Employer Wellness

25 percent Jump in Employer Interest in Employee Health and Wellness

Job Site wellness for their staff members, companies are discovering, is great for the health of their companies as well. Corporate Health Promotion Programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity and poor work quality.

A new Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 U.S. corporations indicated a significant paradigm shift in how corporations view health benefits for their staff members. Of those surveyed this year, 88% are committed to instituting long-term medical care assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their staff members, with the objective of boosting the health and productivity of their workforce. This represents a 25% rise in interest in Company Wellness Programs over 2007.

A strong offering of Worksite 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 disease in their staff members and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Corporations also demand a way to measure the effectiveness of their health care spending.

“Self-care is our motive,” says Vic Lebouthillier, president of progressive health and wellness provider Exan Wellness.”We really believe giving staff members 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 efficacious lifestyle modification. Corporations are also telling us they need a cost-effective way to deliver Workplace Wellness Programs. The type of program we have developed over years delivers the highest medical care return on investment.”

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

“Organizations are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of medical care benefits to advance 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.

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

Employers and employees did discover common ground when it came to future medical care. Both surveys indicate that 95% of employees understand that their taking care of their health today will effect future health care payments. A similar percentage also understand the valuable of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on health care costs.

Cost is important for most businesses as well. Over 80 percent of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts did not involve shifting responsibility for healthcare onto staff members. Although 64 percent of businesses have transfered costs to their staff members, only 17 percent plan  to do so in the next 3-5 years. Similarly with health reimbursement accounts, 20 percent now offer these, but only about 5 percent plan  to use them in 2008.

These survey results indicate corporations are getting more proactive in helping their staff members to shift behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously wonderful for the well-being of staff members, but also for the well-being of the corporations they work for. Almost half the corporations surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to enhanced productiveness and cut absentee rates. Over 60% plan  to institute programs that help staff members change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle. Almost of these corporations will also use data and measurements to ensure their medical care strategies meet their medical care objectives?