Worksite Wellness ProgramsWorksite Wellness Programs

The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports specifies 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 well-being.” Wellness looks beyond the current template of treating disease and focuses on preventive actions and healthier lifestyles.

Worksite Health Promotion , also generally referred to as Worksite 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 businesses.

Examples of potential elements of a Worksite Wellness Program 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 often include screenings for Blood Pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels and other health indicators. These analyses supply important benchmarking measures that ideally will allow workers 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 company, you need to know what the concerns are, and you just don’t know until you get the data.”

Physical Activity and Weight Management – One of the most popular Worksite Wellness is for businesses to supply access to a fitness center, often onsite. Other potential measures include offering healthier vending 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 seminars such as Weight Watchers.

Awareness and Education Programs – A lot businesses hold events addressing the benefits of nutrition, safety or physical fitness, among other subject matters. Other options are to host a wellness fair or conduct a disease-awareness campaign.

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

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