Workplace wellness has both been a discernible trend and business imperative for beneficial reasons as corporations have pleasantly discovered. “A study released by the American Institute for Preventive Medicine found 62 percent of all companies — ranging from small to medium and large — offer some type of wellness program. While five years ago wellness programs typically were offered by insurance companies as part of benefit plans, now employers are anxious to develop and execute them internally to make sure they impact as many workers as possible.  Consider the costs of employee health insurance and it’s clear why more companies are urging their workers to get in shape. Health-care costs nationwide will hit $2.2 trillion, or 16 percent of the gross domestic product this year, with companies paying an average $9,312 per employee for health insurance, according to a Towers Perrin survey (Gannon, 2008).

Gannon relates that the four-year wellness program of the pharmaceutical and consumer health giant Johnson & Johnson, covering a population volume upwards of 18,000 workers, brought savings to the company of $8.5 million a year in reduced healthcare costs, while in the case of Citibank, a return of $4.56 for every dollar spent on a health management program was determined through the company’s internal study. Del Monte and Heinz are just two of the other big corporations that have hugely benefited from their efforts to internally institutionalize the campaign for health promotion. The Pittsburgh-based insurer Highmark, Inc. realized that an employer can save as much as $1.65 in health-care expenses for every dollar spent on a wellness program.

Not only top corporations or medium-sized companies can benefit from workplace wellness programs. It also does not follow that only these companies can afford to put up such programs. Wellness need not be costly to institute. Planning and execution still spell the difference. Less expensive health promotion measures may have the same desired effect, and that small businesses have an implied edge when establishing a doable wellness program because a smaller workplace population can have an easier and quicker time for behavioral and culture change (Harper, 2008).

The study ‘Worksite Wellness Program Keeps Employees Healthy’ (2008) draws some lessons learned from effective programs, in both health returns and costs. The innovativeness of strategies triumphed over some obstacles to the program. Small but fun incentives can fill up the absence of common private sector health-benefit or compensation incentives. The program can only succeed if it is championed at all levels, but most importantly, by the leadership of the organization. The program has to have a continued and consistent onsite awareness promotion through various innovative and dynamic strategies and techniques. Measurable individual successes should be drummed up for overall motivation and inspiration.

Wellness programs eventually help employees manage their stress levels and depression, two conditions that lead to employee absences. Wellness teaches an employee to revolutionize his or her health habits. A company-sponsored wellness program sends the message to all employees that the company is concerned with their total well-being. In turn, the employees discern the company’s concrete concern for them. This adds to company morale, altogether, as well as employee loyalty. All these ultimately translate to a company’s healthy bottom line.

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Via wellness corporate insights