The Impact of Corporate Wellness Programmes

The factthat a healthy organisation requires healthy employees has been scientifically proven. What is also a fact is that this is effective for some companies, and not so much so for others. With the fast development and changes in the technology and business spheres, many companies that are willing to maintain a competitive edge in the global market are interested in the wellbeing of their employees.

Theconcept of awellness program isdependent on what the employer makes of it, without any hard or fast rules.However, according to Healthcare.gov, there are some basic parameters. A wellness program is defined as ‘a program intended to improve and promote health and fitness that is usually offered through the work place, although insurance plans can offer them directly to their enrolees’.This can include: giving employees discounts on their monthly health insurance premiums, cash rewards, providing discounted or free gym memberships, offering healthier food options at work, participation in smoking cessation and/or weight-management programs.

Johnson& Johnson leaders estimate that wellness programs have cumulatively saved the company $250 million on health care costs over the past decade; from 2002 to 2008, the return was $2.71 for every dollar spent. The number of employees who smoke has dropped by more than two-thirds. The number who have high blood pressure or who are physically inactive has also declined—by more than half.

While workplace happiness can boost productivity, a stressful workplace can do just the opposite, making employees less productive. Numerous studies on workplace happiness have found that employees who feel happy with their workplace have less absenteeism, work from home more effectively, and consequentlyhave lower healthcare costs.

The key findings from another study also confirmed the benefits of the wellness program. From the study, 67% of employees said participation in wellness programs increased their engagement in their employer's mission and goals, and 91% of employees participating in wellness programs have improved their fitness, while 89% said that participation has improved their overall happiness and well-being.

What Influences the Effectiveness of the Corporate Wellness Programs?

The same study revealed several key insights onthe factors influencing the effectiveness of the wellness programs, such as:
• There is a competitive advantage for companies with a wellness culture.
• Lack of time is the biggest impediment to employee participation.
• Employer motivations for offering wellness programs differ by company size.
• The biggest challenge to wellness is stress; but employers and employees disagree on how best to remediate it.

Another factor can bea lack of engagement of the employees in the wellness program because they are not well informed about the program itself. The RAND Corporation study found that while 85% of U.S. employers with 1,000 employees or more offered some form of a wellness program, only 60% of the employees at these companies were even aware that the program existed.

And maybe the hardest thing to have an effective wellness program is to motivate the employees to be a part of it. Wellness initiatives that are more focused on penalizing noncompliance are generally less successful overall, as employees prefer programs that work with them, rather than against them. In other words, the wellness initiatives should be defined so that they are there to help the employees foster good behaviours, rather than punishing them for bad ones.

Sonja Vos Ralevska