Vente De Machine A Sous 91 Jouer Au Casino En Ligne 1H Gratuite

ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE
20 |
ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE
©
2006 WELLNESS COUNCILS OF AMERICA | WWW.WELCOA.ORG
WELCOA®
F
irst and foremost, it’s important to understand
that this survey was not undertaken to be a
primary research study. Rather, this survey
is practical in nature and our goal was to capture the
practices, strategies, and approaches of WELCOA member
companies. With this in mind, there are a number of
implications and items worthy of discussion arising from
WELCOA’s Membership Survey. The following items are
worth pondering. Worksite health promotion programs are
still relatively new in the overall scope of
things.
While many of us have been striving to advance better
health in the workplace for almost three decades, it
appears from the results of this member survey that
workplace health promotion programs are still a relatively
new phenomenon. In fact, according to the survey
results, 47.9% of respondents indicated that their wellness
programs had been in place for three years or less. On
the other end of the spectrum, it is interesting to note that
21.7% of respondents indicated that their programs have
been in place for more than 10 years. When you consider
the fact that many professionals have been working for
over three decades to get the message out about the
benefits of workplace wellness programs, this finding may
appear to be a little discouraging. Rather than being
discouraged, this is really more of a case of “being right
too soon is to be wrong.” And, when you think about how
long it took for tobacco cessation programs to take hold,
the findings support the reality that it takes a long time to
initiate a movement such as this. Many worksite health promotion
practitioners are new to their jobs.
From the survey results we have uncovered the fact that
many people are relatively new to their positions. In
fact, 57.1% of respondents indicated that they had been
involved in their company’s health promotion efforts
for three years or less. Again, when you consider the
relative newness of corporate health promotion programs,
this finding doesn’t really come as much of a surprise. However, it is encouraging to see more and more
companies allocating human resources to lead and take
responsibility for delivering worksite wellness initiatives. Worksite health promotion programs are
not only for larger companies any more.
There was a time in the field of workplace health
promotion that people believed that wellness initiatives
©
2006 WELLNESS COUNCILS OF AMERICA | WWW.WELCOA.ORG
were only appropriate for larger companies. While
that may have been true for awhile, the results of this
survey indicate that health promotion programs are
catching on in smaller companies. In fact, 41.4%
of survey respondents indicated that their programs
addressed employee populations of 500 or less. From
our perspective, this is good news as more business and
health leaders of small companies are getting the message
that good health is good business. The challenge for the
coming years is to make sure that programs are developed
for the smallest companies in the U.S.—those with
employee populations of 10 or less. Indeed, this is where
a significant portion of the population make their living. As a result, worksite wellness programs will need to be
developed to address their unique and specific needs. Time and resources are the primary
barriers in worksite wellness programs.
This is a very interesting discovery. From the results of
this survey, it appears that the most significant barriers
are inadequate time available and an inadequate budget
allocated. These findings are consistent with other themes
uncovered throughout the rest of the survey. Indeed, from
other questions we learned that worksite health promotion
programs were relatively new, and many practitioners were
also new to their positions. With this in mind, it is not a
stretch to think that things like budgets, job descriptions,
and supportive policies are still in the formation process. We look for this to change dramatically in the years
to come as health promotion programs take hold in
organizational settings. Human Resource professionals are driving
worksite wellness initiatives among
WELCOA members.
It was clear from the survey results that Human Resource/
Benefit professionals are the primary constituents who
are leading worksite wellness initiatives. In fact, 38.9%
of survey respondents indicated that they worked within
the division of Human Resources/Benefits within their
organization. In addition to this finding, it was also
uncovered that 55.3% of respondents’ wellness programs
fell directly under the leadership of the Human Resources/
Benefits umbrella. It was encouraging to note that
20.2% of survey respondents actually indicated that their
organization’s wellness initiative fell under the health
promotion/wellness department/area. ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE
|
21
ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE
Many organizations have multiple sites
and multiple shifts to reach with their
health promotion programming efforts.
individual health status. It also indicates that they are
getting more comfortable in addressing HIPAA issues
within a worksite context. As the penetration of HRAs and
health screenings continues, we believe that programs and
interventions will evolve quickly in the coming years. We
also see this as a very positive finding because employers will
now have strategic data by which they can monitor their
organization’s worksite wellness initiative. Oftentimes when we think about worksite health
promotion programs, we think mainly in terms of one
core program and one identifiable population. However,
our survey results indicated that a significant portion of
members have multiple sites and multiple shifts. In fact,
79.8% of respondents indicated that they had multiple
sites and an additional 73.7% of respondents indicated
that they had multiple shifts. This presents a significant
challenge in advancing health at the workplace. Clearly
many of the programs that have been developed target
a particular worksite and the traditional 8-5 working
schedule. These findings indicate that there is substantial
opportunity to address people working in the second and
third shift as well as those working from remote locations. And, with the advent of technology, many of these people
working at remote locations may be workforces of a single
individual. It will be interesting to watch the development
of these programs over time. Worksites are looking to outside
providers for help.
Rather than going it alone, it is evident from the results
of the WELCOA membership survey that employers are
looking to establish strategic partnerships with outside
entities to advance wellness in the workplace. Indeed,
46.6% of respondents indicated that they had approached
insurance providers for help. An additional 35.9%
of employers reported contacting health providers for
assistance. Some 40 percent were looking to EAPs for
support and guidance. Another 29% had indicated that
they were consulting with benefit providers and third
party administrators. As you can see from the results of
this survey, many employers were working with multiple
outside providers on their wellness program. We believe
this finding is good news. As outside providers continue
to develop more proactive and useful approaches for
employers, it is clear that they will have a very receptive
market for their products. Employees are the primary focus of
worksite wellness initiatives.
From the WELCOA member survey, it was discovered
that most organizations are concentrating their efforts on
addressing the health needs of their employees. In fact,
98.7% of respondents indicated that employees were the
primary population eligible to participate in the company’s
wellness program. It was interesting to note that 47.2% of
respondents had opened the program up to spouses. An
additional 29.1% were making the program available to
dependents while 21.3% of respondents were addressing
retirees’ needs. To us this is the case of the glass is half
full. On the one hand, it is encouraging to see that
almost 50% of companies are making programs available
to spouses. On the other hand, it’s discouraging to see
that roughly half of employers are not addressing needs
of a population of whom they may pay significant health
insurance premiums for. Optimistically, we look for this
to change rapidly in the coming years. Incentives are growing in popularity, but
are still in their infancy.
From the WELCOA member survey, it’s clear that
employers are beginning to understand the value of
incentives within worksite wellness initiatives. Specifically,
74% of employers indicated that they use prizes to incent
participation. Another 47% provide company time to
employees to participate. Some 46% leverage special
recognition as a core incentive. What is interesting to
note, given the fact that many programs are still in their
infancy, is that the incentives being used are pretty
basic. As these programs grow in sophistication,
we’re betting that more consequential
incentives will become mainstream. Things
like reimbursements and premium reductions,
although relatively novel at this time should
become much more standard in the future. Organizations are embracing health risk
appraisals and health screenings.
From the survey, we learned that 61.6% of WELCOA
members had offered an HRA to their employees within the
last 12 months. An additional 72.9% had offered health
screenings to their employee populations within the last 12
months. These findings indicate that employers are clearly
warming up to the idea of measuring and quantifying
22 |
ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE
Exercise, weight management, and
stress management interventions are
organizational priorities.
When it comes to programming, WELCOA members
©
2006 WELLNESS COUNCILS OF AMERICA | WWW.WELCOA.ORG
WELCOA®
revealed that exercise and fitness programs were their
highest priority. In fact, 85.4% of members reported
that they planned to address this topic in the coming 24
months. Another 78% reported that they would address
weight management/nutrition education in the next two
years. And 72.6% indicated that stress management
interventions would also be addressed during this
timeframe. It is interesting to note that medical selfcare, tobacco cessation, disease management programs
(cholesterol and blood pressure), and women’s health issues
were also high priorities. Health risk appraisals and incentive
campaigns will be important resources.
Similar to the previous implication, survey respondents
indicated that HRAs and incentive campaigns will be
their primary resources needed in the next two years. Indeed, some 66% of survey respondents indicated the
need for HRAs and another 57% indicated the need for
incentive campaigns. In addition to these two essential
resources, survey respondents also indicated that needs
and interest survey tools, medical claims analyses, and
presentation materials would be important as well. Employee health, cost containment, and
employee morale are the motivators that
drive wellness programming.
In an interesting finding,
WELCOA survey
respondents indicated
that improving employee
health (70.8%),
containing health care
costs (70.2%) and
enhancing employee
morale (46.8%)
were the most
significant
motivating
factors
for their
organization’s
wellness
program. While
there’s no question that
these three issues are
significant motivators,
of primary importance
in this finding was the
fact that only 28.8%
©
2006 WELLNESS COUNCILS OF AMERICA | WWW.WELCOA.ORG
of respondents indicated that lost productivity was a
motivating force for their company’s health promotion
program. As the health and productivity data continues
to permeate the literature, we look for this to grow in
importance—especially when these costs can be larger
than the healthcare costs themselves. Program participation and participant
satisfaction are the primary evaluation
targets.
Evaluating worksite wellness initiatives has been
considered for many years to be a work in progress. We
believe that’s because the programs are still evolving. Indeed, the emphasis in the last 10 years—for the vast
majority of the companies—has been on designing
and delivering solid initiatives. As that is being done,
evaluation logically takes on a larger priority. Survey
respondents indicated that their primary evaluation
targets consisted largely of program participation (86.2%)
and participant satisfaction (65.5%). In the future,
we’re confident that evaluation targets will be broadened
to include changes in health risk status, increases in
productivity, and containment of healthcare costs. Summary and Conclusions
Again, it is important to understand that this survey was
designed to be practical in nature. In fact, the decision
was made early on that this undertaking was not meant to
be an in-depth research study. Our goal was to learn more
about WELCOA members and their practices, strategies,
and approaches to workplace wellness. Our challenge now
is to take this information and to create products, services,
and communication strategies to meet their needs. We find the results of the survey to be very encouraging. The next 10 years are critical ones in the overall scope of
this movement. However, working together, we believe
that many of the problems we’re experiencing now—
including obesity, high levels of stress, and lack of physical
activity just to mention a few—will begin to fall under
the successful control of businesses, healthcare providers,
insurance companies, and society at large. H
David Hunnicutt, PhD is the President of The Wellness Councils
of America. WELCOA is one of the nation’s most trusted resources
in workplace wellness. WELCOA makes its headquarters in the
nations heartland—Omaha, NE.
Suggested Citation: Implications And Discussions From WELCOA’s Membership
Survey. (2006). WELCOA’s Absolute Advantage Magazine, 5(9), 20-23.
ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE
| 23