Corporate Fitness Plans Improve Employee
Health and Wellness
Workplace Wellness Programs
Corporate Fitness Plans Improve Employee
Health and Wellness
© Lisa Nichols
Aug 31, 2007
Companies
with workplace wellness programs are
improving employee health, decreasing
absenteeism and saving money. Find out
how an employee wellness plan can help
you.
Instituting a workplace wellness program
at your company improves the health of
your employees, decreases employee
absenteeism and saves your company
money, too. Learn more about starting an
employee wellness program at your
company.
Workplace Wellness Programs Yield Big
Results
· A
company investment of $100-$150 per
employee each year to participate in an
employee wellness program can save
companies $300 to $450 for each employee
every year, according to Ron Goetzel,
Director, Cornell University Institute
for Health and Productivity Studies. The
savings can take a few years to
actualize, says Goetzel, and are seen in
reduced health expenditures.
· The
Wellness Councils of America reported a
$24 return for every $1 spent on a
company wellness program for small
businesses.
·
According to a 2005 survey by The Art of
Health Promotion, companies who
instituted employee health and wellness
programs realized a 30% reduction in
medical and absenteeism costs in less
than four years.
A
successful workplace wellness program
starts with company leaders. Business
owners should lead by example, taking
part in their company's corporate
fitness program and working closely with
a wellness coach. Company leaders should
make sure employees are well aware of
their wellness efforts, posting weight
loss results or smoking cessation
results on company intranet or bulletin
boards for everyone to see.
More
Tips for Creating Employee Health and
Wellness Programs that Really Work for
You
·
Encourage employees to kickstart their
own wellness programs by visiting their
doctor. A complete physical should
include information about blood sugar,
cholesterol levels and general health.
· Target
specific health-related concerns in your
corporate fitness program. Information
about how to fight obesity, smoking,
alcoholism and drug abuse should be at
the forefront of your employee wellness
program, along with related conditions.
· Hire a
wellness coach to instruct employees on
how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
· Reward
employees for participating in company
wellness plans. Let employees accrue
health and wellness points that they can
redeem for prizes. Make the prizes
healthy, too -- a free massage, private
training session with your company's
wellness coach or health food gift
certificate encourages even more healthy
lifestyle choices.
·
Acknowledge employee health and wellness
leaders in company newsletters, in
posted bulletins and on the company
intranet.
If you’re
a business owner and you’re trying to
increase employee participation in your
company wellness program, consider
Johnson & Johnson’s approach. Faced with
only 26% of employees participating in
their employee health and wellness
program, Johnson & Johnson offered
employees a $500 discount on medical
insurance costs if they completed a
health risk profile. The number of
employees participating in the Johnson &
Johnson corporate fitness program jumped
after they offered the incentive -- to
more than 93%.
Ron
Goetzel encourages those looking to
pitch a corporate fitness program to
company leaders to use basic facts about
the benefits of employee health and
wellness programs as part of their
argument. Keep it simple, and share
results from other company’s employee
wellness plan success stories.
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