Employee Health and Wellness

<h2>Employee Wellness Programs offer Long-Term Savings</h2>

Employee Wellness Programs, according to an article in Crain’s Detroit Business, come in two varieties:  Employee Wellness Programs or Medical Insurance products that aim to reduce costs if healthy habits are followed.  Both options are a good choice, but only one will really offer long-term health benefits for your employees and reduce costs over the years.

<h3>Employee Wellness Programs offer Assistance</h3>

Insurance-based products offer employees the opportunity, according to the article by Jay Green, to save money on their premiums if they follow certain steps, including performing an online health assessment, visiting their medical provider, and agree to adopt a healthy lifestyle.  These plans usually involve one coach call to the employee during the first 90 days.  We wonder if these brief wellness encounters will actually change a individual’s lifestyle.

It is the overall change in a individual’s lifestyle, as well as disease prevention that will lead to reduce health costs in the future.

Employee Wellness Programs offer convenient health risk assessments and screening tests for things like diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.  As the article states, these have initial start-up costs, but the savings accrue over time and employees are more likely to stay active in an worksite employee Wellness Program.

<h3>Employee Wellness Programs Get Results</h3>

Finally, the article states that businesses with an effective Employee Wellness Program can expect to see “500 percent reduce absenteeism, 400 percent fewer disability claims, and 350 percent reduce health care costs.”  These are numbers that are very hard to argue with.