Developing Trends in the Corporate Wellness World

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Greg Justice

Developing Trends in the Corporate Wellness World
By: Greg Justice

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"…it's easy to see why the government would feel that it is becoming the employers' responsibility to ensure that there are at least tools offered to the employee to facilitate better health. "

If you go online and Google "corporate wellness," you will be inundated with links and advertisements from hundreds, if not thousands of wellness program vendors, and even more articles. Most of those articles tout the success and necessity of such programs. And although some articles attempt to debunk the usefulness of the programs, you will find that those tend to be written by healthcare professionals whose business will be drastically reduced if their patients become healthy.

From Dubai to Dublin to Denver, implementation of corporate wellness programs is in vogue. Much of the growth in these programs has been in the last few years. Wellness programs began to take hold in the 1980's, but they have taken a long time to catch on.

Part of the challenge is the recognition by healthcare insurers of the benefits of wellness programs. (Will the employees really use them? Will their health improve?) Another challenge is the regulatory issues caused by HIPAA and other healthcare-related legislation that makes discounting premium for employees based on their health factors a possibly discriminatory act.

Yes, we know - not being able to discriminate based on health factors when pricing health insurance seems a bit counterintuitive, but it's the way the laws are written for now. Healthcare insurers eventually found the rationales they needed to get around those prohibitions, and interestingly they can now provide discounts for employees who participate in certain activities without actually checking for results in the employees' health profiles.

Does your cafeteria offer your employees healthy food options such as fruit?

The Health Risk Assessment

One of the most common attributes for wellness programs is the Health Risk Assessment (HRA). Some programs consist of nothing more than an HRA, but for most, it is a tool for an employee to self-identify risk factors that need tending to. Some of them are apparent without any help from the HRA. For example, if an employee smokes, there's a very good chance that he or she knows it's probably not a good thing.

However, many employees are unaware of how very high-risk their status is if they smoke and have a history of stroke or heart disease in their near family, and are also overweight. An HRA can help an employee see clearly what impact his lifestyle is having on his health.

With the growth of the internet, and the widespread acceptance by health insurers to engage in some form of wellness support, these HRAs can be taken in the privacy of the employee's home, and the results are strictly confidential. Some insurer or wellness program systems are sophisticated enough to provide recommendations for improving health based on the employee's input.

Across the board, employers who have invested in wellness programs have seen returns from 300% to 1000% on their invested dollars. These results occur not only in reduced healthcare and workers compensation costs, but also in reduced absenteeism and increased productivity.

This is all well and good, but what is a "wellness program?" We'll explore that thoroughly through this series of articles. There is a surprisingly broad range of activities and services to wellness programs, and the choices can be overwhelming. The good news is that an employer can structure a program to suit their needs. The bad news is that if the program is insufficiently robust to produce favorable results, their perception of wellness programs may be forever tainted.

The study also shows that these participating employees are more loyal to and engaged with their employer, and they miss significantly less work than their non-participating co-workers.

According to a recent MetLife survey, over 57 percent of large employers (500+ employees) and 16 percent of small employers offer some form of wellness program. These programs generally include smoking cessation and weight loss assistance, and 80 percent of these employers also provide financial incentives such as reduction in the employee's contribution to healthcare insurance, or membership at a gym.

Many small employers feel they cannot afford to engage in a wellness program. They may need to rely upon their healthcare insurer to provide most, if not all, benefits.

Employee Participation

A 2008 study by Maritz, an employee motivation consultant, indicates that 16 percent of employees participate at least once a week in a wellness program activity, given no incentive to do so. If an incentive is provided for obtaining certain goals, that number jumps up to 23 percent.

The study also shows that these participating employees are more loyal to and engaged with their employer, and they miss significantly less work than their non-participating co-workers.

The Wellness Culture

One of the variables not addressed in the Maritz study was the level of wellness culture at the various employers surveyed. It would be interesting to note the participation percentages where management was fully engaged in the wellness challenge and actively encouraged participation, versus those where the wellness program is merely offered to the employee for his or her usage if desired.

Dating back to the days of the musclemen on Venice Beach and the crazy runners of the 1970s, there has always been a small cross-section of the population that looked at their bodies and decided to be proactive in creating a stronger, healthier one. These people taking an active interest in their health have been in the minority. Today, we are seeing a polarization in the United States, where over 70% of the population is overweight (about half of those obese) and the remaining percentage seem to be at the gym. People who are just "naturally" in shape or healthy seem to be limited to those engaged in physical labor, and certainly no longer consists of a large portion of young people. Obesity in children has reached epidemic proportions. More…