Wellness Library : Corporate Health Promotion Programs Now as Important as Cost and Workforce Issues
Posted in Corporate Wellness, Wellness Library | By admin | Tags: Corporate Wellness, health, medical, Wellness Library
25% Jump in Employer Interest in Employee Health and Wellness
Job Site wellness for their employees, corporations are discovering, is wonderful for the health of their corporations as well. Worksite Health Promotion Programs help to cut the expenditures associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of work rate and poor work quality.
A current Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 U.S. companies indicated a important paradigm shift in how companies view health benefits for their workers. Of those surveyed this year, 88 percent are committed to instituting long-term healthcare assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their workers, with the goal of boosting the health and work rate of their workforce. This represents a 25 percent rise in interest in Company Health Promotion Programs over 2007.
A strong offering of Corporate Wellness 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 conditions in their employees and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Businesses also demand a way to measure the success 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 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 successful lifestyle modification. 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 workplace wellness promotions, web-based assessments and health trackers, web-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 web-based statistics about workers’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – return on investment” says Vic Lebouthillier.
“Employers are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of medical care benefits to develop 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.
Still, in a separate survey of 30,000 workers, 74 percent said that, although they felt their company had an obligation to help them be aware of 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, employers need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their workers as well as the company. It’s a win-win situation.
Employers and employees did find common ground when it came to future medical care. Both surveys indicate that 95% of employees know that their taking care of their health today will impact future healthcare payments. A similar percentage also know the significant of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on healthcare costs.
Cost is significant for most organizations as well. Over 80 percent of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts did not involve shifting responsibility for medical care onto employees. Although 64 percent of organizations have shifted expenditures to their employees, 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 supporting their staff members to shift behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously good for the wellbeing of staff members, but also for the wellbeing of the corporations they work for. Almost half the corporations surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to improved productivity and decrease absentee rates. Over 60 percent intend to institute programs that help staff members modify and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle. Almost of these corporations will also use data and measurements to be sure their health care strategies meet their health care objectives?
Tags: Corporate Wellness, health, medical, Wellness Library