Company Health and Wellness : What are Company Wellness Programs?

The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports defines wellness as “a multidimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of wellness.” Wellness looks beyond the current model of treating disease and focuses on preventive conduct and healthier lifestyles. Workplace Health Promotion Programs, also usually referred to as Workplace Health Promotion Programs, serve as a complement to existing insurance-based health benefit programs and can take many forms and address a myriad different potential health conditions. They are a powerful strategy to promote positive lifestyle changes that can result in significant cost savings for corporations.

Examples of potential elements of a Employee Health Promotion Program cover:

Health Risk Assessments / Employee Wellness Screenings – Health Risk Assessments (aka Health Risk Appraisals), evaluate the most prevalent lifestyle-related risks of an individual. HRAs frequently comprise of screenings for Blood Pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels and other health indicators. These analyses support important benchmarking measures that ideally will allow staff members to prevent or reduce their risk of illnesses. Finding Wealth Through Wellness, As noted by Kathryn Krivy, director of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Wellness Institute in Chicago, “Medically based Health Risk Assessments are a necessity because in order to affect modifications in your employer, you need to know what the problems are, and you just don’t know until you get the data.”

Physical Activity and Weight Management – One of the most popular Company Health Promotion Programs is for businesses to support access to a health and wellness center, often on-Site. Other potential measures include offering healthier snack machines and cafeteria options, weight management support groups and fitness challenge programs. Some businesses, like hospital group Baptist Health South Florida, will even pay for workers to attend weight-loss courses such as Weight Watchers.

Awareness and Education Programs – Many  organizations have events discussing the benefits of nutrition, safety or physical fitness, among other subject matters. Other options are to host a health and wellness fair or conduct a disease-awareness campaign.

Behavior Modification – This covers issues like smoking, wearing seat belts, and alcohol use. While many corporations will provide assistance for workers looking to alter behavior, some corporations, like medical benefits administrator Weyco, Inc., mandate changes, such as stopping smoking, as a condition of employment.

Alternative Treatments – Other Company Wellness Programs can cover absorbing some or all of the costs for massages, stress-reduction activities like yoga or even herbal medicines.