No matter how creative you are or how acute you are in business, if your company is large, you need good employees. Good employees are a company’s biggest asset, so it only follows that focusing on employee well-being is important. Whether its mental health, financial health or physical health, when an employee is fit in all areas, they’re more focused and productive at work. It’s one reason that workplaces have done more to help prevent chronic disease and promote a healthier lifestyle than even the medical profession. While preventing disease isn’t their ultimate goal, having a healthy workforce helps them achieve their goal of providing products and services.
Benefit programs are offered to help recruit the most impressive candidates for the job.
Companies started offering benefits, such as healthcare, retirement plans and sick leave, to attract the most qualified candidates for a position. They help to retain good employees, too. Wellness programs work the same way, but with added benefits. They help change unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, a sedentary lifestyle and diet. It doesn’t take much to realize that once you change an unhealthy behavior, you’ll lower the risk for chronic disease and that lowers healthcare costs. Helping an employee make one small behavior change, such as eating healthier, can lower the potential for a serious, yet manageable disease like diabetes, that can send health care costs rising.
Wellness programs may focus on healthcare, but they also reap many mental health benefits.
Whether it’s eating healthier or exercising, it’s good for the body. It turns out that it’s also good for the brain. Studies show that exercising can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. It also helps boost cognitive thinking, so employees function better when they’re on the job. Eating healthier can help prevent those blood sugar spikes that end up dropping as rapidly as they rise. There’s also a food-mood connection with food that provides nutrients such as vitamin D, B vitamins, magnesium, folic acid, tryptophan and Omega3 fatty acids can also help with mental health issues and a healthier brain.
Lowering healthcare costs is a big reason many employers choose wellness programs.
It’s not hard to understand how wellness programs for employees can reduce healthcare costs. If you change just a few behaviors, it can lead to reducing risks of serious conditions, such as diabetes. When you consider that the cost for treating just one condition, such as high blood pressure, incur $47.5 billion each year in direct medical expense. That’s not including the $3.5 billion in lost productivity. When you include into it, other costs that are related for health care services, it totals approximately $131 billion each year. A healthy diet and regular exercise can lower blood pressure. Wellness programs that encourage a healthier lifestyle, can significantly reduce health care costs.
- According to a review of 100 different papers, the average return on investment for a wellness program was 3.27.
- Absenteeism is lowered when companies focus on wellness programs. Twenty-two different studies focused on that aspect and found that it saved the company $2.73 for every dollar spent.
- When employees feel good and feel they’re important, they’re more productive. A wellness program provides both.
- A good wellness program provides the tools to help people make behavior changes. They make it simpler, provide skills and support to motivate people to change their lifestyle and live healthier.
For more information, contact us today at Travel Trim