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A fascinating report from the WorkPlace Wellness Alliance – created by the World Economic Forum and now led by the Institute for Health and Productivity Management (IHPM) — “identifies key themes, trends, and solutions from the expanding worldwide work place wellness movement.”

The study, titled “Global Workplace Wellness: Healthy Employees, Healthy Business,” reviews data sets provided by MetLife’s Employee Benefit Trends Studies (EBTS), “which evaluate the impact of work- place wellness in seven countries: China, Egypt, India, Poland, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the United Kingdom (UK).”

The study outlines many of the business arguments behind workplace wellness programs.

It begins: “In recent years, global companies have shown growing commitment to their worksite-based employee wellness programs. Increasingly, they’re realizing that non-com- municable diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and di- abetes not only are seriously harming work force health and raising medical costs, but also having a huge impact on work force productivity around the globe. In 2011, the World Economic Forum projected the global eco- nomic burden of non-communicable diseases to climb to more than $40 trillion by 2029.”

“Wellness programs at the workplace also are being positively viewed by employees looking to improve their quality of life and level of wellbeing. Today’s workers look on their employers as a trusted source of more than just a paycheck, and they’re looking for more wellness program offerings that encourage healthy behavior.”

The study notes that self-reported results are not always sufficient for well-run programs — and that programs must consider “objective measures — like biometrics from lab tests and physical measurements during worksite screenings — in order to draw accurate conclusions.”

As we've reported frequently, communication is key: “Companies that both offer and are able to properly communicate available wellness benefits and programs may stand to see increased employee participation, which in turn may lead to healthier lifestyles and, ultimately, a more pro- ductive workforce.”

Proper engagement techniques also matter: “It is unlikely that employers realize cancer may be a top concern for young employees, or that some older employees may be more impacted by stress than expected. These findings suggest a need for employers to find better ways to engage their employees — particularly from these two important age groups representing the cultural continuity and the future of a company — in healthier behaviors.”

And in terms of the bottom line: “Employers that use a mix of measures to gauge the impact of their wellness programs — like medi- cal claims analyses, employee satisfaction surveys, program participation rates, and labor cost analyses — may realize the biggest and most immediate economic impact from reducing “presenteeism” to increase productivity. And they will be helping en- sure the personal health and wellbeing of their most valuable asset – their human capital.”