Employee Wellness Program Benefits
Companies implement wellness programs to help employees improve and manage their health, with the hope that such efforts will save on health care costs down the road. Recent studies show an additional benefit from wellness initiatives, in positively linking them to employee engagement and retention.
The first study, from the Principal Financial Group, surveyed workers at small to midsize companies (10 to 1,000 employees) and asked their views on their employers’ wellness initiatives. Generally, employees’ responses indicate that workplace wellness programs have benefits for both employees and employers that go beyond health issues. Specifically:
- 45% of the surveyed workers said they would stay at their jobs longer because of company-sponsored wellness programs.
- 40% said wellness programs encourage them to work harder and perform better at their jobs.
- 26% said they miss fewer days of work on account of wellness program participation.
- 51% believed that wellness programs are at least somewhat successful in reducing health care costs.
The main reason these workers gave for participating in wellness programs was to achieve better overall physical health (47%). Additionally, 30% cited reduced personal health care costs, and 28% each said they took part in wellness programs to receive employer participation incentives or to reduce stress.
A report from the World Economic Forum and Right Management, a subsidiary of Manpower Inc., found a similar connection between wellness programs and employees’ positive attitudes toward their employers. The paper, The Wellness Imperative: Creating More Effective Organizations, was based on a survey by Right Management of employees in 15 countries, including the United States.
The survey found that, when employers promote health and well being actively, employees are eight times more likely to be engaged in their work. Furthermore, in organizations that emphasize wellness, employees view their organizations more positively. These organizations are 3.5 times more likely to be seen as encouraging creativity and innovation. Importantly, an employer is four times more likely to lose employee talent if workers have an unfavorable view of its wellness initiatives.
If your company is considering implementing wellness programs or revamping or adding to initiatives currently in place, a good starting point is to survey your employees as to what types of programs they would be interested in. As a general matter, the Principal Financial Group survey found that most employees are interested in programs geared toward improving overall physical fitness, with in-office fitness facilities being mentioned by 27%, fitness center discounts by 23% and weight management programs by 19%. Another approach to wellness initiative selection is to examine your company’s overall health care claims, and target areas where wellness programs might help (e.g., smoking cessation programs, screenings for hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol, weight management programs, etc.).
Whatever initiatives your company implements, the World Economic Forum report emphasizes that the true potential of a wellness program is best realized when wellness is embedded into a company’s core business strategy. This means full management buy-in and a linking of wellness initiatives to corporate goals and priorities. If implemented strategically, wellness has the potential to bring an organization benefits far beyond the improvement of employees’ physical and psychological well being, and can result in more engaged, loyal workers.