With the increasing cost of employee health insurance, companies are looking for ways to decrease expenses while offering attractive benefit packages to retain a quality workforce. Corporate wellness programs encourage healthy choices for employees through education and awareness. With this opportunity for positive lifestyle changes, employees gain improved health while health care costs decrease for employees and employers.
Definition
According to the National Compensation Survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wellness programs include smoking cessation clinics, exercise programs, weight management programs, nutrition education, hypertension testing, periodic physical examinations, stress management or spine care courses. To qualify as a company that offers a wellness program, employers must include two or more of these resources as part of their employee benefit package.
Benefits to Companies
The largest cost benefit of a corporate wellness program is absenteeism and presenteeism prevention. According to the Wellness Council of America, employees typically miss work due to stress, personal needs, personal illness or family illness. When you are stressed or sick as a result of an unhealthy lifestyle, you miss work and that costs your company money. In addition, the Wellness Council cites presenteeism as a large corporate expense. Presenteeism is when you are present at work but have decreased productivity due to lack of sleep, poor health, lack of energy or the inability to concentrate.
Benefits to Employees
Resources offered to employees through corporate wellness programs exist primarily for prevention purposes. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicates that 70 percent of deaths in the United States are from chronic diseases such as heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes. Lose weight and your chance of becoming diabetic decreases. Stop smoking and the incidence of pulmonary diseases are less likely. These chronic diseases are exactly what corporate wellness programs intend to prevent. Awareness of your lifestyle choices is crucial in avoiding life-threatening diseases, and companies are now taking an interest in giving employees the tools necessary for prevention through corporate wellness programs.
Increasing Participation
Giving employees an opportunity to help design and create a wellness program can increase participation. When you take an active role, your dedication often inspires others to participate. The Apollo Group launched a corporate wellness program in 2009 and found success offering monetary incentives and allowing employees to track their progress through an internal web portal. Most important, it made participation fun by encouraging movement throughout the workday by creating a hopscotch pattern in hallways, With companies and employees working together to create a healthy environment, wellness programs are changing the corporate environment.
References
- University of Phoenix: Wellness Makes "Cents": Corporate Wellness Programs Move Into the 21st Century
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Access to Wellness and Employee Assistance Programs in the United States
- Wellness Council of America: The Top 5 Strategies to Increase the ROI of Worksite Wellness Programs
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: The Power of Prevention
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