Workplace wellness is a $6 billion industry. In today's age of technology, millions of American employees are sitting at their desks for hours on end. Behaviors like these have led to a growing rate of chronic diseases like obesity, high blood pressure, stress, exhaustion, and absenteeism, just to name a few. Implementing workplace wellness programs has become a vital piece in both maintaining and improving employee health. The Society for Human Resource Management (commonly known as SHRM) released a 2015 Employee Benefits Report that discussed the uphill trend in implementing workplace wellness programs, addressing preventable and chronic disease programs in particular. RAND Corporation also released a brief on wellness programs, titled "Do Workplace Wellness Programs Save Employers Money." It took a closer look at the two most common components of a wellness program:
- Lifestyle management program- mitigates longer-term health risks, like smoking or obesity
- Disease management program- addresses immediate health problems, or chronic conditions like heart disease or diabetes
It also explained the difference in ROI depending on which program you use. Overall both programs are shown to reduce an employer's average healthcare costs by about $30 per member per month, but 87% of those savings came from disease management programs.
Disease management drives return on investment from workplace wellness programs.
Since lifestyle behaviors are deeply ingrained, changing those 'unhealthy' behaviors becomes a challenge for most organizations. One way to offset that challenge is with the use of incentives and rewards. GiftCard Partners teamed up with Shapiro+Raj to explore the shift toward wellness programs and the challenges employers have to really engage their workforce. What they found was an evolution in the incentives and rewards used in these programs, from common cash and premium reductions, to the use of gift cards.
Taking findings from all three of these reports we've compiled our
Workplace Wellness Infographic to show the growing popularity of workplace wellness and the key role incentives and rewards play in motivating and engaging your workforce.
Click on the Workplace Wellness Infographic for a larger view
