Company WellnessCompany wellness programs and company wellness consulting

What Are Corporate Health Promotion Programs?

Corporate Health Promotion Programs are designed to support and promote worker health and wellness through education and awareness programs primarily based at the worksite. The program is a win-win in that employees benefit from learning and staying well, and the employer has improved loyalty and less rates of absenteeism.

As companies become more aware of the importance of worker health on productivity, there is improved interest in encouraging and supporting healthy lifestyle choices. Employer costs for Corporate Health Promotion Programs may rapidly be offset with fewer work-related injuries, enhanced attendance, less turnover, and improved morale.

Types of Corporate Health Promotion Programs

Corporate Health Promotion Programs: Lunchtime Wellness Seminars

The easiest Corporate Health Promotion Programs are one’s where the employer arranges to have quarterly presentations during lunchtime on topics such as stress management, nutrition, and exercise. A local mental health clinic, hospital, or the Employee Assistance Program (Employee Assistance Program) may provide these. This type of corporate health and Company Wellness Program is usually arranged through HR, the health department, or the safety manager. Participation is generally voluntary.

Before selecting topics for wellness seminars, it is a good idea to do some type of employee polling to see what topics people are interested in. This may be as simple as an e-mail to all staff asking for suggestions or as formal as having an outside group come in to conduct interviews and design a complete corporate health and Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs: Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals

An employer can provide complete Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals for employees. Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals are detailed questionnaires that covers all areas of behavior (seatbelt use, smoking, alcohol use, frequency of exercise, family history of disease and illness, etc.). This is usually done in conjunction with employee health testing for things like cholesterol and blood sugar screening.

Once the Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals are scored, the results are shared with employees along with suggestions for changes. The employer is able to get aggregate statistics that will show trends that he or she may want to address. For example, if a lot of people have high blood pressure, the employer may consider an educational seminar, biweekly workplace blood pressure readings, and low-salt, low-fat selections in the cafeteria or snack machines as interventions to include in the corporate health and Corporate Health Promotion Program.

If the Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals show that there is a “trend” toward not wearing seatbelts, perhaps having the State police come in and give a presentation about what occurs in an accident when you don’t have a seatbelt on would change some behavior.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs: tobacco Cessation

tobacco cessation programs are very popular elements of Corporate Health Promotion Programs. Often, the local chapter of the American Cancer Society or American Lung Association will come in to run a group. Another option is for employees to attend a tobacco cessation group in the community. Costs for the tobacco cessation group can be offset by the employer after employees complete the program.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs: Stress Management

Stress is a major area of concern for companies. Stressed out workers get sick more often, make more errors, and generally do not perform up to capacity. As a result, Corporate Health Promotion Programs often take steps to address worker stress. There are many ways to address stress within your Corporate Health Promotion Programs, and the beauty of these ideas is that everyone can benefit from them.

Certainly, stress management presentations are educational and informative and should be included in any corporate health and Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs and Work/Life Programs

Many companies offer a work/life program that offers assistance with things from finding day care for a child or elderly parent and information on obscure college scholarship funds to information on which PC to buy and where to find someone to walk your dog. These programs fit into Corporate Health Promotion Programs because they help your employees handle many of the things that are taking up work time and increasing stress.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs and Employee Assistance Programs

An Employee Assistance Programs are integral parts of effective Corporate Health Promotion Programs. By helping employees address individual/mental health problems and concerns, an Employee Assistance Program can go a long way toward improving overall health and productivity. Representatives from your Employee Assistance Program can also work closely with you to design Corporate Health Promotion Programs that are integrated and effective.

Time Management and Corporate Health Promotion Programs

Time is one of our most precious commodities, and anything you can do as an employer to help your employees manage their time is going to be welcome. Although not traditionally thought to be part of Corporate Health Promotion Programs, offering flextime and telecommuting are two ways to lower stress and increase productivity.

These programs take thought and planning and are not appropriate for all employees or all positions; however, in many worksites, they are underused. Either your HR manager or an outside consultant can help you design a program. If you belong to a business group or Chamber of Commerce, you may find assistance there. Also, talk to colleagues who are doing this in their organizations to see how it is working.

The Culture of Wellness

Employee wellness has to be part of your company culture, not just something you throw in as an afterthought. It isn’t a Band-Aid, but rather a thoughtful piece of your business strategy. For example, if productivity is down due to tobacco breaks, offering tobacco cessation classes can help. But it’s also important to develop a no tobacco policy.

When employees feel valued, they are more loyal and tend to work harder. They take pride in their work and talk about what a great company they work for. A healthy workforce is a productive workforce.

Even the best and most innovative companies are experiencing the impact worker well-being on their organizations’ performance.  The bad news is that many of these companies are unaware of the extent to which less-than-optimal employee health and well-being is impacting workforce capacity and performance.  The goods news is that there is an increasing body of research and practice than may help companies mitigate this often unseen issue and develop significant opportunities for enhanced workforce attraction, retention and performance!  This article focuses on how organizational leaders may improve physical and financial employee wellness in the worksite.

The Problems of Chronic Disease

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60 percent of deaths in 2005 could be attributed to chronic disease (cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes).1  The largest attributing factors to the chronic diseases include smoking, physical activity, and diet.2  The costs of these diseases are staggering.  For example, if there were a 10 percent reduction in mortality from heart disease and cancer, it could save the US $10.4 trillion annually.3  Further the WHO projects that over 80 percent of the US population will be either considered overweight or obese by the year 2015.

The Problems of Financial Distress and Dissatisfaction

As hard as it may be to fathom, a 2004 research study found that 67 percent of U.S. Workers are dealing with Personal Financial Issues.4 In another research study, it was found that these issues may exist in all segments of any workforce, regardless of income, education, or position level.5 Couple these facts with our workforce reality:

* The workforce is aging and demand for professionals in many industries continues to exceed the supply – and will for the foreseeable future.
* Due to the shortages of quality personnel the stress on our current workforce is increasing.
* With these workforce shortages, the majority of companies cannot continue to pay spiraling market prices for professionals.
* Lastly, those personality attributes that make many professionals great caregivers or service-providers also tend to make them less apt to focus on matters of individual financial management.

The Return On Investment

There are significant reasons why companies should employ Strategies to start Corporate Health Promotion Programs for their employees:

* Increase Productivity including reductions in medical care and workers compensation claims, rates of absenteeism, and presenteesism;
* Reduce employer paid medical care and re-insurance premiums; and
* Increase employee, physicians and patient satisfaction; and
* Increase employee retention and productivity.

A recently published Towers Perrin case study6 found that a ten percentage point improvement on employee engagement was linked to a 4.6 percentage point improvement on customer satisfaction and revenue growth and labor cost improvements equal to a 2.8 percent impact on controllable margin.

What all this shows is that offering Corporate Health Promotion Programs and incentives and rewards is more than just “the right thing to do.”  Rather, there is a profound business case.  As workforce capacity and engagement increase, a bottom-up cultural change takes place in your organization.  These changes drive improvements in customer satisfaction, productivity, rates of absenteeism, and presenteesism – all of which drive improvements in profitability.

The Course of Change

As an employer, you may have a tremendous impact on the health of the community.  Here are a few suggestions on how you may engage your employees (possibly include flowchart):

1. Define the Plan – Determine if you have the internal resource availability and knowledge to develop a formal Corporate Health Promotion Program.  Many organizations, due to confidentiality legal and other reasons, pick to engage outside partners to manage these processes.
2. Communication – Once you have developed the plan, communicate the plan to all employees – using multiple media and approaches.
3. Lead by Example –Begin Corporate Health Promotion Programs at the top (walk the walk).  Give yourselves the opportunity to go through a health risk assessment and a financial assessment.  If you can, communicate your results and your action steps to staff.
4. Develop incentives and rewards for Staff Participation – Here are a couple of financial incentives and rewards you may provide staff that are low cost and optimally have a ROI:

1. Pay employees to take a risk assessment
2. Lower employee contributions to health plan for those with reduced risk of chronic disease and correspondingly increase employee contribution to health plan for those with increased risk of chronic disease

5. Provide Personal Risk Assessment Counseling – Provide resources that can meet one on one with each employee to understand their health risks and opportunities
6. Eliminate Trans-Fat from Your Dietary Offerings – If you have workplace food facilities, and haven’t been mandated by legislative statute, you should eliminate trans-fatty oils from the employee and customer meals
7. Eliminate all Smoking Areas for Workers – More and more organizations, including large cities, are now banning smoking on their facilities.
8. Provide Proper Monitoring Programs – Probably the hardest component of the plan, the ongoing monitoring is critical.  Some organizations are large enough to own or build wellness centers – but even then, many employees feel uncomfortable in using them.  Typically the users of wellness centers are those least in need.  The good news is that there are many external and online tools and options that are available today.
9. Encourage Other Local Businesses to Provide Corporate Health Promotion Programs.  In some cases (e.g. hospitals), there are options where this may even generate revenue and/or deepen relationships with the communities you serve.

Legal Issues

When thinking about a Corporate Health Promotion Program, one must take into account certain requirements under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and the Public Health Service Act (PHSA). All three laws were amended by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to provide for enhanced portability and continuity of health coverage. HIPAA also added Code section 9802, ERISA section 702 and PHSA section 2702, each of which prohibits discrimination in health coverage based on health status.

To be a bona fide Corporate Health Promotion Program, the plan must satisfy the following requirements:

* An individual’s total incentive must be limited. A limit of 10 percent to 20 percent of the total cost of employee-only coverage may be appropriate, according to the DOL.
* The program must be reasonably designed to promote good health or prevent disease.
* The incentive must be available to all similarly situated individuals. The program must allow any individual for whom it is unreasonably difficult because of a health condition to meet the Company Wellness Program standard (or for whom it is medically inadvisable to attempt to meet the Company Wellness Program standard) an opportunity to satisfy a reasonable alternative standard.

1 2005 Preventing chronic disease:  A vital investment. World Health Organization
2 2007 Working Towards Wellness:  Accelerating the prevention of chronic disease.  World Economic Forum
3 2007 The Value of Health and Longevity.  Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topal, University of Chicago
4 2004 Employer/Employee Equation Research on Worker Types, Preferences and Engagement Issues – Concours Group, Age Wave and Harris Poll
5 1997 Neal E. Cutler, Ph.D
6 2003 Talent Report: New Realities in Today’s Workforce – Towers Perrin

Corporate Health Promotion Programs that support employees and the setting that they work in have been shown to be a good ROI. Corporate Health Promotion Programs may be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small companies to make positive changes at little or no cost.

Corporate Health Promotion Program: Physical/Weight Management Activities

1. Give access to on- and off- worksite gyms and recreational programs before, during, and after work hours.
2. Provide and encourage participation in after work recreation or leagues.
3. Provide cash incentives or reduced insurance costs for participation in physical activity and/or weight management or maintenance programs.
4. Provide shower and/or changing facilities onsite.
5. Provide outdoor exercise areas such as fields and trails for employee use.
6. Provide bicycle racks in safe, convenient, and accessible locations.
7. Provide workplace fitness opportunities, such as group classes or personal training.
8. Provide an worplace exercise facility.
9. Set up programs that have strong social support systems and incentives and rewards, such as:
o Buddy or team physical activity goals
o Programs that involve workers and family
o Programs to encourage physical activity, such as pedometer walking challenges
o Consider discounted or subsidized memberships at local health clubs, recreation centers, or YMCAs
10. Provide flexible work hours to allow for physical activity during the day.
11. Support physical activity breaks during the workday, such as stretching or walking.
12. Host walk-and-talk meetings.
13. Map out workplace trails or nearby walking routes and destinations.
14. Have employees map out their own biking or walking route to and from work.
15. Post motivational signs at elevators and escalators to encourage stair usage.
16. Provide exercise/physical fitness messages and information to employees.
17. Provide or support recreation leagues and other physical activity events onsite or in the community.
18. Create employee activity clubs such as walking or bicycling clubs.
19. Provide workplace child care facilities to facilitate physical activity.
20. Sponsor a bike to work day and reward employees who participate.
21. Set up a box and solicit fitness and health tips.

Corporate Health Promotion Program: General Health Education Activities

1. Have a current policy outlining the requirements and functions of a broad-based worksite Corporate Health Promotion Program.
2. Have a wellness plan in place that addresses the purpose, nature, duration, resources needed, participants in, and expected results of a worksite Corporate Health Promotion Program.
3. Orient employees to the Company Wellness Program and give them copies of the physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco use policies.
4. Promote and encourage employee participation in the physical activity/fitness and nutrition education/weight management program.
5. Provide health education information to employees.
6. Have a committee that meets at least once a month to oversee the Corporate Health Promotion Program.
7. Provide regular health education presentations on various physical activity, nutrition, and wellness-related topics. Ask voluntary health associations, medical care providers, and/or public health agencies to offer workplace education classes.
8. Host a health fair as a kick-off event or as a celebration for completion of a wellness campaign.
9. Designate specific areas to support employees such as diabetics and nursing mothers.
10. Conduct preventive wellness screenings for blood pressure, body composition, blood cholesterol, and diabetes.
11. Provide confidential health rist assessments.
12. Provide workplace weight management/maintenance programs for employees.
13. Add weight management/maintenance, nutrition, and physical activity counseling as a member benefit in health insurance contracts.

Corporate Health Promotion Program: Tobacco Cessation

1. Establish a company policy prohibiting tobacco use anywhere on the property.
2. Provide prompts/posters to support no tobacco use policy.
3. Policy supporting participation in tobacco cessation programs during duty time (flex-time).
4. Provide counseling through an individual, group, or telephone counseling program onsite.
5. Provide counseling through a medical plan sponsored individual, group, or telephone counseling program.
6. Provide cessation medications through health insurance.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs that support employees and the setting that they work in have been shown to be a good ROI. Corporate Health Promotion Programs may be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small companies to make positive changes at little or no cost.

Corporate Health Promotion Program: Nutrition Activities

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

1. Provide healthy eating reminders and prompts to employees via multiple means (i.e. e-mail, posters, payroll stuffers, etc.).
2. Provide appealing, low-cost fruits and vegetables in vending machines and in the cafeteria.
3. Provide cookbooks, food preparation, and cooking classes for employees’ families.
4. Ensure workplace cafeterias follow healthy cooking practices and set nutritional standards for foods served that align with the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
5. Provide healthy foods at meetings, conferences, and catered events.
6. Use point-of-decision prompts as a marketing technique to promote healthier choices.
7. Provide healthy cooking demonstrations that teach skills (i.e. fruit and vegetable selection and preparation).
8. Provide taste-testing opportunities at the worksite.
9. Provide employee-led campaigns, demonstrations or programs.
10. Provide local fruits and vegetables at the worksite (i.e. worksite farmer’s market or community-supported agriculture drop-off point).
11. Use competitive pricing (price non-nutritious foods in vending machines and cafeterias at higher prices).
12. Provide protected time and dedicated space away from the work area for breaks and lunch.
13. Make kitchen equipment available to employees.
14. Provide an opportunity for workplace gardening if possible.

Sweetened Beverage Consumption

1. Make water available throughout the day.
2. Provide appealing, low-cost healthful drink options in vending machines and the cafeteria.
3. Modify worksite vending contracts to increase the number of healthy options.
4. Price non-nutritious beverages at a higher cost.
5. Use point-of-decision prompts to promote healthier choices.

Portion Control

1. Label foods to show serving size and/or nutritional content.
2. Provide food models, food scales for weighing and pictures to help employees assess portion size.
3. Provide appropriate portion sizes at meetings, worksite events and in the cafeteria.

Breastfeeding

1. Support nursing mothers by offering them rooms for expressing milk in a secure and relaxed setting, a refrigerator for storage of breast milk, policies that support breast feeding, and lactation education programs.
2. Provide flexible scheduling and/or workplace or near-site child care to allow for milk expression during the workday.
3. Adopt alternative work options (i.e. teleworking, part-time, extended maternity) for breastfeeding mothers returning to work.
4. Educate personnel on the importance of supporting breastfeeding co-workers.

T.V. & Food Advertising

1. Place TVss in non-eating areas of the worksite.
2. Limit food advertising in the cafeteria (i.e. print and other media).