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Corporate Wellness Programs – Employee Engagement Strategies

Corporate Wellness Programs without employee engagement are useless to a company. How do you get workers to enroll in Corporate Wellness Programs – and stay engaged in the programs?

The brochures for these programs discuss the benefits to workers and organizations. Corporate Wellness Program statistics show that there are tangible benefits to a company for offering such programs. Corporate Wellness Programs actually do save lives by getting workers to take their health seriously, increase productivity, decrease absenteeism and more.

However, St. Louis, Missouri-based Maritz Inc., the world’s largest incentive company, has applied their own invigorating twist to health management by providing gift rewards to workers who participate in Corporate Wellness Programs. The wellness incentive program is Maritz’s own Exclusively Yours® plan. Health management participants earn points, which can be then redeemed for merchandise, electronics, restaurant vouchers and travel, much like a frequent-flier program.

Enrollment incentives in Corporate Wellness Programs?

Undoubtably businesses that don’t work in the incentives industry will be tempted to cry foul about using such a rich carrot to incentivize health program enrollments. Not every company can throw that kind of money at health management resources – and not every company has the built-in cost savings as a business that specializes in providing incentive programs.

For certain rich incentives like Maritz’s will break through the glaze that appears over many workers’ eyes when they’re encouraged to do something new, different or difficult. For many workers uncomfortable with health management and physical activity, “new, different and difficult” would apply to Corporate Wellness Programs. So where does that leave organizations who are unwilling or unable to offer incentives for health management program enrollment?

Successful Corporate Wellness Programs motivate workers – before and after signup

Corporate Wellness Program administrators should keep the long-term view in mind when trying to get workers to take that imperative first step. Even the best incentives can fail in the face of faltering organization, badly-designed Corporate Wellness Programs and wavering support. Make sure to run good Wellness surveys before you build your Corporate Wellness Programs so employee input and needs are being met by your Corporate Wellness Programs. The goal is positive outcomes, not high enrollment numbers.

Corporate Wellness Programs cannot survive managerial apathy. If executive and managerial participation is widespread and heartfelt, workers will follow their leadership. The potential rewards and Wellness benefits are clearly worth reaping, for both your corporation and your co-workers.

Wellness might be the fatal flaw in your Corporate Wellness Program. Is Wellness part of your strategy? Does workplace wellness stop when your workers leave the office?

Wellness Continuity

If workers don’t have the tools to pursue health and wellness on a Individual level, then it becomes easy for them to “fall off the wagon” and slide back into a unealthy lifestyles. If you have a walking program, for example, it should encourage workers to build walking routes near their homes, perhaps with the cooperation of the neighborhood association or coworkers who live in the neighborhood.

Corporate Wellness Programs: Always on Your Mind

Your Corporate Wellness Program coordinator should have “vacation wellbeing” as part of their job description. In other words, you don’t want a Corporate Wellness Program to stop at the boundaries of the workplace campus. Instead, integrate Individual health and wellness with your Corporate Wellness Programs.

This can benefit your Corporate Wellness Programs in a couple of ways:

it lowers the chance that the employee will come back to the office feeling unfit, overwhelmed and unable to resume their Corporate Wellness Programs; and
it shows that their corporation is just as invested in their Individual health and wellness as they are

Like a marathon, Individual health and wellness is a long-term commitment and it’s difficult for anyone to do in isolation. Simply put, it’s easier to maintain your health when you know others are depending on you and watching your Individual performance. It’s easier to maintain to an exercise program when you have a jogging partner who wakes you up when you oversleep, or spots you when you’re lifting weights.

Similarly, it’s easier to maintain to your Corporate Wellness Program when you know your corporation is supporting you and wishing you the best.

Don’t Dictate Individual Health

Just as Wellness surveys serve a vital function in building a Corporate Wellness Program, it’s imperative that you involve workers in designing an off-site wellness strategy. No one enjoys being told what to do, but everyone enjoys having assistance in tacking tough problems. Make it clear that workers are in charge of their own health and wellness. Your role as their health management partner is to support, advise, counsel, offer resources and information.

Of course, don’t forget that part of Individual health and wellness responsibility is to offer good health risk assessment baselines so workers can proceed safely on the road to better physical fitness.

Corporate Wellness Programs: An Attainable Goal

Was Wellness on your corporation’s new year’s resolutions list? Here we are a little over midway into the third month of 2008, the time when resolutions start to falter if they haven’t lost momentum completely. Has your Worksite’s wellness resolution fallen by the wayside? If so, there are still ways to get back on track.

One Wellness tip comes to us from the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, reported from the Jersey Shore. Rod Shirk, the YMCA’s chief financial officer, participated in the organization’s first executive Corporate Wellness Program, which registered his cholesterol as higher than normal. That prompted him to get a physical, which showed high levels of a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) that often indicates prostate cancer. The outcome? His doctors caught a life-threatening illness just in time.

Thanks Corporate Wellness Program.

So of course, Shirk is a huge proponent of Corporate Wellness Programs. He says, “For us here at the YMCA, if we are telling people to be healthy, we had better set a good example for our workers.”

Wellness Decreases Health Care Costs

Though cases like Shirk’s dramatic cancer save are the most desirable effect of Corporate Wellness Programs, it isn’t the initial draw for organizations. They do it to reduce health care costs, and there’s no doubt that Corporate Wellness Programs do just that. Corporate Wellness Program Statistics show that Corporate Wellness Programs return anywhere from $2.30 to $10.10 per dollar spent on wellness. “Health care costs should go down as people think about changing their diets and getting more active,” Shirk says.

The Corporate Wellness Program savings aren’t just in the Medical Insurance department. Human resource departments report that Corporate Wellness Programs also reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

Still, businesses have been loath to invest that elusive Wellness dollar despite the well-documented returns. A Principal Financial Group and Harris Interactive survey found that only 10% of small- to medium-size organizations have made onsite Health Screening and Biometric Testings – like the one that saved Shirk’s life – available to their workers.

Is It Necessary to Incent Companies to Initiate Corporate Wellness Programs?

Wellness incentives may seem like an effective way to get workers excited about Corporate Wellness Program – but is it smart?

This helps and encourages organizations to understand the importance of maintaining a healthy employees, not only for the welfare of its workers, but as well as the welfare of the corporate bottom line … then, yes, it could be necessary.

Tax Breaks as Wellness incentives

In 2007, two senators decided to band together to create the “Healthy Workforce Act.” This act is designed to encourage organizations to keep workers healthy and prevent disease. The senators believed that having a country focused on “well care” versus “sick care” would decrease the overall costs of health care for everyone. They decided to start with America’s employees.

The legislation, introduced by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, states that businesses would receive a Wellness incentive – a fifty percent tax credit – if they offer to their workers a Corporate Wellness Program that meets the following criteria:

1) A health education and awareness component, which could include Health Risk Appraisals and Health Screening and Biometric Testings.
2) A behavioral change component – such as counseling, seminars, or self-help materials to empower workers to lead healthier lifestyles.
3) A supportive environment component – including providing meaningful incentives to taking part in workers, such as a reduction in health premiums or allowing workers to engage in walking Corporate Wellness Programs during the workday.
4) The creation of an employee engagement committee – which would tailor the Corporate Wellness Program to the needs of the employees at a particular company.

If this law gets passed, many organizations will be scrambling to offer Corporate Wellness Programs in hopes of receiving the Wellness incentives.

Corporate Obesity: The Facts

Corporate obesity has become one of the fastest growing health care problems in America. It is well known that America is considered one of the, if not “the”, heaviest countries in the world. This is largely in part due to fast food, un-healthy snacks and a very sedentary lifestyle. However, what many people are not aware of is that the rate of obesity in our country has doubled in the last 30 years and this weighs heavily on a corporation’s bottom line.

According to a new report from The Conference Board, Weights and Measures: What corporations Should Know about Obesity, obese workers cost private organizations an estimated $45 billion annually. Here are some of the report’s findings:

Obesity is associated with a 36% increase in spending on health care, more than smoking or problem drinking.
34% of adult U.S citizens fit the definition of “obese”
Obesity related health problems are costing U.S. businesses millions of dollars annually in medical expenditures and work loss.

Corporate Obesity: How organizations Can Help

With the increase in obesity and corporation costs associated with it, it is more and more imperative to establish a way to assist workers with their healthy living choices. Corporate Wellness Programs can help organizations help their workers. By providing assistance with Health Screening and Biometric Testing, Health Risk Appraisals and by conducting Corporate Wellness Program surveys; Corporate Wellness Programs allow the corporation non-invasive ways to communicate their concerns about their employee’s health.

We suggest establishing a Walking Corporate Wellness Program to assist your workers in meeting their weight-loss goals. Walking Wellness is a program designed to get your workers away from their desk and get them outside for a little physical activity. Keep it fun by having contests, setting up weight-loss teams and having organized healthy picnics.

What is a Corporate Wellness Program Proposal?

You probably have seen the term many times and wondered what exactly does it mean. A Corporate Wellness Program Proposal is a proposal put together by a wellness consultant that makes suggestions for what type of Corporate Wellness Programs you should choose, what tools you will need to accomplish your corporation’s wellness goals, and costs associated with it.

Corporate Wellness Program Proposals Assist Human Resource Departments

A Corporate Wellness Program Proposal is a great thing to have in hand when HR Departments go to upper management to request funding for a Corporate Wellness Program. It will offer necessary stats and trends, background information, and costs that will enable the HR Department to fully present their case. Upper management will appreciate the preparedness and the research that has gone into your wellness request.

Corporate Wellness Program Proposals Lead to Better Corporate Wellness Programs

A well thought out Corporate Wellness Program Proposal can lead to a better Corporate Wellness Program, because the building blocks will already be in place. Corporate Wellness Program Proposals will guarantee that your corporation gets the proper Corporate Wellness Program established. Corporate Wellness Programs can vary greatly, but when your workers ask, you can tell them that they generally include the following:

Walking programs which offers workers with incentives to take their walking breaks at their workplace.
Company teams, workplace yoga classes and massage therapists at the workplace.
Nutrition advice, weight-loss and healthy cooking classes, stress management sessions, and either a Corporate Wellness Program resources column in the employee newsletter or a wellness newsletter.
Stairwell initiatives to show how stair-walking can enhance health.

Wellness Competitions Are Popping Up Everywhere

Wellness Competitions are definitely hot right now and they are encouraging more and more people to get healthy and live better. Whether it is a city or a school or a social group or even a whole state, competitive spirits are being ignited by the challenge to be the healthiest team. The Wellness Competitions are usually about a six months to a year in length and they are made up of several teams, these teams all get points for physical activity, selecting healthy foods, and just making better life and health choices overall.

The best part about Wellness Competitions is even though there really is only way “real” winner; everyone that participates in the challenge is a life winner.

Wellness Competitions offers incentive to Get Healthy

Establishing a Wellness Competitions in your office is a great way to get workers to participate in your established Corporate Wellness Program. Have workers form teams and receive points for everything from attending a corporate Health and Wellness Fair to getting a health risk assessment to starting an physical activity regimen. At the end of the year, the teams will win prizes based on the number of points they have accumulated.

Wellness Competitions Enhance Corporate Health

Not only will Wellness Competitions enhance the health of your workers, it will enhance the overall health of the corporation by providing benefits such as reduced injuries, reduced frequency of worker’s comp, reduced health care costs, better employee attendance, and better corporate morale.

Like we said earlier, everyone is a winner in a Wellness Competitions!

The 61st annual World Health Assembly is taking place this week in Geneva, Switzerland and at this assembly; the World Health Organization (WHO) is presenting its report titled “Preventing Non-communicable Diseases (NCD) in the Workplace through Diet and Physical Activity.”

The report calls for Corporate Wellness Programs to be promoted and implemented worldwide.

Importance of Corporate Wellness Programs

The report states that Non-Communicable Disease related deaths have surpassed transferable disease related deaths and have become the leading global killers. Examples of Non-Communicable Disease’s are heart disease, diabetes and stroke. In 2005, 60% of worldwide projected deaths were caused by non-communicable diseases. They are predicting that this health trend will continue through at least 2030.

Diet, caloric intake, lack of physical activity and tobacco use are the major risk factors in the cause of Non-Communicable Disease’s. Now more than ever, the understanding of the importance of health and wellness is crucial.

Corporate Wellness Programs are Effective Tools

The report states that Corporate Wellness Programs are found to be effective in improving health-related risk factors, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. The report also states that Corporate Wellness Programs will enhance the health of workers, enhance the corporate image, enhance employee morale, reduce employee absences and sick leave, increase employee productivity, and reduce corporate health care costs.

Corporate Wellness Programs Monitoring

Finally, the report mentions that to have a successful Corporate Wellness Program, monitoring and evaluation through Health Risk Appraisals and health outcomes are essential and should be included in the Corporate Wellness Program implementation. The evaluations ensure that the Corporate Wellness Program developed meets the proper needs of the workers. Employees should be reevaluated on an on-going basis to make sure the Corporate Wellness Program is still working, or to see if there are any adjustments that need to be made.

Corporate Wellness Program ROI: Fact or Fiction?

Corporate Wellness Programs … do they offer a strong return on investment? This is a question that we are sure goes through ever corporation’s mind. HR Magazine addresses the Corporate Wellness Program ROI topic in their June 2008 issue.

Corporate Wellness Program ROI: The Bottom Line

According to the article, titled “Finding Wellness’ Return on Investment,” determining Corporate Wellness Program ROI is not an easy thing to do for businesses because it involves a lot of different variables and time.

However, the organizations that have taken the time to determine the Corporate Wellness Program ROI of their Corporate Wellness Programs have found that it is quite significant. Not to mention, the Wellness program’s effect on the improvement of employee health and the slowing of the rate of their employee health care costs.

Corporate Wellness Program ROI Alliance

Corporate Wellness Program ROI is such an important part of today’s corporate culture, that several large organizations have come together to form the Alliance for Wellness ROI, Inc. According to the HR Magazine article, The Alliance for Wellness ROI was specifically created to address the lack of consistency in proving the value of Corporate Wellness Programs.

The alliance, formed by Henry Ford Health Systems, BMW of North America, Kraft Foods Global, Schlumberger Limited and MasterCare Worldwide, strongly believes in showing the value of Corporate Wellness Programs and want to develop a standard for how Corporate Wellness Programs are measured.

Corporate Wellness Programs Components

According the alliance, the following components should make up an corporate-provided employee Corporate Wellness Program:

Employee assistance Program (EAP)
Disease Management Programs (DM)
Fitness and physical activity Programs
Health Risk Appraisals
Worksite health care Programs
Individual wellness profiles
Preventive Health Screening and Biometric Testings and immunizations
Tobacco-cessation Programs
Telephone based Corporate Wellness Programs
Weight Management and Weight Loss Programs
Self-Care Programs.

Wellness During the Summer Time

Wellness is important year-round; however if your workers haven’t gotten on the Wellness bandwagon, then now is the perfect time to get them there.

Summer Time is an ideal time of year to get back into shape and enhance overall Wellness. The weather is beautiful, workers can get outside and they are motivated by the thought of having to wear clothes with less coverage. Fitness, or lack of physical fitness, is apparent in the summer.

Wellness in the Summer Time has Advantages

There are many advantages to starting a Corporate Wellness Program in the Summer Time. Employees are more likely to get outside and walk or participate in group activities during the summer than they are in the cooler months of the fall and winter. The summer months are also a great time to establish a Wellness challenge with your workers and celebrate the completion of the challenge with a participant picnic or cookout. Finally, it always seems easier to eat healthy during the summer with all the fresh vegetables and fruits that are available during this time.

Corporate Wellness Program Kick-off

We recommend following these steps when starting a Corporate Wellness Program in your office.

Pick a wellness coordinator for the Corporate Wellness Program who is willing and able to see it through.
Make sure that you have the support of corporate leadership.
Establish a Wellness committee
Make use of a Corporate Wellness Program survey to uncover the obstacles and goals of your Corporate Wellness Program
Provide Health Risk Appraisals
Analyze the Corporate Wellness Program and changes as needed
Remember to stress that the Corporate Wellness Program is for the workers. Corporate Wellness Programs have been found to prevent obesity, cancer, heart disease and hypertension. taking part in in a Corporate Wellness Program that offers all that should be an easy decision for the corporation and for the workers.