Employee Wellness : Company Health Promotion Programs Now as Important as Cost and Workforce Issues

25% Jump in Employer Interest in Employee Health and Wellness

Worksite wellness for their employees, businesses are discovering, is great for the health of their businesses as well. Worksite Health Promotion Programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of work rate and poor work quality.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 United States companies indicated a significant paradigm shift in how companies view health benefits for their staff members. Of those surveyed this year, 88 percent 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 percent increase in interest in Company Wellness Programs over 2007.

A strong offering of Corporate 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 workers and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Employers also demand a way to measure the effectiveness of their healthcare spending.

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

Combining worksite wellness promotions, internet based assessments and health trackers, internet based health information, telephone 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 workers’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – return on investment” says Vic Lebouthillier.

“Companies are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of healthcare benefits to advance holistic programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their employee populations, drive employee behavior modification and eliminate barriers to healthcare,” says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.

Nonetheless, 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, businesses 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 workers did find common ground when it came to future healthcare. Both surveys indicate that 95 percent of workers understand that their taking care of their health today will influence future health care payments. A similar percentage also understand the significant of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on health care expenditures.

Cost is valuable for most corporations as well. Over 80 percent of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those reductions did not involve shifting responsibility for healthcare onto employees. Although 64 percent of corporations have shifted expenditures to their employees, only 17 percent aim  to do so in the next 3-5 years. Similarly with health reimbursement accounts, 20 percent now offer these, but only about 5 percent aim  to use them in 2008.

These survey results indicate employers are getting more proactive in helping their staff members to modify behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously good for the wellness of staff members, but also for the wellness of the employers they work for. Almost half the employers surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to increased productivity and cut absentee rates. Over 60% intend  to institute programs that help staff members change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle. Almost of these employers will also use data and measurements to make sure their health care strategies meet their health care objectives?