Here’s more evidence that wellness programs pay for themselves –
Over the last two years, one business in five has seen meaningful betterment in employees’ health status – and started to stabilize their costs – as reported by one study.
Among firms noting improvement, nearly two-thirds (64%) feature health promotion programs offering incentives for healthier life choices.
Here are three twists on traditional incentives that’re getting good results –
1. Wellness coach outreach
A lot of firms require workforce to work with an individual health coach to get a discount on monthly premiums or earn cash incentives.
The most common set-up – on a regular basis, the worker must set up appointments with and report to (either over the phone or face to face) his or her wellness Coach.
But experience has shown there’s often a high dropout rate.
People get off to a excellent start – and they’re enthusiastic about the incentive – but once they realize there’s some effort involved, they lose interest.
The good news – Firms have found a simple-to-arrange alternative that keeps people on the right track. Rather than requiring workforce to contact the wellness Coach, a growing number of companies require participants to take calls from the wellness Coach.
Potential result – Fewer folks fall off the wagon. There’s no outreach effort involved, and the wellness coach keeps people accountable.
2. Nutritional education/therapy
A newer – and cost-effective – feature in the battle against staff member obesity – offering an staff member nutrition-education program administered by a professional nutritionist.
Just 11% of corporations – 18% of big corporations and 7.5% of small to medium ones – have such health promotion programs, according to SHRM’s most recent benefits survey.
Even fewer offer (via their EAPs) nutritional therapy for people with eating disorders. But available data on these health promotion programs shows they generally pay for themselves.
The stronger the firm’s emphasis on teaching healthy consuming, the faster and more dramatic the reduction in major health claims.
Common plan features – lunch and learns featuring healthy food options, giving out nutrition-linked gift cards and extending obesity-prevention incentives to people ’s family members.
3. Assertive tobacco use cessation
A small, but rapidly growing number of companys are taking more aggressive measures to avoid the costs associated with staff members who smoke.
The step can be broken down into three levels of aggressiveness and potential risk/reward.
Level one – the business installs a wellness program in which non-smoking workers and those who commit to maintaining a healthful weight receive financial incentives that lower their share of monthly premiums.
Level two – the corporation disqualifies job candidates who smoke from hiring consideration. Alternatively, some firms require health risks assessments as a condition of being hired.
Level three – the company docks pay or fires workers who fail to control their lifestyle-related health risks.
Example – Clarian Health made news last fall for sending notice to staff members that as of Jan. 1, 2009, people who smoke or chew tobacco would begin be charged $5 per paycheck.
Are these strategies legal? at level one, the answer is a qualified yes. health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)s non-discrimination rules permit such incentives within limits.
In a nutshell, it’s legal to reward staff members who quit smoking but illegal to punish those who try and fail. When an employee tries but fails to quit smoking, you’re still legally obligated to give them another shot next year.
Additionally rememberthat, by law, the size of the reward or penalty under your health promotion program can’t exceed 20 percent of the total cost of coverage.
At levels two and three, it remains to be seen if such policies would hold up in court. Proceed with caution.
