SAN DIEGO, April 23, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In businesses across the nation, workplace wellness has morphed from a "nice-to-have" fringe benefit to a "must-have" cost-containment strategy. Wellness has real return-on-investment potential, and it can work on practically any level, according to Healthyroads, Inc., the total population health management subsidiary of American Specialty Health Incorporated (ASH). That's why in May, during Global Employee Health and Fitness Month, Healthyroads is offering employers nine "best practice" tips to encourage organizations to build a culture of wellness at their worksites.
"As noble as it is to celebrate employee health and fitness in the month of May, it makes better fiscal sense to implement a sustainable, long-term wellness program that can, over the long run, reduce company health costs, and increase employee productivity and morale," said Healthyroads CEO and chairman George DeVries.
According to the 2012 Annual Plan Design Survey published by the National Business Group on Health,64 percent of employers surveyed indicated that wellness initiatives are among the top three most effective tactics for controlling health care costs. And, a February 2010 study published in Health Affairs (Baiker, et al.) found that medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs and that absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent.
To mark Global Employee Health and Fitness Month, Healthyroads offers the following tips to help companies begin building a fit company:
1. Understand Your Goals. Does your company have a broad population of smokers with smoking-related health issues that are increasing health care costs? Are there work-related back injuries increasing medical utilization? Know the root causes of your increasing health costs by studying your claims data, absenteeism and other issues that can reveal the real causes of your increasing health costs. Then develop a wellness program that helps to reduce those issues, among others.
2. Know what motivates your employees. Set real and achievable goals, then create a meaningful incentive to motivate healthy changes in your culture. Based on human nature, individuals must be mentally ready to make a change before they will engage in healthy activities. Incentives can help stimulate the motivation your employees may need to get started or keep going.
3. Get senior management support for your health improvement initiatives. Is there a manager in your organization who is ready to quit tobacco, lose weight or get fit? Encourage him or her to become a champion of health and fitness, charting his or her progress along the way. For example, if senior managers smoke, employees will have a hard time believing your company's commitment to go smoke-free. Encourage your leaders to set an example for healthier lifestyles.
4. Build a champions network. Ideally, this network should consist of representatives of the entire company supporting any company-wide health improvement initiatives. Your champions are the eyes, ears, arms, and legs of your wellness program and can help you disseminate information and provide feedback.
5. Provide consistent, multi-faceted communication touch-points throughout the course of the year. Oftentimes, employers want to believe they can simply "launch" a health improvement program, and those employees who need it most will participate. That is often not the case. It may take many messages to get through to some people. Vary the mode in which you communicate your efforts, using posters, emails, meetings, contests, bulletin boards, word of mouth and onsite health activities. Different approaches get through to different people.
6. Implement population-wide onsite health activities throughout the year. This will generate awareness and enthusiasm, especially when set up as competitions. The Healthyroads® Total Health Management Program offers 20 creative and fun challenges that employers can use to get employees healthier year-round.
7. Promote a culture of wellness. Get your whole company involved in the process of health improvement. Encourage healthy alternatives at luncheons, offer healthy foods in vending machines, organize lunchtime run/walk clubs and send out monthly emails that keep people motivated. When health surrounds you, you're apt to embrace it!
8. Provide onsite educational activities. Research local or community resources available to provide lunch and learns, health fairs, onsite massage therapy or gym membership discounts for your employees.
9. Initiate and integrate. Wellness programs that are included as part of an employee's benefit plans (medical, prescription drug, disease management, EAP, etc.) provide a seamless program design that streamlines communication and education.
"Motivating lasting behavior change is not easy; health improvement programs compete with your employees' other life demands," added DeVries. "But following these best practices can help you get their attention and give them rewarding reasons to get involved. Then, everyone wins."
About Healthyroads
Healthyroads, Inc., a subsidiary of national health services company American Specialty Health Incorporated (ASH), offers a wide range of total population health services solutions—including award-winning telephone-based lifestyle and condition coaching programs, member engagement promotion programs, program management, health risk assessment, biometric screenings, claims analytics, risk stratification, outreach, incentive management programs, competitive challenges, worksite wellness programs and/or an integrated online wellness portal, Healthyroads.com.
Healthyroads offers these programs to more than 6.1 million members nationally. ASH provides total population health services, specialty health care management, and fitness and exercise services to health plans, insurance carriers, employer groups and trust funds. Based in San Diego, ASH has more than 800 employees and serves over 27 million members. For more information about ASH health and wellness programs, visit ASHCompanies.com or call (800) 848-3555. Follow us on Twitter @ASHCompanies or @Healthyroads and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Healthyroads!