Employer Wellness

The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports defines wellness as “a multidimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of wellness.” Wellness looks beyond the current guide of treating disease and focuses on preventive conduct and healthier lifestyles. Workplace Health Promotion Programs, also commonly referred to as Workplace Health Promotion Programs, serve as a complement to existing insurance-based health benefit programs and can take many forms and address a myriad different potential health conditions. They are a powerful strategy to promote positive lifestyle changes that can result in significant cost savings for companies.

Examples of potential components of a Company Health Promotion Program include:

Health Risk Assessments / Employee Wellness Screenings – Health Risk Assessments (aka Health Risk Appraisals), evaluate the most prevalent lifestyle-related risks of an individual. HRAs frequently cover screenings for Blood Pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels and other health indicators. These analyses support important benchmarking measures that ideally will allow workers to prevent or reduce their risk of illnesses. Finding Wealth Through Wellness, As noted by Kathryn Krivy, director of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Wellness Institute in Chicago, “Medically based Health Risk Assessments are a necessity because in order to affect transformation in your business, you need to know what the concerns are, and you just do not know until you get the data.”

Physical Activity and Weight Management – One of the most popular Workplace Wellness Programs is for organizations to provide access to a exercise facility, frequently onsite. Other potential measures include offering healthier snack machines and cafeteria options, weight management support groups and fitness challenge programs. Some organizations, like hospital group Baptist Health South Florida, will even pay for employees to go to weight-loss classes such as Weight Watchers.

Awareness and Education Programs – A lot  companies have events addressing the benefits of nutrition, safety or physical fitness, among other issues. Other options are to host a wellbeing and health fair or administer a disease-awareness campaign.

Behavior Modification – This covers issues like smoking, wearing seat belts, and alcohol use. While many organizations will supply assistance for employees looking to change behavior, some organizations, like health care benefits administrator Weyco, Inc., mandate transformation, such as quitting smoking, as a condition of employment.

Alternative Treatments – Other Corporate Wellness Programs can include absorbing some or all of the costs for massages, stress-reduction activities like yoga or even herbal medicines.