Investment in Worksite Wellness Pays Big Dividends

High rates of employee turnover and the expenditures of sick days are increasingly taking bites into organization profits. The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in total cost the average organization. Many corporations are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that yield a decrease in these expenditures. It has become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness program / fitness program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need. Senior Leadership’s goals and objectives for a beneficial wellness program must be viewed through the perspective of increased employee work rate, lowered absenteeism due to health related causes, improved employee morale, lowered utilisation of organization subsidised health benefits, enhanced group cohesion and performance and a reduction in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction. It is obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a beneficial influence on the financial status of any organisation. The benefits from an employees point of view can be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, lowered body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle work related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social groups at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and worksite. To be most beneficial a wellness program needs to achieve both upper management’s and employee’s goals and objectives, and this can be accomplished through a program that will offer the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and wellness, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the essential changes to their physical condition that can be applied in the context of their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Worksite Wellness

Reduced Absenteeism – Dupont reduced absenteeism by 47.5 percent over six years for the participants of their organization fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992). Reduced Medical Care Expenditures – Steel case showed a decrease in healthcare claim expenditures of 55 percent for corporate fitness program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an average of $478.61 for participants vs. non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Health Promotion, Sept/Oct, 1991). Reduced Turnover – Turnover among fitness program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Organization was 32.4 percent lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988). Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana reported that its organization fitness program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Health Promotion, March, April, 1991).