What Is Allowed When Creating Workplace Wellness Programs?

As you are creating a workplace wellness program you may be curious to find out what type of things are allowed with program and what type of limitations are placed on them? Check with your state department when you create a wellness program in order to be sure that you have followed legal procedures for the program as there may be certain things you are not allowed to add to your program. However most of the healthy workplace programs will focus on getting employees to get active and to encourage them to quit smoking.

Most of the wellness programs out there are designed around getting employees to lose weight but instead of just focusing on weight loss you should consider rewarding your employees that are not as dependant on their health benefits. Of course you want them to lose weight and get in shape but when they aren't using their health insurance as much, it can mean big cost savings for your company.

Rising healthcare costs are a growing concern to a lot of employers. Some companies are now passing along the cost to the employees and making them responsible to pay a higher premium if they use their health insurance frequently and they are contributing to the higher costs for the company. Not only are these employees causing your health insurance costs to go up but they are also having a large impact on other costs for the company like lost productivity. On average the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that smokers alone cause about $94 Billion in lost productivity each year! This is just your individuals that smoke, now what about the others that are not living healthy and active lifestyles? Obesity is estimated to cost your company about $13 Billion a year and health conditions from obesity lead to about $75 Billion or more in medical costs. As you can see there is a growing concern over the cost of employee health and you do need to step in and start paying attention to your employee's health.

Before you implement a wellness program or a new policy pertaining to healthy living you should consult with the proper legal representation. There is not a law against firing employees that are smokers or ones that are putting the company's income at risk due to their lifestyle habits. There are a lot of employers that will terminate their contracts with employees if they are smokers or if they are obese. If you are considering this route, you need to be very careful and make sure you have all of the right legal documents taken care of before you announce the policy. Announce the new policy and give your employees time to change their ways before you go in with an iron fist and start weeding out the individuals that do not meet healthy guidelines. Most employers will offer an 18 month grace period for employees to get their weight or smoking habits under control. This is a great idea as it tells the employees you need to go in this direction but you do not wish to cut ties with anyone.

It is a wise idea to offer educational courses and other things as part of the new wellness program. This way your employees have resources to turn to in order to help them understand how to lose weight and to start focusing on their health. Some insurance companies are even joining in to help as Blue Cross is one of the insurance companies offering discounts to Weight Watchers for employees that are committed to weight loss and improving their health.