Wellness Benefits

Today’s Wellness Programs Involve Careful Cultivation
by Marianne Jackson

It turns out that implementing an effective wellness program is a little like starting a productive farm. Scattering some seeds and hoping for the best just doesn’t work. When the first wellness programs debuted, many employers thought they just needed to invest in a few wellness products and change a couple company policies to lower their healthcare premiums and make employees healthier. Many just did things like removing candy from vending machines. Brokers watched these programs with interest, wondering just how popular and how effective they would be.

The results were underwhelming. A few programs enjoyed some success, but most failed to generate the savings employers hoped for. For countless reasons, the programs were unable to fundamentally change the employees’ behavior or reduce claims experience.

Too many programs took the scattered seed approach. Many employers just chose a few wellness products, casually made them available to their employees, and hoped for the best. They failed to investigate what would work best for their employees.

With the next-generation of wellness programs, employers are incorporating the kind of systemized planning and organization found on a productive farm and these programs are attracting interest. They integrate a wide range features tailored to the needs of employees. Today’s programs are starting to offer company-wide education. They’re making it easy for employees to assess their health while motivating them to improve their lifestyle.

The most successful programs have widespread buy-in from company leaders who serve as wellness ambassadors. The new programs also offer exciting participation incentives including activities, health club memberships, company-wide health challenges, and special events.
The new wellness plans are finally starting to generate real return-on-investment, which has brokers paying attention. More and more brokers are wondering how to sell the new wellness programs. The following techniques will help you save money for your clients, build closer relationships with them, and add value to your services:

#1-- Study High Profile Companies With Effective Wellness Programs

As a broker, learning about different programs and understanding which ones work and which ones fail will give you a competitive advantage when advising your clients. The more you know about successful wellness programs, the more your clients will rely on your guidance. For example, Safeway estimates that its wellness programs have reduced total healthcare spending by 13% in 2006. Safeway’s Healthy Measures program offers savings of up to $800 on health insurance premiums for employees who stay within certain limits on a number of risk factors, including smoking, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Safeway’s corporate headquarters has a subsidized cafeteria with many vegetarian options and nutrition information for all prepared meals. The company built a fitness center near its headquarters. Safeway buys employees lunch for every eight visits to the gym.

Good ideas cut across industries. Networking leader Cisco also offers a thriving, wellness program with several different initiatives. Its HealthConnections program helps employees assess their health risks and delivers personalized interventions. Cisco generated broad-based participation in HealthConnections by offering $100 for completing the health assessment and another $100 for taking action to the reduce health risks it identified. Cisco also partnered with WebMD to create Personalized Health Manager, an online service allowing employees to compare the coverage and cost of different health plans, make decisions about benefit changes during open enrollment periods, and get personal health improvement plans for their families.

Since each employee is at a different level of readiness and commitment to personal wellness, the wellness program at our company, “Wellvolution” -- a next-generation wellness program” is designed not only to make moderate to high-risk employees healthier, but also to keep low risk employees healthy. We achieved a 78% employee participation rate in a “health day off” for anyone participating in a biometric screening and wellness assessment. We also offer fitness centers and personal training programs, health coaches, financial reward programs for healthy living, financial budgeting seminars, access to immediate help with any health issue, and more.  Since 2008, we have hosted 17 educational on-site smoking cessation clinics. More than 50% of employees who completed a clinic quit smoking and the company has seen a 27% reduction in the number of smokers. 

#2-- Help Clients Calculate How a Wellness Program Can Pay Off

Speaking right to the bottom line goes a long way in this economy. A $1 investment in wellness programs saves employers $3 in healthcare costs, according to the Wellness Council of America. The American Journal of Health Promotion estimates that wellness programs reduce absenteeism by 28%, worker’s compensation and disability claims by 30%, and use of healthcare benefits by 26%. Sit down with your clients and run the numbers. How much could they save on health insurance premiums if 10% of their employees quit smoking? How many fewer sick days would there be if another 15% of employees met benchmarks for healthy cholesterol and blood pressure?

Clients, who are struggling to provide coverage, may resist the idea of spending on wellness. Show them how wellness can protect the company and its workforce in troubled times. Employee productivity and loyalty are even more critical as employers rely on fewer workers to accomplish more. Help them calculate the emotional, physical, and financial worth of the up-front investment.

#3 Help Clients Design a Tailored Wellness Program

Consider the employees’ health risks and occupational hazards, which are different for each workforce. For example, since commercial pilots have much higher rates of skin cancer, than the general population, it sense for an airline’s wellness program to include regular skin cancer screenings and education.

A client that’s near a bicycle route may be able to entice employees to bike to work by installing bike racks and a locker room. A client that’s just off a major freeway could provide executive parking to employees who carpool, thereby saving money and reducing stress. Be creative. Help your clients understand that what works for one company can be very different than what works for another. Help your clients understand the needs of their employees so you can package the most suitable wellness program. Co-designing a customized wellness program is an outstanding way to add value and be a truly trusted advisor.

Brokers have the opportunity to offer the next generation of wellness plans, which can reduce medical bills and actually promote good health. As healthcare costs continue to soar, each of us must share in the responsibility of trying to reduce those costs, particularly in a recession.

Employers can no longer simply insure their employees, sit back, and hope they stay healthy. Nor can they afford to carelessly scatter the seeds of an uncoordinated wellness program and hope that they take root. More and more employers are realizing that they must play an active role in their employees’ well being in order to save money in the long run. And they’re turning to brokers for help.

Not all clients will immediately embrace the cultural changes involved in the new wellness programs. But you don’t have to sell your clients a wellness plan in order to sell them on the idea of wellness. Just as many farms take years to produce a cash crop, many good ideas take years to bloom. The sooner we educate clients about these new wellness programs, the sooner we can expect them to embrace wellness.
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Marianne Jackson is senior vice president of Human Resources at Blue Shield of California.