Corporate Wellness Blog

1. Undertake a utilization assessment – While businesses cannot get medical information on individual staff members, insurance providers will supply businesses with reports that detail patterns and rates of employee use for things such as physician visits, hospital stays and drug use. This information is essential for a corporation to set a benchmark of its current health risk status. Data from human resources can be integrated with benefits information to provide a complete picture of employees’ health-related costs. Then, businesses can determine the specific level of behavior change necessary to result in cost savings. The utilization assessment helps a corporation identify the areas in which it must focus its Worksite Health Promotion Program to reap the greatest benefits.

2. Build a company case – Once a utilization assessment is in place, organizations are able to quantify the Medical Care cost savings that will result from specific levels of lifestyle change and risk reduction. This can be done by setting goals/objectives in terms of reductions in identifi able insurance utilization, attendance or disability variables, or by aiming for reductions in health risks and projecting the associated cost savings. Effective estimates factor in the expense of the Corporate Health Promotion Programs as well as the necessary internal marketing efforts that will surround the program. Says Betty-Jo Saenz, U.S. Medical Care Strategy lead for Motorola, “When we started our programs, our focus was on the 20 percent of staff members that made up 80 percent of the costs. We’ve addressed that, and now we’re paying attention to those who are active and Finding Wealth Through Wellness 8 keeping them healthy. Wherever you are on the continuum, there are opportunities.”

3. Organize a cross-functional wellness group – Companies need to identify potential group members who can be champions of wellness within the business. It is significant that the group is representative of the demographic and functional diversity of workers so that it can credibly address any specific needs groups may have. This group will serve as the voice and face for the Workplace Health Promotion Program within the business. Best practice employers integrate members from human resources, communications, business development and management. Using the utilization analysis as a model, the wellness group should evaluate what programs would be most effective within each particular corporate culture, aligning health-risk priorities with initiatives that workers will be receptive to.

4. Build buy-in from senior staff – The most effective Employee Health Promotion Programs have support from the highest levels of a organization. Support from management, both in words and in action, sends the message that Employee Health Promotion Programs are a priority for a organization. The utilization analysis can be a powerful tool to build the organization case for Employee Health Promotion Programs and convince executives that initiatives are worthy of investment and attention. Meaningful wellness-related messages are integrated into organization discussions and aligned with corporate objectives.

5. Establish a complete Employee Engagement plan – The most brilliantly conceived Workplace Health Promotion Program is meaningless if no staff members participate. Effective wellness communications emphasize both health and monetary benefits at the personal and company level. According to a 2004 survey by Towers Perrin, only 28 percent of staff members say their company communicates about Medical Care problems other than cost. In addition, wellness-related information must be a part of existing company communications efforts and not coupled solely with benefits communications. This helps elevate the priority of Workplace Health Promotion Programs and align initiatives with company objectives.

Furthermore, discussions around Workplace Wellness Programs can share personal success stories and supply business progress updates. Successful businesses not only use existing talking channels to generate discussion around activities, but also consider more interactive tools like message boards, forums, blogs and wikis. This helps personalize initiatives and authorizes for the sharing of best practices within the business.

A lot employers engage healthcare experts to advise in the construction, communication and substructure of the program. The use of outside authorities such as these will increase the credibility of the Worksite Health Promotion Programs as well as combat skepticism from employees who may view the corporation’s motives as merely selfserving.

Another strategy available to corporations is to brand their Employee Health Promotion Program. This move can increase the visibility and acceptance of the offering. Branded wellness programs are most common when corporations are also promoting an external campaign around Employee Health Promotion Programs. An example of this is PepsiCo, which launched its HealthRoads Employee Health Promotion Program internally along with a consumer campaign, Smart Spot, that puts special labels on healthier food and drink options.

These efforts are more effective when they are not owned solely by the internal communications department, but rather when managers serve as leaders of, as well as participate in, Corporate Health Promotion Programs within employers. This creates more immediate accountability and motivation.

6. Measure constantly and consistently – At every step of implementation, a Employee Health Promotion Program must be able to demonstrate its value to a organization. Employee Health Promotion Programs must be designed to allow corporations to set benchmarks and evaluate behavior transformation. Assessment ought to consider not only quantitative health measures, but also qualitative measures of stress and employee program engagement. Less than ten% of corporations do extensive management of medical care cost, employee health risk status or employee satisfaction with benefit offerings, and less than half of corporations do any assessment in these areas at all.16

Assessment is only useful if a employer explicitly interprets what data would constitute success. Potential measures of success cover:

• Participation rates
• Greater employee program engagement
• Reduction of risk status
• Decrease of direct health costs
• Reduced absenteeism
• Less disability claims

Motorola’s Saenz advises administrators of Employee Health Promotion Programs to track as many measures as possible from the start, even if management only needs one, because it is very difficult to retrieve data later. She notes that even if leadership begins by looking at participation rates, they will eventually want to know about reductions in claims and costs.

Frequent assessment is the only way to build support among management and employees. Nearly half of organizations feel a lack of useful data is a top barrier to their ability to manage employee health, and at least 20 percent of organizations don’t know how effective existing Employee Health Promotion Programs are regarding various outcomes. Organizations must lead utilization analyses annually and reevaluate Employee Health Promotion Program priorities based upon changes. In Addition, progress must be shared with the wider business community to build support for initiatives. Managers and executives throughout a employer are likely to support a program that can prove increased work rate among employees. Effective Employee Health Promotion Programs are designed to be fl exible so they can respond to changes in both employer objectives and goals and larger health variations.