Monday, June 8, 2009

Corporate Wellness Programs - Worth the effort?

"If people are truly their "most valuable asset," why aren’t more organizations creating work environments that contribute to the health and well-being of their workers? Why is there an ongoing debate on the necessity of addressing the wellness of workers when there seems to be ample evidence that organizations that create a positive work environment are more successful?"
Health Promotion Programs at Work: A Frivolous Cost or a Sound Investment? Conference Board of Canada October 2002

Good question. Research indicates that the reason why many corporations don't adopt a corporate wellness program is because of the fear of the resources (time and money) that it will consume. But consider these statistics:

Canada Life in Toronto showed a return on investment of $3.40 on each corporate dollar invested on reduced turnover, productivity gains and decreased medical claims;

For $30 per person, the Bank of America conducted a health promotion program for retirees. Insurance claims were reduced by an average of $164 per year while costs for the control group increased by $15!

BC Hydro employees enrolled in a work-sponsored fitness program had a turnover rate of 3.5% compared with the company average of 10.3%.

Prudential Insurance reports that the company's major medical costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each participant in their wellness program.

Coors Brewing Co. reported that for each dollar spent on their Corporate Wellness Program, they saw a $5.50 return, and the employees who participated reduced their absentee rate by 18%.

Corporate Wellness Programs are showing an ROI (return on investment) of anywhere between $3 to $10 for every dollar invested. Employees are getting healthier, stronger, smarter and they are more committed, more productive, less stressed and report a healthier work/life balance.

So is it worth the extra time and effort? The bottom line says it is. For help on getting started email me at info@thehealthyceo.com.

1 comment:

Brate said...

Hello All, I am 32 years boy working in a multinational company. In these times of recession, company was thrusting a lot amount of work on us. It some times make me helpless, than getting over timed. And because of such a constant pressure since 4-5 months, a lot of changes (both physically and mentally) had occurred. I was loosing weight like hell. Also, sometimes I became too harsh on my family, which was one of the primary concerns to me. Also, I was feeling something wrong near my chest. My heart beats remained constantly high throughout my working hours due to high work pressure, and fear of deadlines. This makes me nervous all the time. And because of this, I was not able to concentrate fully on my work. So, this was harming all the way round. This stress is killing me everyday. And I was in no condition to leave the job. And all above this, I was not able to keep myself physically fit, which in my case may lead to loosing away the job. I took many leaves that month due to my unfit health. I was really in a very pathetic situation. And to my surprise, I came to know that many of my colleagues were facing the same problem, as the work load and stress level was diminishing everyone’s health. That became a major issue after few months. The overall performance was deteriorating. The issue was brought in the meeting of board of directors. They decided to have a corporate wellness program which would take care of the employee’s health at the corporate office itself. This decision really went up to the mark. The therapist and physicians used to take care of the minor corporate health issues. And after a week or so, the result was astonishing. The employee efficiency not only got back to normal, but boosted up by 3%. And after a quarter, it was found that the overall expense for initiating the wellness program was far less the corporate loss due to low employee efficiency. Elite health corporate wellness program was a boon to the company. As also , our wellness program consisted of eConsultation, which allows us to be in contact 24/7 with the experts to discuss regarding the health issues.

And not only our company, many others were profited by such corporate or workplace wellness program.