Wellness Programs and Health Costs (The Guardian: 20/2/2018)

One of the main benefits of wellness in the workplace is to improve employee health. Employee wellness programs can help reduce health costs.

Building a sustainable company requires making investments in the present that will hold for the future. Workplace wellness programs are an important way to invest in people. When employees feel their employees have invested in their wellbeing, they have a reason to stay with the company longer, and healthy employees result in lower health-care expenses for both employee and employer.

A successful approach starts with people taking the necessary steps to understand their own health. Through regular health screenings, employees get the information they need to take more control over their own health. Approaches such as having access to health coaches and confidential counseling address some of the common health ailments. Such approaches help develop targeted programs and benefits to address common risks.

In addition to personal benefits of these activities, employers can identify trends that can be addressed across the company. Comprehensive wellness programs that follow effective behavior change strategies will improve employee health behaviors and will reduce elevated health risks. Behavior change is the key to reducing health risks, reducing the prevalence of chronic disease, and reducing employee-related expenses. It is impossible to have good health unless you have healthy behaviors.

Consider elevated health risks such as high blood pressure, high blood glucose, or high blood cholesterol. Most of these risks are caused by poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, weight gain, stress, tobacco use, poor sleep habits and other health behaviors. Elevated health risks lead directly to the development of chronic disease – a disease that takes a lifetime to develop and which ultimately end in death. These are the major killers and include cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, type II diabetes, stroke, digestive disorders and many more. The relationship between behavior and employee related expenses and poor health is easy to understand.

The scientific evidence that links unhealthy behavior with a disease, elevated health risks, elevated health care costs, and poor quality of life is extensive and helps us understand why wellness programs that focus on improving health behavior are more likely to be successful.

Workplace wellbeing programs that have the intention of reducing their healthcare costs spend must keep their programs focused on the problem: unhealthy employee behaviors. Behavior change is the key to having a successful wellness program. The best employee wellness programs keep the focus on the need to help employees adopt and maintain healthy behaviors. Behavior change is the key to reducing health risks, reducing the prevalence of chronic disease, and reducing employee-related expenses

 

Reply back to bhakti@impactafya.com or call +255 754 694 643 with your feedback. We welcome your suggestions for corporate wellness tips you’d like to see covered in our future columns.

Bhakti Shah, MPH is the Founder and Managing Director of ImpactAfya Ltd, collaborating with Workplace Options and Mayo Clinic, USA to provide Corporate Wellness and EAP Solutions in East Africa. Bhakti is also the Advisor for the Africa Business Portal and the Past President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Tanzania.

 

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