Health Handouts : Investment in Workplace Wellness Programs Pays Big Dividends

High rates of employee turnover and the costs of sick days are increasingly taking bites into organization profits. The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in total cost the average organization. Many organizations are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that give a decrease in these costs.

It has become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness program / physical activity program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need. Upper Management’s goals and objectives for a advantageous wellness program must be viewed through the perspective of increased employee work rate, diminished absenteeism due to health related causes, improved employee morale, diminished utilisation of business subsidised health benefits, enhanced group cohesion and effectiveness and a decline in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction. It is obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a positive effect on the financial status of any organisation.

The benefits from an staff members point of view can be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, decreased body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle job related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social connections at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.

To be most advantageous a wellness program needs to achieve both upper management’s and employee’s goals, and this can be accomplished through a program that will provide the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and wellness, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the crucial changes to their physical condition that can be applied in the context of their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Worksite Wellness Programs

Reduced Absenteeism – Dupont reduced absenteeism by 47.5 percent over six years for the participants of their company fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Diminished Medical Care Expenditures – Steel case showed a reduction in health care claim expenditures of 55% for corporate fitness program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an average of $478.61 for participants vs. non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Health Promotion, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Reduced Turnover – Turnover among exercise program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Business was 32.4% lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana saw that its company fitness program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Health Promotion, March, April, 1991).