What are Employee Wellness ?
The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports interprets 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 behaviors and healthier lifestyles. Employee Wellness , also usually referred to as Employee Wellness , 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 Wellness include:
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 include screenings for Blood Pressure (BP), cholesterol, glucose levels and other health indicators. These analyses support significant benchmarking measures that ideally will allow employees to prevent or lower 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 transformation in your business, you need to know what the concerns are, and you just do not know until you get the data.”
Physical Activity and Weight Management – One of the most popular Employee Wellness is for corporations to support access to a fitness center, frequently on-Site. Other potential measures include offering healthier snack machines and cafeteria options, weight management support groups and fitness challenge programs. Some corporations, like hospital group Baptist Health South Florida, will even pay for employees to frequent weight-loss sessions such as Weight Watchers.
Awareness and Education Programs – Many corporations have events discussing the benefits of nutrition, safety or physical fitness, among other topics. Other options are to host a health & wellness fair or administer a disease-awareness campaign.
Behavior Modification – This covers issues like smoking, wearing seat belts, and alcohol use. While many corporations will support assistance for employees looking to change behavior, some corporations, like healthcare benefits administrator Weyco, Inc., mandate transformation, such as quitting smoking, as a condition of employment.
Alternative Treatments – Other Employee Wellness can include absorbing some or all of the costs for massages, stress-reduction activities like yoga or even herbal medicines.
