Wellness Program
Barb57
3 Posts
Our company of about 50 employees currently has no Wellness Program. There are about 40 employees in the home office and the other 10 are scattered in 10 other states.
As the HR manager, I have been asked to research what other companies of this size are doing and provide some options to management. Is anyone offering cash to employees for meeting wellness criteria or cash for program activates (education workshops, health club dues, exercise equipment or classes)?
I need something that would not take a lot of on site management, since I am in one of the other states! Thanks for your help and ideas.
As the HR manager, I have been asked to research what other companies of this size are doing and provide some options to management. Is anyone offering cash to employees for meeting wellness criteria or cash for program activates (education workshops, health club dues, exercise equipment or classes)?
I need something that would not take a lot of on site management, since I am in one of the other states! Thanks for your help and ideas.
Comments
Contact the local and largest hospital in your area - they may have a wellness department already established & you can receive information from them.
We have 110 employees and quite frankly - we can't afford a wellness program - we can't afford to have our people sick - but, we can't afford (on top of our medical increases, tax increases, worker comp. increases, city tax increases, unemployment tax increases) to add an additional expense. At what point do I think we would offer a Wellness Program - not until our revenues exceed 20-25 million (we are a small company). The number of employees would increase, and if it's not a full-blown wellness program, then it would be some type of offshoot.
I hope this helps - I'm interested to see what others have to say.
Most small companies I work with go with one or both of two options. The first is 50% or more of reimbursement of health club membership, up to a max (which can be $20 - 50); if all or most employees are in one site, often it can make sense to negotiate with an area facility for better rates AND contract.
The second option in small company wellness programs that I see is an ergonomics assessment, and aggressive ergonomics training.
If smoking is an issue, reimbursement for non-smoking treatment is definitely an option. I would encourage you talk to someone like the local Amer. Lung Association, as the quality of programs and the support necessary to make them effective are non-trivial issues. ALA can help alot.
Incentives for meeting wellness criteria can be complicated, and is potentially divisive, in my experience. Can be done, but can not be done right without putting some work into it. E.g., there were pending HIPAA regulations which would change what is possible in this arena -- I do not follow this closely enough to know what happened with them.
If incentives are of particular interest, you should look to your benefits consultants to help. And, if they can't and it is still important to you, look for another consultancy. You will learn a lot in the search process itself.
You might find some interesting ideas here:
[url]http://www4.hr.com/HRcom/index.cfm/WeeklyMag/6A72E7B6-38AF-4CA3-89F37AAA8D0C086A?ost=wmFeature[/url]
By the by, I do have a company with the on-site hot rock massage and diet counseling, and they are NOT out here on the left coast. They are an east coast utility, and feel such programs (and a lot more) have helped hold down workers comp costs. But they are definitely not a small company.
Regards,
Steve Mac
Steve McElfresh, PhD
Principal & Founder
HR Futures
408.605.1870
How much of
"The second option in small company wellness programs that I see is an ergonomics assessment, and aggressive ergonomics training."
is an wellness program option & how much is regulated by your state?
I don't think I could parse the relative weight of the two, but you are certainly right that both drivers exist. Those employers who see it as a competative advantage often offer more than required by the regs -- and did so before there were any regs. But base level ergo services have of course become much more commonplace with the regulations.
Interestingly, a side benefit to the regulations has been to encourage more vendors, and hence visible competition. So the value of the services offered has tended to go up, overall, for the careful buyer.
Regards,
Steve Mac
Steve McElfresh, PhD
Principal & Founder
HR Futures
408.605.1870
I don't believe in ergonomics - I don't think one can regulate a one-size fits all type of regulation, however, I do see the benefits in the workplace from companies following the Lean Manufacturing Principles. The identification of one of the seven wastes as being Motion and how the elimination of this waste in motion can have much greater impact to the workforce as well as to competitiveness within industries than adminstrative rulings geared to keep bureaucrats working.