Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that robust wellness programs, or Health Promotion Programs, can lower health care and insurance costs, reduce absenteeism, and improve performance and productivity.
Other benefits demonstrated in studies include improved ability to attract and retain key personnel, greater worker allegiance, and improved public image of the company.
Health Care and Insurance Costs
A number of studies provide evidence of lower medical and insurance costs for participants in health promotion programs, in particular health promotion programs involving exercise.
For $30 per person, the Bank of America conducted a wellness program for retirees using a risk assessment questionnaire, self-care books and other mailed materials. Insurance claims were lowered an average of $164 per year in this group while they increased $15 for the control group.
Since they were able to document significant changes in risk behavior, they anticipate greater savings in future years.
Pacific Bell’s FitWorks participants claim $300 less per case for a one-year savings of $700,000. Savings for conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle are $722 per case.
Coca Cola stated a reduction in healthcare claims with an exercise programalone, saving $500 per worker per year for the staff members (60%) who joined their HealthWorks fitness program.
Prudential Insurance Corporation reports that the company’s major health costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each participant in its wellness program.
Lowered Absenteeism
Absenteeism has been shown to be impacted by employee health promotion and health promotion programs. the evidence indicates a meaningful reduction in absenteeism and resultant dollars saved thus of staff member exercise plans.
Pacific Bell’s FitWorks program lowered absent days .8% to save $2 million in one year. FitWorks members also spent 3.3 days less on short-term disability for an additional savings of $4.7 million.
Focusing wellness efforts on high-risk workers can lead to better results. A national manufacturing company reports a decrease of 12.2 percent in illness days for these workers.
A two-year study by the DuPont Business of the effect of its comprehensive health promotion program on absences among workers reports that blue-collar workers at intervention sites had a 14 percent decline in disability days vs. 5.8 percent decline for controls. There were a total of 11,726 fewer net disability days.
Enhanced Performance, Productivity and Morale
A number of companys with wellness programs report documented betterment in job attitude, work performance, energy level, and/or overall morale among program participants–all vital factors in enhancing productivity.
A Johnson and Johnson study found that staff member attitude changes were greater at wellness intervention sites with meaningful positive attitude changes noted in the categories of organizational commitment, supervision, working conditions, job competence/security, and pay/benefits.
In a Canadian government study, the Canada Life Assurance Company experimental group realized a 4 percent increase in productivity after starting an employee fitness program, compared to the control group.
Furthermore, 47% of program participants announced that they felt more alert, had better rapport with their coworkers, and normally enjoyed their work more.
Swedish investigators found that mental performance was significantly better in physically fit staff members than in non-fit staff members. Fit staff members committed 27 percent fewer errors on tasks involving concentration and short-term memory, as compared with the performance of non-fit staff members.
The Bottom Line
The following sample of corporate wellness wellness program results have been announced by individual corporations –
Company – Dollars Saved/Dollars Spent
• Bank of America (Fries) – $5.96/$1
• PacBell – $3.10/$1
• Wisconsin School District Insurance Group – $4.47/$1
• Prudential Insurance – $2.90/$1
• Bank of America (Leigh) – $4.73/$1
• General Mills – $3.50/$1
Summary
There’s compelling evidence that a sizable portion of the billions of dollars currently spent by corporations on health-related costs is preventable by means of health promotion programming.
Well-planned, extensive wellness programs (wellness programs and worker wellness programs) have been proven to be cost-effective, particularly when the wellness programming is matched to the medical problems of the specific worker
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