Incorporating incentives into your wellness program is a way to motivate employees to start or continue exhibiting good health behaviors. Incentives are generally external rewards offered to individuals and can be anything from monetary rewards to discounted fitness membership fees. Other examples of incentives include free health coaching, merchandise (e.g. T-shirts, iPods, gift cards, etc.), and time off from work.

Companies can offer incentives to employees for a number of different things such as completing a health risk assessment, participating in lifestyle change programs, and joining team challenges. When considering what incentives may be best for your wellness program, it is important to consider the wants and needs of your employees. Wellness programs tailored to fit your company’s culture will be most effective at motivating to change. In some cases, disincentives can be used as well. For example, at some companies employees pay an insurance surcharge if they do not complete health risk assessments or participate in programs if they are considered “high risk.” Incentives are effective components of wellness programs and can be utilized to tackle the different tasks or changing people’s health behaviors.

Sources:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/winter09healthincentives/
http://m.content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/2/304.full.pdf

Incorporating team challenges into your wellness program can be an effective and fun way to increase motivation and boost wellness program participation. Here are some things to keep in mind when planning a team challenge:
- Keep it simple! Keep the challenge rules clear and easy to understand. You won’t get as much engagement if the challenge is too complicated to participate in.
- Focus on sustainable wellness behaviors. As with all challenges, team or individual, it is important to focus on generating health habits that can be maintained consistently over time.
- Show off team progress! Keep progress updated as much as possible so teams can see where they stand in relation to others. To keep the emphasis of the challenge on health, make sure to focus on improving, rather than winning or losing.
- Limit team size. If teams get too large, then participants will feel less responsible for team results and not work as hard in the challenge. Having smaller teams keeps people accountable and also increases their feelings of responsibility and contribution to the team’s success.
- Focus on the achievements of the average participant. Share the success stories of the average employee, not the lifelong triathlete, to make it more relatable and meaningful to other employees and teammates.
- Recognize the individual! The objective of the challenge should focus on the success of the group as a whole, but make sure that each participant has the opportunity to contribute something. Individuals who feel as though they contributed to the team’s success may have greater feelings of self-efficacy and increase their chances of reaching personal health goals.

As the field of workplace health management continues to evolve, the role of brokers and consultants must as well. According to Tom Carter, VP of sales and broker relations for Kaiser Permanante, brokers must shift their focus from developing benefit strategies to health strategies. Brokers and consultants can be seen as an “extension of the benefits/finance/HR staffs of American businesses,” as they are business advisors who assist employers by identifying different options to lessen rising costs and improve the health of employees.

These different options include the design and implementation of both healthcare group benefit programs and health promotion/wellness programs. Employers are looking for wellness tools and programs to help improve employee health, reduce healthcare costs, and increase productivity – brokers help connect employers to the wellness solutions that do so.

Brokers and consultants should be able to provide expertise on improving worker health and wellness, and should have knowledge on how to implement a wellness program, how to promote a culture of health, and the general ins and outs of preventive medicine. Brokers act as a link between wellness vendors and employers, helping employers decide what wellness programs best fit their needs, goals, and values.

Sources:
The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers

http://www.ciab.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=628&libID=649

Employee Benefit Adviser

http://eba.benefitnews.com/conferences/ebas/speaker_Carter_QandA.html

Doing nothing to improve employee health could be costing employers $670 per employee annually, according to the new Thomson Reuters Workforce Wellness Index used to assess healthcare cost impact and employee wellness.

Thomson Reuters conducted an employee wellness study from 2005 to 2009, measuring six (BMI, blood glucose, cholesterol, tobacco use, blood pressure, alcohol) behavioral health risk factors of employee wellness and their impact on the healthcare cost.    The three most expensive health risk factors were:

• $400 BMI
• $150 Blood Glucose
• $100 Tobacco Use

Spending less than $20 per employee annually on a starter wellness program is nothing compared to the $670 in healthcare cost per employee annually if an employer doesn’t take action to improve employee wellness.

Deciding to spend money on a workplace wellness program may seem counter-productive but in reality the cost is minimal and can produce a huge savings long-term.   Wellness Councils of America has reported that workplace wellness programs can produce an ROI  ranging from 1:1.5 to as high as 1:7.

Tri Wellness recognizes the financial and organizational challenges in implementing a workplace wellness program and created a quick and easy solution to starting an affordable wellness program for as little as $1.50 per employee per month.  With our online wellness portal, Wellness Connect, we can assist employers with getting a workplace wellness program initiated and in just a few weeks time with minimal work.  Once the workplace wellness program is in place employers can begin to assess employees’ wellness with a Health Risk Assessment and begin driving wellness program initiatives.

Sources:

Thomson Reuters

http://healthcare.thomsonreuters.com/indexes/assets/WorkforceWellnessIndex-FINAL.pdf

WELCOA

http://tpm.scgov.net/ssDocuments/1140/Wellness%20program/PartI%20WELCOA.pdf

Many health insurance carriers are getting involved in wellness but their service offerings don’t quit match up to what a wellness partner can provide.  The level, or lack, of service carriers provide could drastically affect the long-term results and ROI of a wellness program.

It is certainly enticing to use FREE carrier wellness services, however, if the wellness program does not produce verifiable cost savings, then FREE could result in an expensive lesson learned.

Based on our experience and industry data, here are some top reasons why employers are choosing wellness partners over carriers:

1. Owning the Data- carriers who fully insure companies will most likely not allow them to “own their date”, such as HRA data.  This inhibits companies from integrating their data with 3^rd party partners or keeping it if they switch carriers in the future.
2. Low Participation Rates- outside wellness partners provide employees with a sense of security and confidentiality.  With carrier wellness programs employees are often paranoid about sharing personal information.
3. Sensitive Cost Information- wellness partners analyze program outcomes with a true investment in population health management.  Carriers may use the HRA or program data as a reason to increase premiums.
4. Localized Services- wellness partners can easily create a one-stop-shop for employees to access the wellness program, other 3^rd party resources and carrier information.  Plus, they segregate reporting into sub-groups and provide customer support locally.
5. Total Population Health Management- wellness partners have more flexibility to offer services to the entire populations, regardless of health insurance eligibility if the employer chooses.  Carriers only offer services to plan members and can prohibit wellness cultural growth.
6. 6. Comprehensive Delivery- wellness partners assess, educate and engage employees in healthy behaviors.  Carriers typically just assess without providing tools or direction for sustainable growth and improvement.

The key is finding a highly advanced wellness portal capable of supporting partnerships with employers and carriers.  One that is able to integrate carrier data, compliment existing carrier programs or fully replace carrier wellness programs if desired.

FAQ: $10 Million in Affordable Care Act Funds for Workplace Wellness

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it would be releasing $10 million in Affordable Care Act funds to help create workplace wellness programs on June 23, 2011.  This news certainly peaked the interest of brokers, employers and wellness vendors alike and everyone hit the web to find out more information.  Sifting through all the legal jargon on the official government website (https://www.fbo.gov) can be tedious.  Tri Wellness’ team of experts has investigated the information to help answer the frequently asked questions that are flying around the industry right now.

Q: Why are the funds being released?

A: For comprehensive health programs to address physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco use in the employee population.  The Affordable Care Act of 2010 elevates prevention as a priority providing unprecedented opportunities for health promotion and disease prevention.  Within CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the Workplace Health Initiative serves as the focal point for worker health. It includes promoting the following public health goals:

• Creating the standard for what employers should do; and how to measure progress.
• Increasing the number of employers that provide workplace health promotion programs.
• Improving the quality of employer’s efforts.

Q: Will the funds be released to employers or workplace wellness vendors directly?

A: The funds will be released to workplace wellness vendors (referred to as “contractors” by Health and Human Services, and the Center for Disease Control) who meet the contractor requirements as stated by the HHS and CDC.

Q: When are applications due?

A: Wellness vendors need to submit all required documents on or before August 8, 2011, 4:30 EDT.

Q: How will employers be chosen to participate in the program?

A: Wellness vendors will be required to follow the CDC’s recruitment protocol and choose various employer groups of different sizes, industries, and within 7 different regions (determined by the HHS) across the nation.  Each of the 7 different regions will include 10-15 employers.

Q: What are the size requirements for employers to participate?

A: All size groups will be considered.  Small-size employers are 100 or less full time employees, mid-size employers are 101-250 full time employees, and large-size employers are more than 250 full time employees.

Q: What other requirements besides size are there for employers to be considered?

A: Employers must meet the following requirements:

• Demonstrate CEO/C-Suite commitment to allow employees to fully participate in wellness initiatives.
• Cannot currently have in place a workplace health program that consists of a majority of the interventions as described by the HHS and CDC.
• Only domestic employees and worksites are eligible
• For employers larger than 500 full time employees, the employer will be required to invest a matching amount of funds equal to those provided by the wellness vendor ($50,000).

Q: Are there specific requirements for the actual wellness program once the vendor has recruited the employers?

A: Yes.  There are specific guidelines that have been established in order for the CDC to evaluate outcomes with a consistent study group.  These guidelines include:

• Designate vendor a staff member as program manager
• Establish workplace wellness committee
• Establish site level champions
• Establish community linkages and resources
• Establish specific, measureable goals and objectives for the program

Still have more questions?  Contact Tri Wellness

Assessing the health of an employee population should be the first step when implementing a wellness program.  Additionally, annual assessments should take place to evaluate the impact of the wellness program and the employee population’s health improvement over time.  Health screenings (also known as biometric screenings) produce the most objective data.  This data can usually be integrated into an online health risk assessment providing a more accurate and overall look into an employee population’s health risks based on actual clinical data and lifestyle factors.

Getting employees to participate in health screenings can pose a challenge.  In order to get high employee participation it is important to pick the type of health screening that will work best for your employees and provide the type of data you are looking for.  There are two methods for health screenings:

1. Capillary puncture, “finger-stick”
2. Venipuncture, “blood draw”

When choosing a health screening method consider your employee population and review the following pros and cons:

The venipuncture method allows for more specialized test to be performed, but could also be perceived as more invasive and time consuming by the employees.  The capillary method can be more susceptible to contamination, but may also be more convenient for employees, especially remote workers.  Cost will vary between the two health screening methods and service provider.  The ultimate goal is high employee participation, so choose the health screening method that employees will be most likely to comply with and you’ll be getting the most bang for your buck.

Senior level leaders and managers push employees for productivity and low overhead cost, but they can’t always make the connection when it comes to wellness programs.  Employees and managers alike often view a workplace wellness program as a waste of time or nuisance in their email inbox, but gaining acceptance with a workplace wellness program is the only way to produce successful outcomes.  The root of employee acceptance is going to be driven by senior level leaders’ and managers’ acceptance.  Just like any other company initiative, employee buy-in is based on how senior level leaders and managers portray the message.  If a manager delivers a message with negative connotations, the employees will know they don’t believe in it and therefore know they don’t really have to put forth much effort.  On the other hand, when managers deliver a message with enthusiasm and positively this sets the standard for employees to live up to their expectations.  When starting a workplace wellness program, it is important to first educate senior level leaders and managers about the cost-savings benefits and then identify their level of support for the program.  Wellness Councils of America published the article A New Way of Thinking, which examines the continuum of senior level support for wellness programs.   Here is a brief summary of the article and tips to identify and gain acceptance from leaders in your organization based on their varying levels of support for workplace wellness.

1.  Active Opposition (5% of leaders)

Characteristics:  speak out against wellness programs, challenge their worth and even sabotage implementation.

Approach: listen and allow them to voice their concerns about the wellness program, don’t take their negative comments personally this will help build rapport and trust for when they change their mind about wellness programs.

2.  Quiet Opposition (20% of leaders)

Characteristics: don’t verbally communicate opposition but don’t actively engage in wellness program events.

Approach:  listen and ask if they view anything positive about the wellness program and health promotion, capitalize on the one or few positive view points, and patience will grow their acceptance.

3. Neutral (40% of leaders)

Characteristics:  no strong opinions just too busy to make the wellness program a priority, unsure if the program will make an impact but they complete the required actions.

Approach:  use statistics and case studies to show the benefits of having a wellness program, this group just needs a little push and is where the majority of support change can happen.

4.  Quite Supporters (30% of leaders)

Characteristics:  understand the benefits of the wellness program but don’t know how to best support it, they show up for events but don’t actively promote it on their own.

Approach:  show them how to get involve and partner them up with the wellness program champions.

5.  Wellness Champions (5% of leaders)

Characteristics:  easily identifiable, understand the wellness program benefits, will adopt or already have healthy lifestyle habits and encourage others to do the same.

Approach:  recognize and embrace them, make them feel appreciated, but keep them from becoming negative or impatient when others don’t accept the wellness program as quickly.

For the full article, A New Way of Thinking, visit www.welcoa.org