Studies show that employees who exercise incur health care costs 31% lower than those who don’t. Executives say employee habits a big hurdle for health costs; More in Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC adopt wellness programs. Why? It is good business.
The Surgeon General determined that 70% of all illnesses are due to lifestyle related causes. One half of all medical costs are attributed to illnesses that could be prevented.
Each year, companies spend as much as $109 billion on employee medical services and prescription drugs and lose an estimated $18.2 billion because of lost productivity due to costly ailments.
Are Work site Health Promotion Programs Cost-Effective?
Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that comprehensive work site health promotion programs, or Corporate Wellness Program, can lower health care and insurance costs, decrease absenteeism, and improve performance and productivity.
Health Care and Insurance Costs
A number of studies provide evidence of lower medical and insurance costs for participants in health promotion programs, particularly programs involving exercise.
- For $30 per person, the Bank of America conducted a health promotion program for retirees using a risk assessment questionnaire, self-care books and other mailed materials. Insurance claims were reduced an average of $164 per year in this group while they increased $15 for the control group. Since they were able to document significant changes in risk behavior, they anticipate greater savings in future years.
- Pacific Bell’s FitWorks participants claim $300 less per case for a one year savings of $700,000. Savings for conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle are $722 per case.
- Coca Cola reported a reduction in health care claims with an exercise program alone, saving $500 per employee per year for the employees (60%) who joined their HealthWorks fitness program.
- Prudential Insurance Company reports that the company's major medical costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each participant in its wellness program.
Decreased Absenteeism
Absenteeism has been shown to be impacted by employer health promotion programs. The evidence indicates a significant reduction in absenteeism and resultant dollars saved as a result of employee fitness programs.
- Pacific Bell’s FitWorks program decreased absent days .8 percent to save $2 million in one year. FitWorks members also spent 3.3 days less on short term disability for an additional savings of $4.7 million.
- Focusing health promotion efforts on high risk employees can lead to better results. A national manufacturing company reports a decrease of 12.2% in illness days for these employees.
- A 2 year study by The DuPont Corporation of the effect of its comprehensive health promotion program on absences among workers reports that blue collar employees at intervention sites had a 14% decline in disability days vs. 5.8% decline for controls. There were a total of 11,726 fewer net disability days.
Enhanced Performance, Productivity and Morale
A number of employers with health promotion programs report documented improvement in job attitude, work performance, energy level, and/or overall morale among program participants--all critical factors in enhancing productivity.
- A Johnson & Johnson study found that employee attitude changes were greater at health promotion intervention sites with significant positive attitude changes noted in the categories of organizational commitment, supervision, working conditions, job competence/security, and pay/benefits.
- In a Canadian government study, the Canada Life Assurance Company experimental group realized a 4% increase in productivity after starting an employee fitness program, compared to the control group. Further, 47% of program participants reported that they felt more alert, had better rapport with their coworkers, and generally enjoyed their work more.
- Swedish investigators found that mental performance was significantly better in physically fit workers than in non-fit workers. Fit workers committed 27% fewer errors on tasks involving concentration and short-term memory, as compared with the performance of non-fit workers.
The Bottom Line
The following sample of worksite health promotion program results have been reported by individual employers:
| Dollars Saved/Dollars Spent |
Bank of America (Fries) | $5.96/$1 |
PacBell | $3.10/$1 |
Wisconsin School District
Insurance Group | $4.47/$1 |
Prudential Insurance | $2.90/$1 |
Bank of America (Leigh) | $4.73/$1 |
General Mills | $3.50/$1 |
Summary
There is compelling evidence that a sizable portion of the billions of dollars currently spent by employers on health-related costs, is preventable by means of health promotion programming. Well planned, comprehensive health promotion programs have been shown to be cost-effective, especially when the health promotion programming is matched to the health problems of the specific employee population.
The fact’s clearly speak for themselves, a corporate wellness program will benefit both employer, and employees. Contact Shape Shifter Fitness today for more information on beginning your wellness program.
