Benefits of Worksite Health Promotion

Are you wondering if health promotion programs are a good investment for your company? It is!

Health Promotion / Wellness programs are important to the health and vitality of the workforce of any company. When employees are physically and mentally healthy they have better energy on the job, are absent less, use fewer health care dollars, have improved morale, and are more enjoyable to work with.

Worksite health promotion stands out as the answer to long-range goals of maintaining a healthy workforce with manageable medical expenses. There is compelling evidence that assets spent by employers on health related costs is preventable through health promotion programming.

Benefits of Health Promotion:

• Healthy Employees cost less and ar emore fun to work with!
• Lower Health Care Cost
• Increased Productivity
• Reduce Sick Time
• Improve Employee Energy and Morale
• Improve Recruitment and Retention
• Reduce "presenteeism" (i.e. showing up sick or distracted with health concerns)
• Improve teamwork and creativity
• Employees report higher job satisfaction
• Improve your bottom line!

Consider these facts when thinking about health promotion for your company:

• Today more than 81% of American businesses with 50 or more employees have some form of health promotion programs, the most popular being exercise, stress management and smoking cessation.

• Everett Medical Center in WA saved over $3 million or a cost benefit ratio of 1:3.8 over 9 years with an employee health promotion program called The Wellness Challenge. During the first 4 years of the program there was a 28% reduction in health care utilization compared to area hospitals that were not using health promotion.

• Du Pont saw that every dollar invested in health promotion yielded $1.42 in lower absenteeism costs. Absences from illness among 45,000 employees dropped 14% at 41 industrial sites.

• The Travelers Corporation claims a $3.40 return for each dollar invested in health promotion, totaling over $146 million of savings in benefit costs. Sick leave dropped almost 20% during the first four years of the program. Members of the Travelers fitness center were absent from work significantly less than non-members.

• Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company, a NV based firm with 1,600 employees spent $76.24 per employee on health promotion initiatives over two years. Half the employees took advantage of the program, and those who did enjoyed reduced cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and a 21% reduction on health care costs. Resulting savings: $128 per person, or a cost benefit ratio of 1: 1.68.

• Superior Coffee and Foods (a subsidiary of Sara Lee) showed a 22% reduction in hospital admissions, 29% shorter hospital stays and 42% lower hospital costs after instituting a wellness program compared to other corporate divisions. Long-term disability costs were reduced 40%.

• Union Pacific Railroad introduced a personal health management program to 28,000 employees and saw savings of 1.26 million. Among those who participated in the program, 21% stopped smoking, 30% moved out of high-risk weight categories, 34% reduced cholesterol levels, and 45% reduced their blood pressure.

• Steelcase, a MI based Furniture Company, found that employees in high-risk categories (smoking, sedentary lifestyle, overweight) have 75% higher medical costs than lower risk employees. High-risk employees who participated in the worksite wellness program and moved themselves into the low risk category cut their average medical claims in half.

• The City of Mesa, AZ realized a return of $3.60 for every dollar invested in worksite wellness. Medical claims were lowered and medical costs decreased 16%.

• A California county sought to reduce back injuries and offered fitness classes for employees. There was a significant increase in morale, reduced worker?s comp claims, reduced medical costs and fewer sick days producing a cost benefit ratio of 1:1.79.

• The California Public Employees Retirement System showed a decrease of $8 million in medical costs for 55,000 retirees after sending health risk appraisals and later reports with recommendations of self-care.

• Bank of America invested $30 per retiree by sending risk assessment and self care material. Health care claims reduced $164 per person and increased by $15 for a control group that did not receive the materials.

• Pacific Bell wellness participants claim an average $300 less than non-participants saving the company $700,000 in one year.

• Coca Cola reported reductions in health care claims after starting an exercise program with a cost savings of $500 per employee per year for the employees who participated in the program.

• Johnson and Johnson found employee attitude improvements at sites with health promotion programs. Significant positive changes were notes in areas of organizational commitment, supervision, working conditions, job competency, pay and benefits.

• Bank of America, PacBell, Wisconsin School department, Prudential Insurance and General Mills all reported a cost benefit ratio of between $1:3.10 to $1:5.96 with regard to worksite health promotion programs.

• The Canada Life Assessment Company started an employee fitness program and saw a 4% increase in productivity and 47% of participants said they felt more alert, enjoyed better rapport with co-workers and enjoyed their work more compared to non-participants.

The Michigan Health Management Research Center found that medical care costs decrease an average of $153 with every reduction of risk factors, and increases and average of $350 with each additional risk factor. Source: Edington, D. (1998) Worksite wellness; 20-year cost benefit analysis and report:1979-1998. Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan, Health Management Research Center.

References:

BioAnalogics The Cost Benefit of Worksite Wellness: Health Management News. Volume 1 November 2001

Blair, S., The FitWorks Savings Story, Pacific Bell, 1996

Chapman, L, Proof Positive: Analyses of the Cost Effectiveness of Worksite Wellness,? Summex Corporation, 1996

Fries, J., et al., Two Year results of a randomized Controlled trial of a Health Promotion Program in a Retiree Population, American Journal of Medicine, May 1993: 455-462.

Holzbach, R., Effect of a Comprehensive Health Promotion program on Employee attitudes. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 1993.

Shepars,R. Employee Health and Fitness: The State of the Art (The Canadian Employee Fitness and Lifestyle Project). Preventive Medicine, 1983:12 644-653.

Sjoberg, H. Physical Fitness and Mental Performance During and After Work. Ergonomics, 1983:23 977-987

Wellness Councils of America, Corporate Leaders Laud Benefits of Wellness, Worksite Wellness Works, May 1995.