Corporate wellness and wellbeing is a hot topic with employers at the moment, with around 67 percent of all employers offering some sort of wellness programme. These programmes are based around the idea that employees can receive breaks on their health insurance if they undertake certain tasks to increase their health, such as giving up smoking, changing their diet, losing weight or increasing their exercise. They also have to have health tests to find out about their current state of health and receive personalised wellness programmes to help them improve.
A recent survey showed that around 18 percent of employers are now offering a financial incentive to those who achieve a certain health standard, and around 15 percent offer a lower health premium to those who do not smoke.
Savings vary hugely from employer to employer, but the programmes themselves are on the increase, as there is a growing body of evidence showing that when employers use these wellness programmes, the costs of medical expenses and employee absenteeism for illness are greatly reduced. One study even showed that the average employer has seen a reduction in medical costs of $3.27 for every dollar spent on a wellness programme and a reduction of $2.73 in absenteeism for every dollar spent on the wellness programmes.
If you are an employer and you are thinking of putting into place a wellness programme, or improving an established one, it is important to carefully evaluate the design of the programme and consider carefully what the goals should be. This reduces the risk of discrimination claims and also makes it more likely that the whole workforce will want to and be able to participate in the wellness programme. Employers should also read up on the law in their area, relating to sickness, health in the workplace and absenteeism.