Corporate Wellness: Facts & Figures

Corporate Wellness: Facts & Figures

The Relationship Between Health Behaviors and Healthcare Costs: It has been well established that a significant portion of healthcare costs is the direct result of largely preventable risk factors (e.g., hypertension, obesity, cholesterol, blood glucose, etc.). If not addressed, these health risks can lead to chronic diseases and medical conditions, which can result in premature death, disability, and reduced quality-of-life. Additionally, these same medical conditions account for approximately 80% of the total costs of healthcare in America. Many of these non-inheritable risk factors are self-created and, therefore, reversible through the health behaviors of employees and their dependents. This provides a tremendous opportunity for employers. Lifestyle factors such as physical activity, smoking, nutrition, personal safety, stress management, and sleep habits have a direct impact on health risks, health costs, and health outcomes. Considering how much of their lives employees spend on the job, the worksite is the single greatest venue for improving the health behaviors and outcomes of working Americans.

Statistics The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of heart disease and stroke, 80% of type 2 diabetes, 90% of COPD, and 40% of cancer could be prevented, if people would do 3 basic things: i. Eat a healthy diet ii. Increase levels of physical activity iii. Stop smoking SOURCE: WHO 2010. http://www.who.int/nmh/publications/ncd_report_full_en.pdf Defining Corporate Wellness A proper understanding of workplace wellness is an important factor in the development and delivery of a successful wellness program for your employee population. Worksite wellness has been defined as follows: Workplace wellness is an organized, employer-sponsored program designed to support employees (and, sometimes, their families) as they adopt and sustain behaviors that reduce health risks, improve quality-of-life, enhance personal effectiveness, and benefit the organization s bottom line. (Harvard Business Review, 2013) There is a general consensus that wellness is not merely the absence of disease and illness but rather encompasses the total well-being of the individual. This philosophy considers an individual s emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health as well as physical health. Additional elements of wellness include healthy behaviors, as well as supportive environments in the home, at work, and in the community. ( Building a Strong Evidence Base for Employee Wellness Programs NIHCM Foundation, May, 2011)

What is the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs? This is an exciting time for employee wellness programs. Almost daily, new evidence is published and presented, indicating a growing number of employers are adopting wellness programs as a primary strategy to hold down their healthcare costs and increase productivity of their workforce. However, senior leaders are continuously asked to demonstrate the value and economic return of any investment or new program. Increasingly, the value and ROI of corporate wellness programs are scrutinized. Though it can be costly and cumbersome to measure such outcomes, there is a growing body of evidence that shows well-designed and positioned corporate wellness programs can result in an ROI that ranges from $1.40 - $4.90 for each dollar spent. The table below summarizes some of the most recently reported data on the value of corporate wellness. Goetzel Study of the ROI on Employee Wellness Programs Among 11 Large Employers Large Employers Studied: Results Found Canada and North American Life Chevron Corporation Dow Chemical City of Mesa, Arizona General Mills General Motors Highmark Johnson & Johnson Pacific Bell Procter and Gamble Tenneco Sample sizes ranged from 500-50,000 employees in these studies. ROI estimates in these eleven studies ranged from $1.40 - $4.90 in savings per dollar spent on these programs. Median ROI was $3 in benefits per dollar spent on program. SOURCE: Goetzel, Presentation (2010)

Workplace Wellness Roadmap Considerable thought and analysis have been given to the core elements associated with successful and sustainable corporate wellness programs. Not every wellness program implemented at the worksite has been well received or impactful. In fact, many quickly have been tossed aside once the enthusiasm or vision for the program was lost by leadership or the financial impact was not early or significant enough. Recently, the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM) published a how-to guide for establishing an effective employee wellness program. Their best practice, evidence-based recommendations follow: 1. Get senior-level support. Successful wellness programs start at the top. 2. Form a wellness team. Creating a culture of health takes passionate leadership from all levels of the organization. 3. Use data to drive wellness initiatives. Employers often struggle with what wellness initiatives offer. A survey, assessment checklist, and health-risk appraisal approach guides employers on where to focus efforts. 4. No program is successful without a plan. Develop an annual workplace wellness operating plan, starting with a vision statement. 5. Choose appropriate health initiatives. Collecting data will help you decide which wellness initiatives to promote. A variety of lower-cost resources and activities exist. 6. Create a corporate environment that supports wellness. Support a culture of health, from top to bottom and bottom to top. 7. Evaluate the outcome of workplace wellness initiatives. Determine what works and what doesn t to customize a better plan for the next year. www.shrm.org/templatestools/howtoguides/howtoestablishandesignawellnessprogram

CORPORATE WELLNESS & MEMBERSHIP SERVICES SERVICES ACTIVITIES PRICING Membership Medical Clearance, Nurse Evaluations & Monitoring, Regular Trainer Appointments, Group Fitness, Child Care Customized to meet your Company s wellness needs Marketing & Promotions Internal e-mail blasts, wellness landing page, promotional flyers, screen-savers, press release Included On-Site Services Group Exercise Demonstrations, Lunch & Learns, Health Fairs & Screenings Included with formal Corporate Partnership Wellness Challenges Team Activity, Weight Loss Challenges Included with formal Corporate Partnership Medically Based Wellness Programs Disease Specific Wellness Programs including: Cardiac, Diabetes, Bariatric, Cancer, Pulmonary, Parkinson s and more Additional Fee (Starting at $99/month/participant) Executives have learned health costs can be managed and they have discovered they are in the business of behavior change. They have calculated that a well-managed health plan (and population) can be a competitive advantage. John Torins Jr. The Grassroots Health Care Revolution. P.31, 2014 Jay Groves Executive Director of Population Health Management Email: jayg@fitnessandwellness.org 87 Route 17 North Maywood, NJ 07607 201.843.4422 www.hackensackumcfitnessnyg.com