25% Jump in Company Interest in Employee Wellness
Employee health promotion for their workforce, companys are discovering, is good for the health of their businesses as well. Health promotion programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity and poor work quality.
A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 U.S. businesses indicated a significant paradigm shift in how businesses view health benefits for their workers.
Of those surveyed this year, 88% are committed to instituting long-term health care assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their employees, with the goal of increaseing the health and productivity of their workforce. This represents a 25% increase in interest in health promotion programs over 2007.
A strong offering of health promotion programs to meet the demand has resulted. Health assistance providers have broadened their health promotion programs with tools that address general lifestyle factors, physical, social and psychological health factors.
Programs look to predict chronic condition in their staff and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Organizations also demand a way to measure the effectiveness of their health care spending.
Self-care is our motive, says Vic Lebouthillier, president of progressive wellness provider Exan Wellness.”We really believe giving personnel tools to help them manage their own health, and promoting the benefits, while giving individuals resources to reach out for help is the key to successful lifestyle change.
Corporations are also telling us they need a cost-effective way to deliver wellness programs. The kind of wellness program we have created over years delivers the highest healthcare return on investment.”
Combining company wellness promotions, online assessments and health trackers, online health information, telephone conferences and self-help groups, and access to a wide variety of health specialists, is behind the success of the Exan wellness program. “Having online statistics about employees’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – Return On Investment” says Vic Lebouthillier.
Corporations are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of health care benefits to develop holistic health promotion programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their worker populations, drive worker behavior change and eliminate barriers to health care, says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.
However, in a separate survey of 30,000 workforce, 74 percent said that, although they felt their company had an obligation to help them understand how to use their health benefits program, only 12 percent felt the company had any right to tell them how to be healthy.
Based on these results, businesss need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their employees in addition to the company. It is a win-win situation.
Businesss and employees did find common ground when it came to future health care. Both surveys indicate that 95 percent of employees understand that their taking care of their health today will impact future health care payments.
A similar percentage also understand the important of early detection and avoidance when it comes to saving on health care costs.
Cost is important for most businesses as well. Over 80% of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts did not involve shifting responsibility for healthcare onto staff.
Even though 64 percent of corporations have shifted costs to their workforce, only 17 percent plan to do so in the next 3-5 years. In like fashion with health reimbursement accounts, 20 percent now offer these, but only about 5 percent plan to use them in 2008.
These survey causesdicate corporations are getting more proactive in assisting their employees to change behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously good for the wellness of employees, but also for the wellness of the corporations they work for.
Almost half the businesses surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to increased productivity and lower absentee rates. Over 60% plan to institute health promotion programs that help personnel change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle.
Nearly of these companies will also use data and measurements to ensure their health care strategies meet their health care objectives?
Wellness Proposals