I thought this was an interesting article on Corporate Wellness, so I decided to share this. Corporate culture has started to change in a new direction. Health insurance costs are on the rise and no matter which provider you switch to, they all increase your rates. The best way to keep insurance costs at bay is to reduce the risk factors and the ideal way to do that is through exercise and nutritional changes. Diabetes and smoking are the number one and two health concerns that drive up the cost for health insurance. Some forward thinking business owners have decided to address these issues by providing a corporate wellness environment right at the workplace. This is the direction that all businesses will look too as the cost of health insurance continues to rise as the population continues to increase. The article below was in the New Mexico Journal and this is one of many articles addressing the new corporate culture.
| By Amanda Schoenberg, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. | |
| McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Dec. 26–For the past year,Lynne Starkweatherhas worn a new accessory — her pedometer. SinceSandia National Laboratories’incentive-based wellness plan started in January, she wears it every day, working toward 15,000 steps a day.
And, as she walks, she also earns points that reduce her health insurance deductible.
As health care costs skyrocket, employers like Sandia see workplace wellness as key to keeping employees healthy, often with incentives that cut health-care costs if employees participate.
Starkweather, an organizational development specialist at Sandia, says the program has made her more aware of exactly how much she moves.
“This really gets you thinking about taking ownership of your own health,” she says. “The whole thing is awareness.”
She now parks as far as possible from her office and takes the long way to meetings. Starkweather is so intent on moving she occasionally conducts meetings, or “walk and talks,” at the track.
Wellness programs are growing faster than ever as companies watch health-care costs rise, says Dr.Steven Aldana, CEO of Wellsteps, a company that designs and implements wellness plans.
“Growth has been flat,” he says. “Revenue has been flat. What has not been flat are their health-care costs.”
While large companies have had programs for decades, most growth is happening in smaller companies, he says.
Cultural change
Effective wellness plans change corporate culture and employee behavior.
“It all starts with helping employees adopt and maintain healthy behavior,” says Aldana, a corporate wellness expert and former professor of lifestyle medicine atBrigham Young University.
Jim Campbell, president ofAlbuquerque-based Wellness Improvement Experts, which creates wellness plans forNew Mexicocompanies, says “absolute buy-in” from senior managers is the best way for programs to succeed.
Workplace wellness plans focus on health education and risk reduction over the long term, saysRob Nelson, senior manager for Health, Benefits and Employee Services at Sandia.
But change takes time. Local firms often want to add wellness plans but they are wary because payoffs don’t hit right away, Campbell says. At first they see less absenteeism, then lower claims. By the third year, they may be able to keep insurance rates flat.