Too few wellness programs meet the needs of employees: study
Before implementing a formal wellness program at Xerox Canada this year, Violette Lareau, the director of employee engagement and wellness, knew she needed to find out what health concerns the company’s 4,000 employees were grappling with.
Lareau and her team started by analyzing drug and benefit costs, employee assistance plan usage and short- and long-term disability claims. These costs totalled more than $10 million in 2005 and the company lost 14,476 work days.
“The only way that we can help with the cost aspect of things is to introduce some prevention and that’s why we went with the wellness program,” she said. “It’s something that helps our people take ownership for their health and take better care of themselves.”
Xerox then held cardiovascular assessments across the country this spring. Of the 960 employees who participated, 70 per cent were overweight, 25 per cent had high blood pressure and 23 per cent had high cholesterol.
Based on these results, the wellness team knew fitness and nutrition programs would be the most important for employees. The company instituted a month-long fitness challenge in the summer and a wellness challenge in October and November. The challenges encouraged employees to get at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise every day, eat more fruits and vegetables and do stress-reducing activities.
“If you do it for a month, chances are you’re going to stick with it after the fact,” said Lareau. “Once you lose the weight, your cholesterol and other indicators come in line.”
Xerox will be conducting the same risk assessments again next year across the country to see how employees have improved in the past year.
Performing this kind of analysis is the first step in creating a solid wellness program. But only 50.3 per cent of organizations do so and only 17 per cent record baseline data to use for evaluation, according to the National Wellness Survey Report 2006 by Buffett and Company Worksite Wellness, a Whitby, Ont.-based wellness consulting firm. This is unfortunate because analyzing claims data is the best way to understand the magnitude of risk that an organization is facing, said the company’s CEO and president Ed Buffett.
“People are basically intuitively introducing programs without really knowing that the issue is in fact a risk at their work site,” said Buffett.
This lack of analysis has led to a disparity between the programs offered and the health risks actually faced by companies.
For instance, stress, both inside and outside work, was cited by 78.4 per cent and 57.9 per cent of the 512 survey respondents as being a health concern. But only 32.8 per cent of organizations offer stress management programs.
Xerox was one of the few that offered such a program. During its data analysis, Xerox discovered that mental health issues were the number one cause for short-term disability claims.
“Mental health, as with everyone, is the biggest concern so we knew we had to do something to help both our managers and our employees manage their mental health challenges in this demanding environment,” said Celia O’Brien-Dumas, manager of occupational health services at Xerox.
The company held 85 orientations to educate employees about its employee assistance program, and held nationwide stress management seminars for employees. Xerox also provided mental health workshops for managers to help take the stigma out of mental illness, help them recognize when an employee might be at risk and teach them how to take proactive measures.
While 90.3 per cent of organizations offer at least one wellness initiative, compared to only 44 per cent when Buffett and Company first launched the survey in 1997, 58.1 per cent of respondents said a lack of budget resources is the biggest barrier they face in setting up a wellness program.
“One of the reasons that money is an issue is because people aren’t measuring what they’re doing. They’re not collecting data and they’re not able to demonstrate that there is a value here, so they’re getting the crumbs from the table,” said Buffett.
Only 29.6 per cent of organizations consistently evaluate the outcomes of wellness initiatives, down from 68.6 per cent in 2003, and only 18.6 per cent do a return on investment analysis. If there’s no proof the program is working to either improve health or to save the company money, then it’s going to be the first program to get cut when the business gets tight, said Buffett.
“If you’ve got a wellness program and you’re not measuring outcomes, then you’re wasting your time,” said Buffett.
This is something Lareau at Xerox was well aware of so she used studies that showed wellness programs could bring a return on investment of $3 to $5 for each dollar spent to get support from the executive team.
“It’s really a business case and it was really put forward in that light,” said Lareau. “We’ll know at the end of three years if we managed to contain our costs.”
The company is already well on its way. Last year, before rolling out the program, it piloted the cardiovascular assessment in its call centre in Saint John, N.B. Six months later, these same employees had become more active and lost weight, even without any extra initiatives. Just getting their baseline measurements prompted them to take action and the company saved $1.80 for every dollar spent for the assessment, said Lareau.
Steps to success
Implementing a wellness initiative
Wellness is an important factor in a productive organization, but improving employee wellness is about more than offering flu clinics or CPR courses. It’s important to match wellness initiatives with the health concerns of the organization.
Ed Buffett, president and CEO of wellness consulting firm Buffett and Company Worksite Wellness, offers these tips to developing a successful wellness program.
•Perform a situational analysis to find out the health risks in the organization. This can be done by looking at claims data such as workers’ compensation, prescription drugs and short- and long-term disability.
•Survey employees to find out what they would like.
•Create a steering committee with representatives of all groups from within the organization to make sure all interests are heard. Everyone, regardless of title or location within the organization, should have an equal voice on the committee.
•Set goals. Know what the desired outcome is.
•Measure baseline values so that the outcome of the program can be evaluated.
•Market and promote the program. Aggressive internal marketing can push participation up to 40 to 60 per cent, as opposed to the average 10 per cent. Incentives, such as raffles and prizes, can also boost participation.
•Make it fun. A free T-shirt might get an employee to sign up, but a fun and engaging program will keep her involved.
Lareau and her team started by analyzing drug and benefit costs, employee assistance plan usage and short- and long-term disability claims. These costs totalled more than $10 million in 2005 and the company lost 14,476 work days.
“The only way that we can help with the cost aspect of things is to introduce some prevention and that’s why we went with the wellness program,” she said. “It’s something that helps our people take ownership for their health and take better care of themselves.”
Xerox then held cardiovascular assessments across the country this spring. Of the 960 employees who participated, 70 per cent were overweight, 25 per cent had high blood pressure and 23 per cent had high cholesterol.
Based on these results, the wellness team knew fitness and nutrition programs would be the most important for employees. The company instituted a month-long fitness challenge in the summer and a wellness challenge in October and November. The challenges encouraged employees to get at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise every day, eat more fruits and vegetables and do stress-reducing activities.
“If you do it for a month, chances are you’re going to stick with it after the fact,” said Lareau. “Once you lose the weight, your cholesterol and other indicators come in line.”
Xerox will be conducting the same risk assessments again next year across the country to see how employees have improved in the past year.
Performing this kind of analysis is the first step in creating a solid wellness program. But only 50.3 per cent of organizations do so and only 17 per cent record baseline data to use for evaluation, according to the National Wellness Survey Report 2006 by Buffett and Company Worksite Wellness, a Whitby, Ont.-based wellness consulting firm. This is unfortunate because analyzing claims data is the best way to understand the magnitude of risk that an organization is facing, said the company’s CEO and president Ed Buffett.
“People are basically intuitively introducing programs without really knowing that the issue is in fact a risk at their work site,” said Buffett.
This lack of analysis has led to a disparity between the programs offered and the health risks actually faced by companies.
For instance, stress, both inside and outside work, was cited by 78.4 per cent and 57.9 per cent of the 512 survey respondents as being a health concern. But only 32.8 per cent of organizations offer stress management programs.
Xerox was one of the few that offered such a program. During its data analysis, Xerox discovered that mental health issues were the number one cause for short-term disability claims.
“Mental health, as with everyone, is the biggest concern so we knew we had to do something to help both our managers and our employees manage their mental health challenges in this demanding environment,” said Celia O’Brien-Dumas, manager of occupational health services at Xerox.
The company held 85 orientations to educate employees about its employee assistance program, and held nationwide stress management seminars for employees. Xerox also provided mental health workshops for managers to help take the stigma out of mental illness, help them recognize when an employee might be at risk and teach them how to take proactive measures.
While 90.3 per cent of organizations offer at least one wellness initiative, compared to only 44 per cent when Buffett and Company first launched the survey in 1997, 58.1 per cent of respondents said a lack of budget resources is the biggest barrier they face in setting up a wellness program.
“One of the reasons that money is an issue is because people aren’t measuring what they’re doing. They’re not collecting data and they’re not able to demonstrate that there is a value here, so they’re getting the crumbs from the table,” said Buffett.
Only 29.6 per cent of organizations consistently evaluate the outcomes of wellness initiatives, down from 68.6 per cent in 2003, and only 18.6 per cent do a return on investment analysis. If there’s no proof the program is working to either improve health or to save the company money, then it’s going to be the first program to get cut when the business gets tight, said Buffett.
“If you’ve got a wellness program and you’re not measuring outcomes, then you’re wasting your time,” said Buffett.
This is something Lareau at Xerox was well aware of so she used studies that showed wellness programs could bring a return on investment of $3 to $5 for each dollar spent to get support from the executive team.
“It’s really a business case and it was really put forward in that light,” said Lareau. “We’ll know at the end of three years if we managed to contain our costs.”
The company is already well on its way. Last year, before rolling out the program, it piloted the cardiovascular assessment in its call centre in Saint John, N.B. Six months later, these same employees had become more active and lost weight, even without any extra initiatives. Just getting their baseline measurements prompted them to take action and the company saved $1.80 for every dollar spent for the assessment, said Lareau.
Steps to success
Implementing a wellness initiative
Wellness is an important factor in a productive organization, but improving employee wellness is about more than offering flu clinics or CPR courses. It’s important to match wellness initiatives with the health concerns of the organization.
Ed Buffett, president and CEO of wellness consulting firm Buffett and Company Worksite Wellness, offers these tips to developing a successful wellness program.
•Perform a situational analysis to find out the health risks in the organization. This can be done by looking at claims data such as workers’ compensation, prescription drugs and short- and long-term disability.
•Survey employees to find out what they would like.
•Create a steering committee with representatives of all groups from within the organization to make sure all interests are heard. Everyone, regardless of title or location within the organization, should have an equal voice on the committee.
•Set goals. Know what the desired outcome is.
•Measure baseline values so that the outcome of the program can be evaluated.
•Market and promote the program. Aggressive internal marketing can push participation up to 40 to 60 per cent, as opposed to the average 10 per cent. Incentives, such as raffles and prizes, can also boost participation.
•Make it fun. A free T-shirt might get an employee to sign up, but a fun and engaging program will keep her involved.
