What is a wellness program and how can it help save you money

What is a Wellness Program?

  A wellness program is a comprehensive health initiative designed to maintain or improve well-being through proper diet, exercise, stress management, and illness prevention. Wellness programs can include smoking cessation, weight loss education, fitness challenges, therapy, telemedicine and many other plans designed to increase the overall health of the individuals on your workforce.

  In the past, wellness programs were offered by primary care physicians and insurance companies. However, there has been a growing trend for companies to develop workplace wellness programs for their employees. Workplace wellness programs not only fight the upward trend of unhealthy employees, but also decrease medical care costs and insurance premiums. Employers can provide information in a variety of formats, such as wellness videos, pamphlets, health-related quizzes, and bulletin boards.

  According to The American Institute for Preventative Medicine, 91% of today’s organizations have a health and wellness program, compared to 78% a decade ago. Workplace wellness program may also include incentives to encourage employee participation.

Wellness programs are different from health promotion

  What makes a wellness program different from health promotion? The definition of health is for the physical body to be disease free. There is usually an end goal to be healthy, i.e. losing weight or exercising to reduce the risk of long-term illnesses. Wellness is considered a lifestyle journey to balance of every facet of life: physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, environmental, and occupational well-being.

Why put a wellness program in place?

  A workplace wellness program provides resources and introduces interactive ways for employees to improve their health and well-being. Healthy employees have low rates of absenteeism and higher rates of productivity, and are less likely to be injured on the job. As a result, employers experience a decrease in direct costs such as health care and workers’ compensation insurance. Workplace wellness programs can also improve employee morale and loyalty to the company.

There are several types of Wellness Programs available.  Along with increasing your overall employee health, depending on what benefits are available with the wellness plan there are tax incentives for the company to put one in place.  There are many benefits to having a wellness plan in place from supporting the employees to saving money.

To get more information on a wellness program for your business schedule a free consultation today!