How to Design a Corporate Wellness Program that Benefits the Employee and the Employer

By Steve Sarns
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
NuStep

April 2013 – I’ve been in the business of health and wellness for 25 years. And I’ve been pleased to witness that, in just the past 10 years, there’s been a 13 percent uptick in the number of organizations that offer some type of health and wellness program in the workplace. In fact, according to the American Institute for Preventive Medicine, more than 90 percent of companies now offer some type of health and wellness program.

I attribute this growth to two evolving factors – we’re hearing more and more about the return on investment that an employee wellness program provides and, prompted by the Affordable Care Act, companies are now more than ever focusing on the health and wellbeing of their employees.

According to the National Council of Strength & Fitness, every $1 invested in an employee wellness program, yields approximately $6 in savings for the employer. Using that formula, investing just $10,000 in a wellness program, in theory, yields $60,000 in savings for the employer. Employers who consistently offered a wellness program experienced a 15 percent slower growth rate in health care costs compared to those who do not, according to a recent study sponsored by Highmark Inc., a Pittsburgh-based health insurer. To further drive home this point, the Affordable Care Act creates new incentives and builds on existing wellness program policies to promote employer sponsored wellness programs and encourage opportunities to support healthier workplaces.

The more direct reasoning for these savings comes from fewer sick days, higher productivity and decreased health costs. That said, when employers design workplace wellness programs, one very important piece of the puzzle is often overlooked – employee engagement. For any employee health and wellness programs to work, employees must participate in the program.

The first step to creating any wellness program is to involve your most important stakeholders – your employees – in the process. The simplest way to make this happen is to ask them. Consider hosting an e-mail brainstorm or in-person meeting to talk about the sort of wellness programs they would like to see and how they view themselves participating in the program. Make sure they know their opinions matter and are essential to their own wellbeing and the success of the company. By using this approach, employees will know that they are true stakeholders in the process and, therefore, will be more willing to invest themselves in the program.

The second step is to explore a rewards-based system. In my experience, rewards can provide a tangible incentive for a sometimes abstract goal, such as achieving better health and wellness. The rewards also improve the likelihood for longer-term engagement in the program. They should also be based on whatever motivates a company’s employees so, again, I recommend capturing this insight directly from your employees.

The final step is to ensure that every employee can participate in the program. What does this mean? Many Americans have conditions, such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, orthopedic or joint issues and many others, that may preclude them from participating in more traditional fitness activities. And far too often, employees are afraid to voice their concerns about such issues.

Fortunately, fitness equipment is evolving with the new health care environment. For example, exercise equipment of the past was specialized to align with specific physical ability levels and now there are total-body, universally-designed recumbent exercise machines that offer safe, but also highly effective exercise for people of virtually all ability levels – including those with disabilities, in rehabilitation, or desiring health and wellness to get the most out of life. These machines provide quality, low-impact, inclusive exercise that can improve a person’s personal health, giving people the strength they need to improve their health and wellness.

So whether it’s offering in-house exercise facilities and equipment, healthy cooking demonstrations, nutritional assessments, weekly yoga classes, or some combination thereof, corporate wellness programs are making impressive strides in improving the health and wellness of employees, saving corporations money in the long-run and encouraging a real shift in employee culture.

I, for one, hope that in the next 10 years, we’re able to not only get 100 percent of organizations to offer a health and wellness program, but also that these programs continue to make a real impact on the health of the country.

Steve Sarns is the vice president of sales and marketing for NuStep, Inc., a company dedicated to creating life-transforming recumbent cross trainers that provide safe and effective exercise for multiple age and patient groups. He can be reached at stevesarns@nustep.com.