Wellco of Royal Oak, MI, has again been named one of Michigan’s Economic Bright Spots by Corp! Magazine. This year marks the fourth time the company has earned the award. Indeed, in good times, bad times and in between—those periods of economic recovery during which we take a deep breath or two in hope—there . . .
Corporate wellness has grown into a $2 billion industry in that timeframe and has been incorporated into primary care medicine, corporate benefits packages, and government health initiatives. It has also become a buzzword used by health plans and brokers to upsell services.
Unfortunately, recent research indicates that while 90 percent of U.S. companies offer some aspect of wellness programs, only half of them have tried to measure the program’s success. Even sadder is the news that fewer than 7 percent of the wellness programs offered are good enough to make a difference.
Most wellness programs have an effective shelf life of two years or less. This leaves companies frustrated over poor employee engagement, low support among company leadership, and few results. Many companies abandon these initiatives altogether or start over entirely.
Harvard economists and scientists have found that when employers utilize current, comprehensive wellness programs, medical costs fall by $3.27 and absenteeism is reduced by $2.73 for every dollar invested in these programs. Of course, you must have the right wellness strategies in place to achieve results like these.
Here are eight action steps to redefine your wellness program so that you too can achieve similar results
. . .Wellco Corp., based in Royal Oak, has been developing health and wellness programs for companies for the past 17 years. It’s seen its revenue grow by more than 30 percent over the past year as more employers implement programs to lower their overall health-care costs and improve productivity. To keep up with its growth, the . . .
In this interview, Wellco President Scott Foster talks about how companies can achieve ROI using the WellCompanies ROI Assessment and evidenced-based strategies. WellCompanies improves outcomes by measuring and advancing key, evidenced-based criteria. While there are countless evaluations, WellCompanies™ is the first to measure and improve effectiveness. 30 Years of worksite wellness research has progressed far beyond weight loss contests, lunch presentations and health fairs. WellCompanies is a powerful system that benchmarks and builds wellness outcomes that work right down to your bottom line. WellCompanies is created and administered by Wellco, the nation’s leading wellness systems provider.
. . .The top promising trends we’re seeing when it comes to corporate health and wellness.
. . .Educating employers about the value of wellness programs and exchanging best practices with wellness providers, hospital systems and health insurers were two first-year goals of the fledgling Michigan Wellness Counci.
. . .Employee engagement is consistently rated one of the top wellness program challenges. For worksite wellness programs to be effective, the vast majority of your employees need to participate. Otherwise, non-participants will develop health conditions faster than those who do participate. To receive optimal results from your company’s wellness program, you need to have a participation . . .
The American philosopher Abraham Kaplan once said, “Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.” The famous law of the hammer metaphor recommends a broad approach, and multiple tools, for more effective problem-solving. The same philosophy applies to improving health care costs and conditions. Read the full . . .
