A recent article in LJWorld.com talked about how wellness programs are increasing in popularity, since it’s a way for companies to cope with rising health care costs. Cutting costs by changing insurance companies or changing plan designs have already been tried, as businesses have been doing all they can. But, as the article points out, five years ago companies began to realize that 70 percent of costs having to do with health care are due to preventable conditions. Smoking, Type II Diabetes, obesity — these are all preventable conditions, and they are estimated to cause illnesses that cost the U.S. health care system about $100 billion every year.

According to the article, around 85 percent of United States businesses have wellness programs. Companies are working to make their wellness programs more effective by offering incentives, for example. Employers realize that good wellness programs can help save them money. Not to mention, wellness programs can improve productivity and help cut down on absenteeism.

Spotlighted in the article was the wellness programs put in place by the Kansas Health Policy Authority were designed to promote healthy lifestyles and personal responsibility and therefore control costs. Because of their initiative, the Kansas Health Policy Authority was awarded for their innovative strategies from the Institute for Health and Productivity.

One of the things included in the wellness program was incentives for smokers to quit smoking and for non-smokers to continue being non-smokers. Another part of the plan included an outreach for people who suffer from chronic health conditions.

This wellness program is available to nearly 76,000 people and was expanded this year to include things like health screenings and health coaching. They offered an incentive — a $50 gift card — to participate in a health screening and wound up with over 15,000 people taking them up on that offer. After people participated in the health screening, the hope was that they’d take that information to a health coach in order to get some support behind them.

Another wellness program mentioned in the article is going on at Lawrence Paper Co., a company with 280 employees. An on-site clinic is part of their wellness program, and it can provide things like lab work, shots, wellness checks and prescriptions two days per week. This has helped save employees time and money, and the company has seen their health care costs lowered already.

Start a Wellness Program at Your Business

Start a wellness program at your business — it’s a win-win situation for everyone. Employees get improved health and higher morale, and employers see lower health care costs and higher productivity. Contact Employee Wellness USA today to find out more and to get an evaluation of your company.

Worker wellness is in the spotlight more and more as businesses are starting to see the benefits of helping their workers adopt healthier lifestyles, says a recent article in the Press and Sun-Bulletin. Seeing just how much of an asset physically and mentally healthy employees are to a successful company, businesses are implementing worker wellness programs.

From providing an in-office gym with treadmills and weight equipment, to encouraging enrollment in weight-loss programs, companies are seeing improvements in worker wellness. For instance, the amount of times employees call in sick has gone down. Ultimately, the businesses implementing worker wellness programs are trying to improve their bottom line. Stressed-out, tired, sick employees can hurt their bottom line. But successful worker wellness programs can help keep workers healthy and happy.

The article mentions the metrics involved in running a successful worker wellness program. There are seven total benchmarks, according to the Wellness Councils of America. Those seven are:

• Cohesive wellness teams
• Senior-level support
• Data to drive a results-oriented wellness initiative
• An operating plan each year
• An environment that’s both supportive and health-promoting
• Appropriate interventions
• Program outcomes that are carefully evaluated

For worker wellness programs, the Wellness Councils of America recommend keeping in mind these seven benchmarks to help make the program successful. The goal, of course, is to have workers be the best they can be.

Many businesses are drawn to worker wellness programs because they provide a return on an investment. You can bet worker wellness programs are attractive to businesses, especially when they improve worker performance and cut down on workers calling in sick as well as disability and workers’ compensation claims. Additionally, having a worker wellness program is a way for an employer to show workers that they are genuinely concerned about their health.

The article concludes that an essential part of a successful worker wellness program is that there’s support from the management along with supportive — not aggressive — communication.

Worker Wellness Programs: Get Started

Interested in starting up a worker wellness program at your business? Get started by finding out more from Employee Wellness USA. We have years of experience developing worker wellness programs for major corporations, and we even offer free wellness proposals.