How wellness programs will impact your bottom line

Are you on the fence about implementing a health and wellness program? For several years now employers have been actively participating in wellness programs as they are a wonderful way to raise awareness to employees about their health and their lifestyle habits. When people can see first hand that they do have an issue, it is much easier to confront it than trying to discover it on your own. A good wellness program will be able to raise awareness about issues that the employees may be dealing with like high blood pressure and other things.

With the rising health care costs only getting worse, it has prompted many companies to look at alternative ways to bring in more money to pay for these costs. One way to do this is by actually cutting costs. Turning to your employees and encouraging them to lose weight, quick smoking, or make steps toward leading a healthier lifestyle will be able to help them understand the importance of their health and it can really start to make a big difference for the company. You will likely see several benefits from the wellness program like an increase in productivity along with reduced health insurance premiums as your employees are not getting as sick and they are not visiting the doctor as much.

Several studies have been done on wellness programs and the impact they can have on your company's bottom line. Here are a few of the results from the American Journal of Health Promotion:

• Wellness programs contribute to a 28% reduction in sick leave


• Wellness programs help to cut health insurance premiums and costs by 28%


• Workers compensation claims and other disability claims will be reduced by 30%

With these surprising statistics it is easy to see why so many employers are using wellness programs as a way to reach out to their employees and to get them to take notice of their health. If you want your employees to start getting healthier you do need to focus on using the program in the right way. You have to create a program that will actually be able to motivate people and will get them excited about weight loss and living a healthier lifestyle. Some employees will respond to incentives while others will respond when you are able to use motivation through a group of employees.

For every dollar you invest into a wellness program you will see a return of $3-$6! This is a huge accomplishment and goes to show you of the importance of wellness programs. To implement the program properly it is a good idea to consider hiring it out to a third party of experts. This way they can work with your employees to ensure they are losing weight and following the guidelines needed in order to win the reward at the end.

When you do implement the wellness program you will likely see a lot of great returns from it. Here are some of the returns you will see from implementing a good wellness program:

• Increased productivity


• Reduced absenteeism


• Improved morale

As your employees start to see results of their hard work with the program, it becomes a motivating factor for them and they may consider continuing on with the program to lose more weight. Other employees will see how well the program works and it can inspire them to start participating. Education is the key to making the program work well. When people are taught about their health and what they need to do to really care for their bodies it is much easier for them to become committed to a program for their health.