Health Promotion : Are Corporate Wellness Programs Cost-Effective?

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that comprehensive worksite health promotion programs, or Employee Health Promotion Programs, can lower health care and insurance costs, decrease absenteeism, and improve performance and productivity. Other benefits demonstrated in studies include improved ability to attract and retain key personnel, greater worker allegiance, and improved public image of the corporation .

Healthcare and Insurance Costs

A number of studies provide evidence of lower medical and insurance costs for participants in health promotion programs, especially Employee Health Promotion Programs involving exercise.

For $30 per person , the Bank of America conducted a health promotion program for retirees using a risk assessment questionnaire, self-care books and other mailed materials. Insurance claims were reduced an average of $164 per year in this group while they increased $15 for the control group. Since they were able to document meaningful changes in risk behavior, they anticipate greater savings in future years.

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks participants claim $300 less per case for a one-year savings of $700,000. Savings for conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle are $722 per case.

Coca Cola reported a reduction in health care claims with a fitness program alone, saving $500 per worker per year for the workers (60%) who joined their HealthWorks fitness program. Prudential Insurance Corporation reports that the company ’s major medical costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each participant in its Employee Health Promotion Program.

Reduced Absenteeism

Absenteeism has been shown to be impacted by employer health promotion and Corporate Health Promotion Programs. The evidence indicates a meaningful reduction in absenteeism and resultant dollars saved as a result of employee exercise plans .

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks program decreased absent days .8% to save $2 million in one year. FitWorks members also spent 3.3 days less on short-term disability for an additional savings of $4.7 million.

Focusing health promotion efforts on high-risk workers can lead to better results. A national manufacturing company reports a decrease of 12.2% in disease days for these workers .

A two-year study by the DuPont Company of the effect of its comprehensive health promotion program on absences among workers reports that blue-collar workers at intervention sites had a 14 percent decline in disability days versus 5.8 percent decline for controls. There were a total of 11,726 fewer net disability days.

Enhanced Performance, Productivity and Morale

A number of organizations with health promotion programs report documented betterment in job attitude, work performance, energy level, and/or overall morale among program participants–all crucial factors in enhancing productivity.

A Johnson and Johnson study found that worker attitude changes were greater at health promotion intervention sites with significant positive attitude changes noted in the categories of organizational commitment, supervision, working conditions, job competence/security, and pay/benefits.

In a Canadian government study, the Canada Life Assurance Corporation experimental group realized a 4% increase in productivity after beginning an staff member fitness program, compared to the control group. Moreover , 47% of program participants reported that they felt more alert, had better rapport with their peer s, and generally enjoyed their work more.

Swedish investigators found that mental performance was significantly better in physically fit staff members than in non-fit staff members . Fit staff members committed 27 percent fewer errors on tasks involving concentration and short-term memory, as compared with the performance of non-fit staff members .

The Bottom Line

The following sample of workplace Corporate Health Promotion Program results have been reported by individual businesses -

Corporation -  Dollars Saved/Dollars Spent

• Bank of America (Fries) -  $5.96/$1

• PacBell -  $3.10/$1

• Wisconsin School District Insurance Group -  $4.47/$1

• Prudential Insurance -  $2.90/$1

• Bank of America (Leigh) -  $4.73/$1

• General Mills -  $3.50/$1

Summary

There is compelling evidence that a sizable portion of the billions of dollars currently spent by organizations on health-related costs is preventable by means of health promotion programming. Well-planned, comprehensive health promotion programs (Employee Health Promotion Programs and Employee Health Promotion Programs) have been shown to be cost-effective, specifically when the health promotion programming is matched to the health problems of the specific worker