Corporate Wellness Blog

A Worksite Health Promotion Program is an inclusive program to help and support staff members in starting healthier lifestyles.  This can include increasing employee awareness on health topics, scheduling behavior modification programs, and/or starting company policies that support health-related objectives.  Programs and policies that reward increased physical activity, tobacco use prevention and cessation, and healthy diet selections are a few examples.  

Dimensions of Wellness

Wellness is more than physical fitness.  In addition to physical fitness, the ranges of ideal health include:

   • Spiritual Dimension of Wellness,
   • Emotional Dimension of Wellness,
   • Social Wellness,
   • Intellectual Wellness

These dimensions are often illustrated as a “life wheel” with examples of health dimensions that include fitness, nutrition, purpose in life, monetary organization, social connections & backing systems, stress management, mind-body health, career planning and continued learning.   The key to personal health is keeping the “life wheel” in allignment.  A accross the board workplace wellness program addresses most, if not all, of these dimensions.

Why Employee Health Promotion Programs?

employees invest much time on the job, and the fact of the matter is that our traditional work-week is growing.  In fact, the average American now is at work about 47 hours per week.  In addition, items such as modems, laptops, cellular phones, voice and email have made vague the work-life boundary.  These realities decrease the amount of time that the average worker is able to devote to health and wellbeing pursuits, and yet employees are predicted to be extremely efficient when at work.

A current study by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses found that workplace wellness or Company Health Promotion Programs are successful in supporting workers to make beneficial health changes due to several factors such as convenience, environmental reinforcement, and co-worker or social acceptance.  

What’s the Association between Wellness and the Workplace?

Programs and policies that reward healthy behaviors have the potential to make a tremendous difference on employee wellness AND have an effect on the corporation’s bottom line.  Studies have shown that for every dollar invested by employers in Worksite Health Promotion Programs/wellness programs, there were savings between $1.49 to $4.91 with a average savings of $3.14*.  In corporation vocabulary, that’s more than a 3:1 minimum return on investment – a number that is hard to ignore, and a best practice that must warrant serious consideration from employers.  In fact, a Worksite Health Promotion Program literature review published in Health Promotion Practitioner Journal observed:

   • 19 research studies saw a 28.3 percent reduction in sick leave
   • 16 different studies established a 5.6:1 return on investment
   • 23 showed a 26.1 percent decrease in medical expenditures
   • 4 found a 30% decrease in direct health care and workers’ compensation claims

There is little doubt that a inclusive wellness program designed to meet an enterprise’s specific needs can save money by reducing absenteeism, lowering health care costs, lowering employee turnover, and building productiveness.

• The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003