Employee Wellness Newsletter : Company Wellness Programs

Company Physical Activity Programs Plans Improve Employee Health and Wellness

Instituting a Worksite Wellness Program improves the health of staff members, decreases employee absenteeism and saves the organization money, too. Learn more about starting an Worksite Wellness Program in the office.

Benefits of Employee Wellness Programs

• A corporation cost of $100-$150 per employee each year to participate in an Employee Health Promotion Program can save employers $300 to $450 for each employee every year, according to Ron Goetzel, Director, Cornell University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies. The savings have the potential to take a few years to actualize, says Goetzel, and are seen in decreased health expenditures.
• The Wellness Councils of America stated a $24 return for every $1 spent on a Corporate Wellness Program for small organizations.
• According to a 2005 survey by The Art of Health Promotion, organizations who instituted Employee Wellness Programs realized a 30% reduction in healthcare and absenteeism expenditures in less than four years.

A thriving Employee Health Promotion Program starts with Senior Leadership. Company owners should lead by example, taking part in their business’s fitness program and working closely with a wellness coach. Senior Leadership should make sure workers are well alert to their wellness efforts, displaying weight loss results or smoking cessation results on business intranet or bulletin boards for everyone to see.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs that Really Work

• Encourage staff members to kick start their own wellness programs by visiting their doctor. A complete physical ought to include information about blood glucose, blood lipids levels and general health.
• Target specific health-related issues in a corporate fitness program. Information about how to fight obesity, smoking, alcoholism and prescription abuse must be at the forefront of an Company Health Promotion Program, along with related conditions.
• Hire a wellness coach to instruct staff members on how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
• Reward staff members for taking part in company wellness plans. Let staff members accrue wellbeing and health points that they can redeem for prizes. Make the prizes healthy, too- a no cost massage, private training session with the company’s wellness coach or health meal gift certificate encourages even healthier lifestyle choices.
• Acknowledge employee health and wellbeing leaders in employer newsletters, in posted bulletins and on the employer intranet.

Employee Health Promotion Programs Yield Big Results

For organization owners who want to broaden employee participation in a Company Wellness Program, consider Johnson & Johnson’s approach. Faced with only 26% of workers participating in their employee wellbeing and health program, Johnson & Johnson offered workers a $500 discount on health care insurance expenditures if they completed a health risk profile. The number of workers participating in the Johnson & Johnson organization physical activity program jumped after they offered the incentive — to more than 93%.

Ron Goetzel encourages those looking to pitch a corporate exercise program to Senior Management to use basic facts about the advantages of Workplace Wellness Programs as part of their argument. Keep it simple, and share results from other company’s employee wellness plan success stories.