Wellness programs and employee retention

Jessica Ayer

I just read an online survey that revealed that 45 percent of the employees surveyed said they would remain at their jobs longer because of employer-sponsored wellness programs. They also noted that such programs caused them to work harder and miss fewer days of work. Additionally, the employees said they believed wellness programs were successful in reducing health care costs.

How have wellness programs worked in your organizations? Do your employees respond well to them?

cnghr

Our employees have been notoriously resistant to anything we've tried to offer for a wellness plan, with the exception of on-site flu shots, which always get a pretty good response. Otherwise, participation in most wellness-related things we've offered has been really low.

We haven't been able to really analyze why it is that way for us, although one private theory of mine is that our employees aren't as concerned about missing work because we have a [U]very[/U] generous sick pay policy. Many of them also act like we are in some way meddling in their lifestyle choices or personal business if we offer any sort of suggestions on ways to be healthier. Our insurance plan has a wellness effort every year that we offer to all plan participants and their covered spouses, and it can actually help reduce the cost of our insurance coverage if we get enough participation in it, but even the idea that it could potentially lower their premiums hasn't encouraged many people to participate in it....I think there were about four or five of us who did it last time it was offered, out of well over 100 covered employees.

Overall, it's been pretty discouraging for us.

joannie

If we didn't live in 2 different states, I'd say cnghr and I work at the same company. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the spiel about personal business and lifestyle choices. Somehow, though, it doesn't carry much weight when touted by a 350 lb man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth while he's leaning against the building trying to catch his breath, because he can't walk from his truck to the office.

Still Need Coffee

As the other posters have said, in general, our employees are very resistant to change, perceive wellness programs as an intrusion into their lifestyle choices, and don't like programs that take away from their day or require additional time outside of work.

That said, this year we decided to implement a wellness program anyway (we're suckers for punishment). We ended up with around 30% participation, which the program coordinators tell us is typical for a 1st year program. If trends hold, we should see participation go up next year.

A handful of employees are extremely gung-ho about the program. These are often the employees who are already making good lifestyle choices, though, and not those who need the most help. A smaller subset of employees recognize that they need this extra help, and are happy to have a non-traditional program to help them out.

All in all, we are pleased with 1st year participation numbers, but recognize that we need to do much better next year in order to make an active difference.