What are the most popular wellness programs?

Does your company need a wellness program? Have you taken a look at your health care costs lately along with the number of employees that are taking time off due to illness and many other health care problems? Wellness programs are successful and they do have a large return on investment and many companies have been able to see this.

Do you know what types of wellness programs are successful and which ones you should consider using? Here are some of the most successful wellness programs that can help you reduce your healthcare costs and also provide you with healthier employees and a more productive company overall:

1. HRA or Health Risk assessments. The HRAs are used all over the world and they help a company to recognize what the health concerns are within the company. You will be able to see if the company is working appropriately and if there are things that need to be changed and improved like providing new equipment for the companies or updating machines. This also helps you to see health concerns within the organization like having issues with air quality along with exposure to hazardous chemicals and other things. The HRA is a great way to raise awareness and to show your upper management that something needs to be done to help improve the organization and to make the employees healthier and happier.
2. Wellness exams. Hiring a team of doctors to come in and do wellness exams is a great way to find out how you can work on changing the way in which you are helping employees with their healthcare problems. With wellness exams you can also offer immunizations for your employees to try and limit the number of employees that get ill and are needing to take time off work because of the sickness. Immunization shots should be administered for free along with the wellness exams. You need to do these exams yearly in order to see what type of concerns your company has pertaining to the health and wellness of your employees.
3. Employee Assistance Program. Sometimes employees just do not recognize that they have health concerns and things need to be changed and addressed. What makes these programs so effective is the education they provide to your staff. Your employees will be able to learn how to deal with health issues and they will have an easier time managing their symptoms.
4. In house changes. What are you doing to promote changes in your office? Are you offering help for the weight loss program by getting rid of the vending machines and their unhealthy foods? What about offering fruit and vegetable trays to your staff each day for meetings versus providing them with doughnuts and coffee at meetings? Look for some easy things you can do to make in-house changes that help to support and promote healthier lifestyles. The wellness programs not only need to have in-house changes but you also need to provide some type of benefit to the employees that participate in them. This will help to motivate the employees and you will find it is much easier to get the employees to actually do the program and work on losing weight, quitting smoking, and living healthier lifestyles.
5. Activity drives. How about doing a walk or run for a charity organization? This is always a fun way to get your employees motivated to workout. You also need to work on getting the employees motivated for the walk or run by informing them of the money the company will donate in their name if they choose to participate in the run or walk.