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What are the best practices for employee wellness programs? How do you know you are administering your employee wellness program the “right” way? You might be giving financial incentives or started a lunchtime walking group, but how do you know your employee wellness program is working for both you and your employees?

The 2015 Flu season is still a few months away, but now is a great time to start getting prepared. Every year the United States experiences an epidemic of seasonal flu. While flu season peaks in the winter months, flu outbreaks can happen as early as October and can last all the way into May. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends a yearly flu vaccination for everyone 6 months of age and older. This is the first and most important step to protecting oneself from this very serious disease. People should start getting vaccinated as soon as the flu shot becomes available. Many flu shot providers receive the vaccine as early as July or August. The CDC encourages getting the shot preferably by October. But as long as the flu virus is spreading, it’s not too late to get vaccinated. The flu shot has become easy to obtain. Even without insurance or appointment, CVS/pharmacy offers adolescent, adult, & senior flu shots right in the store while CVS/minute clinic locations offer all that and pediatric flu shots as well. All vaccines are administered by a certified immunizing pharmacist or through a nurse practitioner or physician assistant at Minute Clinic locations.

It's often a conundrum for most employers to create employee loyalty within their company. Figuring out how to motivate employees, keep them happy and prevent them for looking for other employment is a major concern, especially given the diverse interest and priorities between Baby Boomers and Millennials. Where do you start? What would the budget look like, if there even is one? Maybe this will help. Towergate Insurance performed a recent study and created an infographic to try to answer the question,

According to a new survey from HealthMine, 46% of employees who were diagnosed with a chronic condition like high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes over the last two years discovered their condition through a workplace wellness program. That’s almost half! This makes wellness programs a no brainer. For employees, diagnosing chronic conditions allows them and their healthcare providers to handle the condition, manage it, mitigate it and prevent it from getting worse. For employers, it allows employees the chance to manage their condition which in turn lowers the total healthcare benefit costs. The other major advantage for employers- if employees are diagnosed with a condition in the context of a workplace wellness program, they are more willing to take biometric screenings for other preventable or manageable conditions. Learn what to screen for our the white paper, Building a Healthier Workforce through Early Detection here. Here are a few more key stats from the survey:

Employee wellness initiatives have taken many forms over the last 5-10 years. They have ranged from biometric screenings to company exercise groups to discounts on health insurance. Each company does it differently, depending on what is most effective for their specific organization. But according to this Washington Post article, employee wellness is taking a new turn and it's compelling for both employers and employees. Employee wellness is becoming part of company culture. With a growing millennial component to the American workforce, employers are focusing on enticing younger employees with perks and attractive cultural components in the work environment. Wellness programs are shifting to be a component of these types of company culture and positioning efforts. So what does it mean for employers? How can they measure ROI when they take tangible metrics and transition them into the "intangible benefits" so important to difficult-to-please millennial? Here are a few ways: