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With rising health care costs in their crosshairs, more organizations are “turning to targeted strategies and intervention programs that directly influence employees' individual behaviors and health habits,” according to the recently-published, 8th annual 2014 Willis Health and Productivity Survey Report.
Further, “despite recent skepticism reported regarding return on investment from wellness programs – worksite initiatives that promote a healthy lifestyle – survey results revealed that nearly half (49%) of employers with wellness programs reported a measurable improvement in the firm's medical costs or an improved risk profile among its workforce.”
Willis surveyed some 958 organizations that ranged from having fewer than 100 employees to more than 10,000.
According to the executive summary: “Organizations of all sizes recognize that implementing health and wellness programs engages employees in healthier behaviors and fosters a more productive workplace. Increasingly, organizations are adding strategic goals to improve employee engagement and increase workforce productivity in addition to the more traditional strategic objective of lowering health care costs.”
“In this era of health care reform with new regulations affecting health plan design and communication efforts, well-designed, employer-sponsored wellness programs are important as tools to not only help mitigate rising health care costs but to also preserve workforce productivity. Organizations see the workplace as a primary area to identify employee health risks and provide wellness resources, activities and support to change behaviors and, in some cases, save lives.”
Key findings among participating organizations include:
- “68% have some type of wellness program.”
- “44% use third-party wellness vendors.”
- “78% of organizations with a wellness program said that they used some sort of incentive to drive participation.”
- “49% of those with a wellness program reported a measurable improvement in either medical costs or health risks.”
- “93% believe that healthier employees are more productive, yet very few are measuring the impact of productivity on employees’ absenteeism (22%), FMLA (19%) and presenteeism (7%).”
- “86% of organizations that have an international workforce believe that wellness opportunities should be introduced to their international working populations.”
Key insights include:
- “More employer organizations are increasing health and wellness programs and initiatives.”
- “Organizations are relying not only on their health insurance carriers, but increasingly on their brokers, consultants, and third-party vendors to meet their health and human capital business goals.”
- “More organizations are reducing medical costs and risks through health and wellness programs.”
- “The overwhelming majority of participating organizations recognize the link between the health of their workers and workforce productivity.”
- “Most organizations have not yet measured or implemented programs that target lost productivity due to health conditions.”
- “More organizations are recognizing the business value of healthier employees beyond simply medical costs.”
- “The survey suggests that more organizations understand that a healthy and productive workforce helps to control costs which offers a competitive edge necessary for sustainability in today’s economy.”
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