Other than health insurance, how important is health and wellness benefits in which a company offers in your choice of employer?
Nearly 90 percent of employees say it is either “very important” or “somewhat important” in their choice of an employer. Positive outcomes to employees who participate in wellness programs include lower out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, and often incentives from employers for participating or completing desired outcomes.
Employees were asked to take the SHRM survey. We found out that rewards or bonuses for completing a wellness program rose from 23 percent in 2008 to 35 percent in 2012. Usually, the participants are those employees most in need of health improvement. Incentives are perceived as a key strategy for engaging all workers. Almost 58 percent of employees say incentives are a “very important” factor in their participation in employer sponsored wellness programs.
The successful use of incentives to keep employees engaged remains a combination of art and science, but a survey by Optum Health showed companies that offer incentives have a 30 percent or higher rate of participation than those that do not.
Even after accounting for generous incentives, employers with robust wellness programs report positive return on investment. For example: Johnson & Johnson’s well-documented worksite health promotion program began in 1979. A recent evaluation of the program’s effect on employee health risks and health care costs for the period from 2002 to 2008 measured the company’s rate of annual healthcare spend against similar large companies, and found it was 3.7 percentage points lower.
Data Source: Workforce Management 2012 Employer/Employee Survey, May 2012.
Johnson & Johnson shows strong return on investment According to a June 2012 article in Health Affairs, Johnson & Johnson’s employee population benefited from reduced rates of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco use, physical inactivity and poor nutrition.
Highest regards,
Stacia
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