Employers are concerned about rising healthcare costs and looming federal mandates that penalize companies for unhealthy workers. But corporate executives struggle to connect corporate wellness programs to business performance.
Many who lead corporate wellness programs frequently are frustrated. Inconsistent employee engagement. Senior-executive lip service about wellness importance. Unfunded wellness mandates. No staff capacity to deliver wellness initiatives. Sound familiar? These are but a few common corporate wellness experiences.
All of these require an answer to one question: How do we move corporate wellness from a nice-to-have program to a strategic initiative?
Many corporations turn to basic HRAs as a cure. HRAs are repeatable and easy to check off as complete. Neither action, however, delivers measureable ROI. At best, HRAs deliver a snapshot in time and the words ‘See you next year!’
Successful corporate wellness initiatives seek solutions to specific objectives. The difference is clear and measureable.
Corporate Wellness Program A (actual results)
- Reduced corporate healthcare costs by 55%
- Reduced short-term disability claims by 24%
- Reduced spousal claims by 18%
Corporate Wellness Program B (frequent approach)
- Conducted hundreds of annual HRAs
- Understood employee health issues
- Failed to create sustainable, measureable change
What You Need to Know
To replicate Corporate Wellness Program A, there are things you must do to succeed.
- Understand that as little as 30% employee participation can achieve measurable change.
- Clarify what solutions you seek from a wellness program, rather than seeking quick engagement.
- Ensure wellness is made real for key executives in operations, safety, HR and finance.
- Learn how people get well together: common challenges, common goals, common interests.
- Meet each person where they reside. Most need a coach to walk with them, not a cheerleader.
- Realize ROI measurement requires repeatable processes beyond checking off a box.
- Determine what’s possible at your company to begin a regular cadence of wellness.
- Start simple.
Data and Process Drive Wellness Success
A program indicates a methodology, a set of systems, repeated processes and checkpoints, a feedback mechanism, and the tools to achieve ROI. Corporate wellness success requires getting beyond common destructive practices of educating, practicing, failing, repeating.
Here are some questions to ask when determining if a wellness partner can deliver a program that’s measurable, flexible, repeatable and scalable.
- Are fees assessed only for employees who participate in the wellness program?
- How simple is it for employees to engage in the corporate wellness program?
- How individualized will wellness solutions be to each employee?
- How do you meet employees at work where they spend most of their day?
- How do you demonstrate metrics that matter to key executives?
Cultivate invites you to learn more about its corporate wellness program offering:
https://youtu.be/zkBrkbi-r0E
On Friday March 18, 2016, Jerry joins a distinguished panel of speakers at BizTimes’ Wellness Summit for “Opportunity costs of an unhealthy workforce.” Register today.
