Posted by Winston Salem | Posted in Wellness Tips, winston salem wellness | Posted on 26-05-2009
25 percent Jump in Employer Interest in Employee Health and Wellness
Job Site wellness for their staff members, corporations are discovering, is wonderful for the health of their corporations as well. Corporate Health Promotion Programs help to cut the expenditures associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productiveness and poor work quality.
A new Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 U.S. businesses indicated a significant paradigm shift in how businesses view health benefits for their workers. Of those surveyed this year, 88% are committed to instituting long-term medical care assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their workers, with the goal of boosting the health and productivity of their workforce. This represents a 25% rise in interest in Workplace Wellness Programs over 2007.
A strong offering of Workplace 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. Corporations also demand a way to measure the effectiveness 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 advantages, 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 Corporate Wellness Programs. The type of program we have developed over years delivers the highest medical return on investment.”
Combining worksite wellness promotions, internet based assessments and health trackers, internet based health information, phone conferences and self-help groups, and access to a wide variety of health professionals, is behind the success of the Exan program. “Having internet based statistics about staff members’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – return on investment” says Vic Lebouthillier.
“Businesses are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of healthcare benefits to develop holistic programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their employee populations, drive employee behavior change and eliminate barriers to healthcare,” says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.
Nonetheless, in a separate survey of 30,000 employees, 74% said that, although they felt their business had an obligation to help them know how to use their health benefits program, only 12% felt the business had any right to tell them how to be healthy. Based on these results, corporations need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their employees as well as the business. It’s a win-win situation.
Employers and staff members did discover common ground when it came to future health care. Both surveys indicate that 95 percent of staff members be aware of that their taking care of their health today will impact future medical care payments. A similar percentage also be aware of the important of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on medical care expenditures.
Cost is significant for most businesses as well. Over 80 percent of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts did not involve shifting responsibility for health care onto workers. Although 64 percent of businesses have transfered costs to their workers, only 17 percent intend to do so in the next 3-5 years. Similarly with health reimbursement accounts, 20 percent now offer these, but only about 5 percent intend to use them in 2008.
These survey results indicate organizations are getting more proactive in helping their staff members to shift behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously wonderful for the wellbeing of staff members, but also for the wellbeing of the organizations they work for. Almost half the organizations surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to better work rate and reduce absentee rates. Over 60 percent aim to institute programs that help staff members change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle. Almost of these organizations will also use data and measurements to make sure their medical care strategies meet their medical care objectives?