Companies See Improvements From Employee Wellness Programs
Companies that have instituted employee wellness programs talk about the improvements they’ve noticed around their workplace in a recent article from InsuranceNewsNet.com. Of those improvements, they mention that they’ve noticed employee morale and camaraderie has gone up.
It’s no secret that employee wellness programs lead to a better workplace when they’re implemented correctly. Business are always looking for ways to improve productivity and the bottom line. Also, experts have pointed out that employee wellness programs keep health insurance premiums reasonable for corporations.
In the article, they talk about how suggesting to employees that they need to exercise can “nudge against privacy concerns,” so they instead have to figure out how to get people to want to be healthy. Easier said than done, sure, but it’s worth trying.
One company, for example, added an online wellness program to their insurance, which allowed participants to redeem points they accumulated for prizes like TVs and magazine subscriptions. This system paid off more than they probably ever imagined when one woman got a physical and a mammogram and found out she had breast cancer. Since it was caught so early, she is expected to recover.
Another thing employee wellness programs can help with is absenteeism. Though, as the article points out, presenteeism can be just as bad as absenteeism when employees show up for work when they’re sick. Some do it because of their work ethic, while others may do it because they just can’t afford to miss the day. But presenteeism affects the bottom line just as absenteeism does.
To help with this problem, one recycling company started offering a half-day medical clinic every other week, where employees could drop in to get minor problems like a sore throat checked out by a doctor. This was beneficial since employees didn’t have to take a half-day or full day off of work to go to the doctor. The company says this measure has helped to control their insurance costs as well as help with productivity.
Tags: corporate wellness, employee wellness, employee wellness programs, health, wellness programs, worker wellness
