of the workplace and bring the operation to a standstill.

Instead of sitting back and hoping for the best, some small organization owners are taking the matter of employee health into their own hands by launching Employee Wellness Programs. Here’s how they work.

Overview of Company Health Promotion Programs

Employee wellness programs are programs instituted by the employer to improve the overall health of their labor force and to help individual workers overcome specific health-related hurdles. These programs can be offered in a variety of formats: In mandatory employee training meetings, as voluntary seminars, or through an outside provider offering a wide-range of Employee Assistance Program(EAP)s.

In every case, however, the organization picks up the bill for the programs because an investment in employee health is a organization expenditure that directly impacts the organization’s bottom line.

Why offer Corporate Wellness Programs?

Apart from the obvious issue for the health of your workers, there are many other reasons why Employee Health Promotion Programs make sense for small companies. Right off the bat, your organization will benefit from the decreased level of absenteeism that goes hand in hand with a healthy workforce.

Corporate Wellness Programs will also decrease the number of injuries that occur in the workplace, not just from accidents, but also from repetitive motion and other recurring sources. Since even a minor blip in worker attendance has the potential to have a large influence on a small company, a more reliable workforce will finally translate into a smoother work cycle and a more robust bottom line.

Worksite Wellness Program Features

Company Health Promotion Programs are able to cover a broad range of health-related topics. Based on your workers’ needs, it’s completely up to you to figure out the kind of programming you want to offer. Nonetheless, most Company Health Promotion Programs offer some at least some programs in the following areas:

• Nutrition. Diet has the potential to significantly impact an employee’s ability to do their job effectively. Nutritional programs educate staff members about diet options and equip them to make healthy dietary choices.
• Physical Fitness. In addition to diet, physical activity is an valuable factor in a healthy lifestyle. Worksite Wellness Programs frequently offer workers with opportunities to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives.
• Smoking Cessation. Statistics prove that smokers tend to fall ill more generally than their non-smoking peers. Since sick workers disrupt the workplace, tobacco cessation programs are a no-brainer for both employers and workers.
• Physiological Testing. Many employers offer physiological as a regular part of their wellness programs. Cholesterol tests, Blood Pressure (BP) screenings, and other simple exams have the potential to offer early warning signs for more serious problems.
• Stress Management. Stress itself takes a toll on workers. Nonetheless, stress is also linked to other health issues such as depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. Corporate Health Promotion Programs that help workers deal with stress better not only the psychological health of your workers, but their physical health as well.

Organize a Business Company Health Promotion Program for Your Workers Today

The advantages to starting a workplace health & wellness program are abounding.

A few corporate health & wellness tips to get employees started on the path to a healthier lifestyle:

1. Look around, and determine if employees lead a healthy lifestyle before launching an Corporate Health Promotion Program. How many employees run outside during lunch for a tobacco break? Would a smoking cessation program help? How frequently do the junk food-laden vending machines have to be replenished? Is anyone exercising or taking advantage of local walking trails as part of their healthy living goals and objectives? The answers to these questions will give businesses a clearer idea of the Corporate Health Promotion Program that’s right for them.

2. Survey workers to determine their healthy lifestyle habits. Are they working out regularly? Eat three square meals a day? Have regular physicals? Really? Then what planet are they on? Because we would love to visit! A corporate wellness program benefits most employers because workers don’t have the time or energy to stay on top of wellbeing and health issues at work or when they leave the office to go home.

3. Give Employee Health Promotion Programs a large kick-off with a healthy living “fair.” Provide staff members free flu shots, Blood Pressure checks, cholesterol screenings, body/fat ratio assessments, tobacco cessation programs and free mammograms- and contact the local hospital, because there’s plenty more where this came from. Organizations keep their staff members hopping during the week. Give staff members a chance to increase their healthy lifestyle on the business dime. A corporate wellness and health program is an added benefit that staff members get for working for the business!

4. Incent to live- offer cash money for workers to lose weight, commit to a tobacco cessation program and generally enjoy a healthier lifestyle. Promote humankind’s innate competitive nature by offering prizes for wellbeing and health employee “winners.” And, encourage a healthier lifestyle by sponsoring workers who desire to enter a local 5K for charity race, run a marathon or play a sport.

Introduction to Workplace Wellness Programs

The previous ten years has brought primary changes in organization attitudes toward Company Wellness Programs. Interest in self-help and self-care programs has increased as growth in healthcare costs have encroached substantially into profits. Changes in the organization structures of healthcare facilities, in particular the growth of the for-profit healthcare sector, and the need to contain costs are changing the ways in which purchasers of healthcare plans are viewing their own efforts toward provision of worksite healthcare programs and facilities. Projections for the next decade indicate that worksite health programs will continue to become important factors in the provision of healthcare, including prevention activities, for both government and private industry. In businesses with existing Company Wellness Programs, administrative rationale for sponsoring these activities ranged from improving employee health (28%) to improving employee morale (9.7%). Programs include interventions associated with safety, health risk assessment, tobacco cessation, Blood Pressure control, diet programs and stress management. Benefits given range from improved health and productivity to reducing healthcare costs.

Demographics of the American Workforce
• 110 million Americans composed the civilian labor force in 1981; by the year 2000 the civilian labor force is expected to be nearly 140 million.
• 44 percent of the 1984 labor force was female; 10 percent was Black.
• The median age of the workforce is 32 years and is expected to increase to 32 years by 2030.
• 57.9% of all staff members work in businesses with between 2 and 500 staff members; 45% work in businesses with fewer than 100 staff members. An additional 7.5 million Americans are self-employed and 3 million are farmers.
• 18% of all wage and salaried employees in 1985 were union participants.
• 45 percent of all staff members are employed in offices.

Prevalence of Worksite Wellness Programs Activities

Based on a 1985 survey, almost 66 percent of worksites with 50 or more employees had Employee Health Promotion Programs activities in 1985.  The frequency of worksite-based activities by selected categories in 1985 was:

Activity

Smoking Control       35.6 percent
Health Risk Assessment    29.5%
Back Care             28.6%
Stress Management       26.6%
Exercise             22.1 percent
Off the Job Accidents    19.8%
Nutrition             16.8%
Blood Pressure Control    16.5 percent
Weight Control          14.7 percent

Job Site size is the strongest indicator of program prevalence.

Most staff members believe the advantages of their Employee Wellness Programs activities outweigh the costs, even though few formal evaluations exist.

The most generally given reason for starting programs and perceived profit from programs is improved employee health.

At most worksites with activities (85.4%), all staff members are eligible to participate. 30% of worksites with activities offer them to corporation dependents, and an equal percent offer them to retirees.

When worksites seek outside program assistance, they turn to voluntary, not-for-profit corporations (57.1%), private for-profit providers-consultants (50%), local hospitals (44%), and insurance corporations (43%).

Tobacco Cessation Programs

Smoking related health problems cost United States businesses $26 billion per year in lost productivity and $7 to $8 billion in smoking-related health care costs.

Workers who use tobacco are 50 percent more likely to be hospitalized than nonsmokers, have 2 times as many job-related accidents as nonsmokers and have absenteeism rates approximately 50 percent higher than nonsmokers.

People who used tobacco an average of one or more packs of cigarettes per day had 118% higher medical expenditures than nonsmokers.

76 percent of current smokers and 80 percent of former smokers and nonsmokers feel that corporations ought to restrict smoking to certain areas.

In 1985, 65% of smokers, 85% of non-smokers and 78% of former smokers, felt that tobacco users ought to refrain from smoking in the presence of non-smokers.

In 1986, 17 states had laws regulating smoking in offices or workplaces either in government-controlled offices or offices of private workers.

Examples of smoking cessation intervention program used by employers include:

• making available nonsmokers a discount of health and life insurance;
• paying full or partial fees for tobacco cessation programs;
• offering cessation programs on corporation or shared time;
• making available cash payments to quitters after 6 of 12 tobacco-free months;
• participating in national quit smoking days; and
• adopting a smoke-free organization policy and setting deadlines for implementing the policy.

Physical Fitness Programs

An active 55-year-old man can lead as vigorous a lifestyle as a sedentary 35-year-old.

Differences in work-related exercise has been established to provide a two- to three-fold difference in cardiovascular deaths between active workers and their more sedentary counterparts.

In addition to improving strength, balance, and flexibility, physical activity programs can cut the probability of back injuries among certain occupational groups.

93 million workdays in the United States are lost each year due to back concerns.

Research findings support the notion that workplace exercise programs improve fitness and help cut other health risks, although results related to improved productiveness are weak due to lack of methods for accurately measuring productiveness.

A very small percentage of worksites have on-Site physical fitness facilities.

The majority of workers sponsored fitness programs involve skills training such as aerobic dance, low impact aerobics, weight training, preand post-natal exercise classes, and walking/jogging groups.

Some companies subsidize employee participation in neighborhood “Ys,” health clubs or other neighborhood programs if no onsite facilities are available.

Job Site physical activity programs may cut costs to employers by reducing employee healthcare claims and expenditures.

Participants whose weekly physical activity was equivalent to climbing less than five flights of stairs or walking less than a half mile, invested 114% more on health claims than those who ascended at least 15 flights of stairs or walked 1 1/2 miles weekly.

Medical Care expenditures for obese people are roughly 11% higher than those for thin people.

Nutrition and Weight Control

One-third of the U.S. population is obese to the extent of decreasing their life expectancy.

Improvements in eating habits can reduce the risk of serious health issues such as high Blood Pressure (BP) and cholesterol levels and is instrumental in the control of non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

The workplace offers several advantages for diet education; support and influence of co-staff members and upper management, availability of a daily eating situation, and opportunities for follow-up and monitoring.

Worksite nutrition programs are able to be grouped in 6 broad categories:

• cafeteria programs;
• multi-component programs;
• weight control programs;
• blood lipid reduction programs;
• programs for pregnant and lactating women; and
• other diet education subject matters.

Men are less likely to take part in weight-loss programs than are female staff members.

Stress Management

Estimates suggest that 50 percent to 80 percent of physician visits are able to be attributed to psychosomatic or stress-related origins.

Business pays many of the costs related to employee stress, both directly in the form of health care costs and in reduced productivity.

Job factors which are associated with stress include:

• not allowing employees to take part in decisions about the work process;
• positions which require more or less skill than the employee has;
• changes in work demands;
• lack of clarity about expectations and standards; and
• conflict with co-staff members or supervisors.

Most workplace stress management programs are implemented as a result of requests from employees.

Stress management programs focus on three types of skills: relaxation skills, coping skills, and interpersonal skills.

Job Site stress management programs are often delivered in one of three formats:

• courses conducted by trained professionals;
• self-learning tools; and
• personal teaching to help  with self-assessment, planning for changes, learning new skills and responding to life crises.

The two major techniques used in worksite stress management programs are:

• teaching people to lower the harmful physical effects of stress; and
• teaching people to recognize and control sources of stress at work and in personal life.

Safety Belt Usage

Motor vehicle accidents are the largest single cause of lost work time and on-the-job fatalities of American business.

Motor vehicle accidents account for 27 percent of all work-related deaths and 45 million days of lost work each year.

Greater than 36 percent of the 11,300 accidental work deaths in 1983 involved motor vehicles.

Employees who routinely fail to use seat belts may spend up to 54% more days in the hospital.

Traffic accidents caused about 3 times as many days of restricted activity as any other kind of disability.

Motor vehicle crashes cost $15.2 billion in lost productivity, 88% of which is attributed to losses from workforce activities and future earnings.

In work settings where safety belt policies, requiring use of belts by anyone riding in a employer vehicle or using a private vehicle for employer business, have been enforced, 60% to 90% use has been reported.

Incentive programs, accompanied by education and use requirement restrictions have resulted in 40 percent to 70 percent initial usage rates.

Factors influencing the sources of workplace safety belt programs include:

• active responsibility on the part of upper management;
• clearly defined and well enforced policy of necessitated belt use on the job;
• beneficial incentives/rewards; and
• ongoing education and training programs.

Case Studies of Employee Health Promotion Programs

Based on an extensive assessment of its comprehensive employee Employee Wellness Program, LIVE FOR LIFE, Johnson & Johnson stated the break-even point for the program occurs in year 3 and by year 5 they have a net profit of $316 per employee. Their year 9 projected profit is $677 per employee.

employees at four Johnson & Johnson companies who were exposed to the Company Wellness Program expanding their daily energy expenditure in vigorous exercise by 104 percent compared to a growth of 33 percent among employees at companies that were offered only an annual health screen.

Members in the United Methodist Publishing House’s Company Health Promotion Program submitted more claims (1.14 per participating employee and .82 for the control in 1984, 1.44 and 1.3 respectively in 1985), but the average cost per claim was less for participants ($316 for participants and $567 for control, in 1984, $262 and $602 respectively in 1985, $270 and $566 respectively in the first four months of 1986).

The United Methodist Publishing House attributes some of the lower than projected use in healthcare expenditures for 1985 ($902,116 projected with actual expenditures $142,884) to the Company Health Promotion Program although the results are not conclusive.

In 1985, the Adolph Coors Company conducted a phone interview of a random sample of its 10,000 employees to determine changes in health practices since the introduction of an employee Worksite Wellness Program 4 years earlier. The sample of 495 employees was stratified to match the corporation profile in terms of age, sex and job description. The survey published that 65% of respondents started exercising in The last 4 years, 37% had improved their diets, 20% were regular users of the wellness center, 9% had stopped smoking as the result of the corporation’s tobacco cessation program and active participants of the wellness center miss an average of 1.96 workdays each year because of illness or injury compared to 3.08 days for non-participating employees.

The Coors Organization also achieved a cost savings from a cardiac rehabilitation program that was implemented in 1981. In 1980 employees were out of work 7.2 months after a heart attack or bypass operation. In 1984, cardiac patients were out an average 1.9 months saving $152,000 in lost work time and in 1985 cardiac patients missed an average of 2.6 months, saving $125,000 that year.

Organization Fitness Programs Plans Improve Employee Health and Wellness

Instituting a Corporate Wellness Program improves the health of staff members, lowers employee absenteeism and saves the corporation money, too. Learn more about starting an Corporate Wellness Program in the office.

Benefits of Worksite Wellness Programs

• A organization investment of $100-$150 per employee each year to participate in an Worksite Wellness Program can save businesses $300 to $450 for each employee every year, according to Ron Goetzel, Director, Cornell University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies. The savings have the potential to take a few years to actualize, says Goetzel, and are seen in reduced health expenditures.
• The Wellness Councils of America reported a $24 return for every $1 spent on a Corporate Wellness Program for small organizations.
• According to a 2005 survey by The Art of Health Promotion, corporations who instituted Company Health Promotion Programs realized a 30 percent decrease in healthcare and absenteeism costs in less than four years.

A efficacious Worksite Wellness Program starts with Upper Management. Employer owners ought to lead by example, taking part in their corporation’s physical activity program and working closely with a wellness coach. Upper Management ought to make sure employees are well alert to their wellness efforts, displaying weight loss results or tobacco cessation results on corporation intranet or bulletin boards for everyone to see.

Workplace Health Promotion Programs that Really Work

• Encourage employees to kick start their own wellness programs by visiting their doctor. A complete physical ought to include information about blood sugar, cholesterol levels and general health.
• Target specific health-related issues in a corporate fitness program. Information about how to fight obesity, smoking, alcoholism and prescription drug abuse must be at the forefront of an Company Wellness Program, along with related conditions.
• Hire a wellness coach to instruct staff members on how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
• Reward employees for being active in company wellness plans. Let employees accrue health & wellness points that they have the potential to redeem for prizes. Make the prizes healthy, too- a no cost massage, private training session with the company’s wellness coach or health food gift certificate encourages even healthier lifestyle choices.
• Acknowledge employee health & wellness leaders in employer newsletters, in posted bulletins and on the employer intranet.

Corporate Wellness Programs Give Big Results

For organization owners who want to increase employee participation in a Corporate Wellness Program, consider Johnson & Johnson’s approach. Faced with only 26% of staff members participating in their employee health & wellness program, Johnson & Johnson offered staff members a $500 discount on medical insurance expenditures if they completed a health risk profile. The number of staff members participating in the Johnson & Johnson organization exercise program jumped after they provided the incentive — to more than 93%.

Ron Goetzel encourages those looking to pitch a corporate physical activity program to Upper Management to use basic facts about the advantages of Corporate Wellness Programs as part of their argument. Keep it simple, and share results from other company’s employee wellness plan success stories.

5 reasons to have a wellness program

1.   The United States spends more dollars on health care than any other nation yet we are not the world’s healthiest
   • Largely sedentary
   • Tobacco use is still popular
   • Stress is at epidemic levels (WHO)
   • Alcohol continues to take its toll on Americans

2.   Much of the illness in The U.S. is avoidable
   • Tobacco and alcohol are leading causes of death
   • As much as 70 percent of the expense of medical care is driven by avoidable illness

3.   Health Care expenditures continue to rise
   • Healthcare premiums continue to rise and to be passed on to the employee
   • Health Care expenditures are usually the number one benefit cost to most employers

4.   The workplace is an ideal setting to address health and well being
   • Most American citizens work
   • Poor health habits take a toll on U.S. Organizations
   • Employers have a vested interest in health related concerns.

5.   Research validates that Workplace Health Promotion Programs can better health, save money, and even produce a return on investment.
   • Aldana,S.G. (1998). Financial impact of Worksite Health Promotion Programs and methodological quality of the evidence. The Art of Health Promotion. Vol 2, Number 1.
   • Wilson, M.G. (1996). A all-inclusive review of the effects of Worksite Health Promotion Programs on health related outcomes: An update. The American Journal of health promotion. Vol 10, Number 6.
   • Wilson, M.G. (1996). A inclusive review of the effects of Corporate Wellness Programs on health related outcomes: An update. The American Journal of health promotion. Vol 11, Number 2.
   • Chapman, L.S. Proof Positive: An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of workplace wellness. 3rd ed. Seattle: Summex Corporation, 1996.
   • Pelletier, K.R. A review of the health and cost-effective outcomes studies of comprehensive health promotion and disease prevention programs at the worksite: 1993-1995 Update. The American Journal of Health and Promotion. Vol. 10, Number 5.

   
Key Components of a Worksite Wellness Program

Physical Wellness – Focuses on the development, maintenance, or improvement of one’s physical fitness

Sample Physical Corporate Health Promotion Programs / Workshops
• Annual health assessment
• Regular physical activity
• Smart safety habits

Emotional Wellness – Focuses on all aspects of mental fitness

Sample Emotional Workplace Wellness Programs / Workshops
• Stress management classes
• Dealing with aging
• Addictive behaviors
• Parenting

Financial Wellness – Focuses on improving the quality of life of workers by facilitating families and individuals in becoming financially stable

Sample Financial Employee Wellness Programs / Workshops
• Financial management
• Savings and Investing
• Credit and Purchasing
• Insurance and Estate Planning

Spiritual Wellness – Focuses on promoting a healthy inner self

Sample Spiritual Workplace Health Promotion Programs / Workshops
• Promote daily devotional readings
• Provide regular service opportunities
• Provide a daily/weekly/monthly chapel (meditation) time during work hours

Nutritional Wellness – Will see to the needs of the staff members through group and individual nutritional services

Sample Nutritional Employee Health Promotion Programs / Workshops
• Individual nutritional Assessment
• Individual and group counseling
• Educational classes
• Weight loss programs

Many employers, as part of their efforts to contain rising health care costs, are launching worksite programs variously described as Company Wellness Programs, lifestyle programs, health and productiveness management, population health management and, simply, wellness programs.

The purpose of this article is to consider whether such programs better health. If so, do they in turn lower utilization of medical services and lower medical expenditures?

The popular media have done much to promote the concept of employer wellness. Last year, In Business: Madison magazine printed a story accompanied by a table reporting an impressive range of returns on investment (ROI):

Return on Investment (Per dollar ROI for lifestyle programs)
• Coors $6.15
• Kennecott $5.78
• Equitable Life $5.52
• Citibank $4.56
• General Mills $3.90
• Travelers $3.40
• Motorola $3.15
• PepsiCo $3.00
• Unum Life $1.81
Source: 2004 T.E. Brennan Company, as announced

Would these ROIs stand up to rigorous empirical analysis of the data? What factors lead to such disparate returns among these programs? And does the published literature, subject to peer review of scientific methods, support the ROIs announced here?

Health and Productivity Leadership

Illness and injury associated with an unhealthy lifestyle or modifiable risk factors is published to account for at least 25% of employee health care expenditures. The most significant of these risk factors are stress, tobacco use, overweight or obesity, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol use, and poor nutritional habits. Over the past two decades, a variety of groups at the local, state, and national levels have promoted the concept that health risk reduction and care management programs are able to better employee health, and that workplace health education, health risk management, and benefit counseling should complement standard healthcare insurance benefits.

The intensity of Corporate Wellness Programs range from bulletin board, pamphlet or newsletter information to worksite fitness facilities, health risk reduction classes, and personal lifestyle change coaching.3 Corporate Wellness Programs today often include a health risk assessment (HRA) to evaluate each employee’s modifiable risk factors of disease. Program coordinators then target interventions to those that are at increased risk through personal discussions and individual follow-up.

Complete Employee Health Promotion Programs may include classes on health risk reduction and job safety, fitness and exercise activities, health club memberships, and reductions in co-payments or premiums for employees who adhere to recommended medical screening ground rules.

Along with this, some employers are restructuring health benefits and encouraging employees’ cost-sensitivity when accessing medical.5 These changes are intended to lower employees’ need for and utilization of medical, provideing reduced group medical costs. Demonstrated reductions in medical expenditures ought to then offer employers with a powerful bargaining chip in negotiating decreased health insurance premiums during future terms.

Evidence basis: A range of ROI estimates

The empirical research has produced results as varied as the popular media on return on investment. Nonetheless, evidence continues to grow that well-designed and well-resourced Company Wellness Program and disease prevention programs support multi-faceted payback on cost. Peer-reviewed evaluations and meta analyses show that return on investment is achieved through improved worker health, reduced benefit expense, and enhanced productiveness.

• Goetzel and colleagues, in their meta-analysis of two dozen articles summarizing economic evaluations of health and productiveness management programs, found an average return of $3.14 per $1 invested in traditional Corporate Health Promotion Programs. The return on investment estimates for the individual programs ranged from $1.49 to $13.7,8
• Aldana reviewed 72 articles and concluded that Workplace Health Promotion Programs achieve an average ROI of $3.48 when thinking of medical expenditures alone, $5.82 per $1 when examining absenteeism, and $4.30 when both outcomes are considered.
• Ozminkowski and collagues conducted a 38 month case study of 23,000 participants in Citibank, N.A.’s health management program and published that within a 2 year period, Citibank realized a ROI between $4.56 and $4.73.10  Follow-up studies reported improvements in the risk profiles of participants, with the high-risk group improving more than the “usual care” group11 as a result of more intensive programming.
• Chapman’s 2004 meta-assessment of 42 studies, ranking overriding validity of the studies, reports cost-benefit ratios from $2.05-$4.64.

In addition to immediately quantifiable expense reductions, researchers have published a variety of spin-off benefits: greater productiveness, intellectual capacity, and reductions in disability12 and absenteeism.9,13,14,15 Such programs may also have positive effects on employee perceptions of the company14 and worker morale, even among nonparticipants. 13 These outcomes go beyond savings in direct healthcare costs to offer non-health related return on investment.

Tailoring program to maximize return on investment Workplace Health Promotion Programs aim to reduce the health risks of employees at elevated risk while maintaining the health status of those at low risk. A variety of disease management interventions are available to fit the specific risk profiles of various worksites. Insurers and organizations now seek to calibrate their interventions in order to achieve ideal risk reduction and costeffectiveness.

In 2001, University of Michigan researchers reported on stable trends in medical costs for over 2 million current and former workers in an 18 year data set. The mean cost increase per risk factor gained ($350) was found to be more than double the mean cost decrease per eliminated risk factor ($150). In other words, increases in costs when groups of workers moved from low risk to high risk were much greater than the decreases in costs when groups moved from high risk to low risk. Their conclusion: Programs designed to keep healthy people healthy will likely support the greatest return on investment.

On the other hand, Pelletier’s meta-analysis16 and other program evaluations18 suggest that individualized risks reduction for high-risk staff members within the context of accross the board programming is the essential element in achieving positive clinical and cost outcomes in workplace interventions.

Dose-Response?

Several factors might affect the impact of various programs and the ultimate ROI, including cultural and environmental factors, workforce demographics, level of participation and longevity of the program.

Most cost-benefit studies have been conducted in big organizations with more than fifty employees. But researchers have determined that similar results have the potential to be obtained by small organizations with as few as five employees actively involved in a well-managed program.

Various research studies also suggest that even relatively modest levels of participation are able to achieve substantial program effect. Contrary to reports by the popular media that such programs require more than 70% participation, published reports of at least one case showed positive ROI with 51% participation.

Length of intervention appears to be a more salient variable: an impact on medical costs generally requires three-to five years of programming.

Future developments

Despite the abundance of beneficial program evaluations, several caveats remain. Negative results are less likely to be reported or published, thus biasing the ROI upward.

Uncertainty persists regarding the specific effect of the various program components. But as these programs take hold, further research and evaluation will enable fine-tuning of program investments.

Meanwhile, the preponderance of data and the strength of the published research stand in favor of a positive ROI for Company Wellness Programs. Indeed, the company case for such programs is now well enough defined that some insurance brokers offer discounted rates to businesses that institute or subscribe to wellness programs.

Future questions will focus on how best to combine inclusive and focused interventions, the intensity of elements, and how to calibrate the dose-response model to achieve a target return on investment. Here, employers, staff members, and researchers will need to collaborate to define mutual goals/objectives in terms of both clinical and expense outcomes.