Okay, admit it. When was the last time you took your executive self in for a physical exam? Four years? Seven? If you're like the majority of professionals, it may have been even longer. For many of us, managing our health care may seem too time-consuming, yet studies that measure the benefits of preventive health measures and ongoing fitness routines have shown that attention to health issues is essential to our overall well-being. And businesses that help their employees learn about wellness and prevention can impact their bottom line.

“Employers play an important role in engaging employees in healthy lifestyles, and research shows that employers who invest in the health of their workforce see a return on that investment, says Kristine Seymour, president of Humana’s Wisconsin Market. As Seymour explains, the modern workforce is leading a much different lifestyle than in the past. Two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese, and 60 percent do not get the recommended amount of activity.

“These problems all lead to increased health care costs, and paying for preventable, chronic conditions,” Seymour says. “Prevention in America today usually amounts to telling people they need to ‘sacrifice’ or ‘adhere to guidelines’ to be healthy. So, it can be difficult for employers to break through that mind set with creative solutions to help employees get healthy and motivate them to change their lifestyles.”

Historically speaking

Wellness has been a common platform for employers since the 1970s. It started with fitness centers in the workplace and has since evolved during the past 30 years to encompass health and productivity.

“The recognition that health impacts employee productivity as well as medical costs has pushed the concept of employee health, or wellness, to the top of the agenda recently,” Seymour says. “As we look back, wellness was a natural next step to follow after ideas such as ‘utilization management’ and ‘disease management.’ The focus has now shifted to creating a system of health, rather than simply treating the sick.”

In fact, studies have shown that healthier employees tend to have a higher level of satisfaction and lower absenteeism. Of course, having healthier employees not only increases the viability of a company, it also increases the well-being of the employee and their family, which helps achieve healthier, happier lives.

The well-being of your employees also is paramount to the success of your business. For example, stress and irritability can impair decision-making, sap employees’ energy and affect their relationships with others. This, in turn, can create more pressure and problems in the business. The biggest tragedy here is that each of us has the ability to avoid or overcome these illnesses by making better lifestyle choices.

“Employees who are actively engaged in their own wellness are healthier overall and can help to lower health insurances costs for the business — a win-win situation for the employees and the employers’ bottom line,” Seymour says. Recent research from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that wellness programs not only improve employees’ overall health, but also lead to reduced costs, short-term illnesses, absenteeism and health benefits claims as well as increased employee retention.

“Given these results, one of Humana’s missions is to partner with employers to create successful wellness programs that encourage and reward people for making healthy choices,” Seymour says.

Establishing a wellness program

Companies need to focus more attention on assisting employees in seeking proper medical care and making positive lifestyle decisions, such as becoming more active and better managing their weight. All of this can be done by developing your own wellness program.
Important components of wellness programs include coaching services to help people plan and follow through; feedback, such as data feedback from a pedometer that helps people track performance; and social support, peer groups or buddies. Making participation fun is also important. Whether through games, dancing or other friendly competition, keeping things fun helps increase participation and activity levels.

Seymour also stresses that financial incentives alone are not necessarily the only answer to all wellness programs. “But, they can be an important part of a package that includes education, feedback, support, encouragement and recognition,” she says. “Incentives can come in many forms, such as discounts on insurance premiums, gift cards, cash or bonuses.”

Humana also recommends forming an employee wellness team to run the program and empower co-workers. “If that’s not feasible, hiring a wellness expert or an advisor, particularly with worksite experience, is another option,” Seymour says.

Humana experts recommend six steps to implement a successful wellness program:
• Obtain, and keep, senior leadership buy-in
• Use fact-based decision making
• Organize an employee health team
• Promote activities through internal marketing at the worksite
• Develop an evaluation plan with periodic review
• Make changes when necessary

“If these steps are continued, and even repeated, the chances of running a successful wellness program will increase,” Seymour says.

How Humana can help

Humana offers several wellness tools for employers that can be designed to fit any type of program. “The most effective approach is to use our resources and experiences and then promote the program through the employer-employee relationship,” Seymour says. “By partnering together, the joint promotion is stronger than any two separate efforts.”

One type of Humana program offering for employers can lead to rate credits at plan renewal, based on the level of employee engagement. The program uses a personalized, phased approach to familiarize participants with healthy behaviors and reward them for becoming more engaged in their health. Employees receive ongoing encouragement and rewards while taking calculated steps toward improved wellness. These types of programs can be included in Humana coverage, so the experience is seamless and easy for employers and their employees.

“When it comes to executing a wellness program, Humana is there every step of the way, by providing a continuum of services that include self-help and tailored Web content, preventive reminders and calendars, health assessment tools, telephonic coaching, print collateral and wellness consulting,” Seymour says.

The first step for employees is to take the Humana Health Assessment, a health risk appraisal or report card, which shows each individual their current health status, and helps to track progress. Once a baseline is set with the Health Assessment, employees can utilize tools such as the MyHumana Wellness site that provides links to coaches and information on topics like nutrition, weight and stress management as well as tobacco cessation. Humana also offers personal nurses who can help with everything from disease management to doctor referrals and advice.

Humana also collaborates with outside sponsors to offer innovative, customizable physical activity and rewards programs. For example, Humana’s Virgin HealthMiles is a first-of-its-kind incentive program for physical activity.

“The program is modeled after a frequent-flyer program where a participant can earn ‘miles’ based on the level of their engagement,” Seymour says. “Through our partnership with the Virgin company, employees are given pedometers to log exercise and count steps. Personal results can be measured and tracked online or at GoZone kiosks that can be stationed in the workspace.” Participants accumulate miles for their efforts and achievements, which can be redeemed at more than 40 leading U.S. retail partners.

“The success of the program really goes back to establishing a partnership with the employer, through which the available tools, messages and resources can be communicated to the employee,” Seymour says. “Wellness programs allow employees to take control of their health through fun, rewarding activities that can be implemented in everyday life — at work, at school, at home and even on the weekends.”

By Maura Keller

Maura Keller is a freelance writer originally from Wisconsin.

More Featured Articles