Wellness programs benefit companies in a variety of demonstrable and intangible ways. By improving worker health, businesses can help improve productivity, raise morale, reduce health care costs and avoid lawsuits. A number of organizations have collected data on wellness programs, demonstrating measurable benefits in dollars and cents. Understanding how wellness initiatives can provide specific benefits will help you create an effective program for your business.
Define Benefits
To track your exact benefits from implementing a wellness program, start with a list of benefits you hope to achieve. These benefits may include, but not be limited to: decreased absenteeism, lower health insurance and workers' compensation premiums, increased productivity, and fewer insurance claims and lawsuits. Track numbers, such as disability days, tardiness, insurance claims and productivity, for similar periods before and after you implement a wellness program.
Lower Insurance Costs
Work with your health care and workers' compensation insurance providers to discuss ways you can decrease your premiums and claims. For example, American workers miss more than 100 million workdays because of lower back injuries, according to the Wellness Council of America. A wellness program that includes a weight-loss component and a fitness program aimed at improving core and lower-back strength can help reduce back injuries. This will not only reduce disability days but may reduce premiums and workers' comp claims.
Lower Health Care Costs
Sick and injured workers need more medicine, hospital stays and doctor visits than healthy workers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 1999, workers who smoke cost companies an average of $1,600 per year more in health-related expenses than workers who don't. These workers cost companies more than $1,700 in lost productivity. Newborns who drink breast milk are less likely to have a variety of health problems that those who don't. Providing a lactation room for employees can help keep their children healthier, allowing those workers to avoid extra pediatrician visits and phone calls from nannies and to focus more on their jobs and be more productive.
Fewer Worker Injuries
Wellness programs that improve worker strength can reduce accidents. A pre-work stretching program helped the Lincoln Plating company reduce workplace injuries by 50 percent annually. Pacific Bell saves approximately $2 million each year after starting a wellness program that included a fitness component. Not only does a reduction in worker injuries reduce costs, it results in increased productivity, which positively affects revenues and profits.
References
- Wellness Council of America: Building a Well Workplace
- CDC: Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Economic Costs
- Workplace Wellness Program: Are Company Wellness Programs Cost-Effective?
- Corporate Health Programs: Employee Wellness Programs: Focus on Smoking Cessation Programs
- Wellness Quotes: Top 10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs an Employee Wellness Program
- CDC: Smoking Costs Nation $150 Billion Each Year in Health Costs, Lost Productivity
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