Employee Wellness Newsletter : Investment in Worksite Wellness Programs Pays Big Dividends

High rates of employee turnover and the expenditures of sick days are increasingly taking bites into employer profits. The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these issues in total cost the average employer. Many organizations are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that provide a decrease in these expenditures.

It has become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness program / exercise program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need. Senior Management’s goals for a advantageous wellness program must be viewed through the perspective of increased employee productiveness, decreased absenteeism due to health related causes, improved employee morale, decreased utilisation of corporation subsidised health benefits, enhanced group cohesion and success and a decrease in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction. It is obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a positive impact on the financial status of any organisation.

The benefits from an workers point of view can be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, diminished body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle job related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social connections at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.

To be most productive a wellness program needs to achieve both upper management’s and employee’s objectives and goals, and this can be accomplished through a program that will offer the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and wellbeing, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the essential changes to their physical condition that can be applied in the context of their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Worksite Health Promotion Programs

Reduced Rates of Absenteeism – Dupont reduced absenteeism by 47.5% over six years for the participants of their organization fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Diminished Healthcare Expenditures – Steel case showed a decline in healthcare claim costs of 55% for corporate physical activity program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an average of $478.61 for participants vs. non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Health Promotion, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Lowered Turnover – Turnover among fitness program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Employer was 32.4% lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana reported that its organization fitness program had a 250% return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Health Promotion, March, April, 1991).