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© Copyright 2000 Rogers Media. The following article first appeared in the June 2000 edition of
BENEFITS CANADA magazine.
Making a case
More plan sponsors are adopting wellness initiatives. But few are measuring their
effectiveness.
By Kathryn Dorrell
It's disheartening to learn that a forward-thinking benefits concept isn't gaining more ground in the
workplace. But judging by the results of a new study, this appears to be the status of wellness in the
Canadian workplace.
Fortunately, the news isn't all bad. According to Buffett Taylor's second National Wellness Survey,
the number of companies implementing some sort of wellness initiative--smoking cessation, fitness
reimbursement program, etc.--has grown from 44% in the first report in 1997, to 60% in this year's report,
available later this month.
While these efforts shouldn't be discredited, the fact remains that most Canadian organizations aren't
taking a holistic approach to wellness--opting instead to set up a single initiative here or there.
They aren't being very bottom-line conscious either, neglecting to measure the outcome of their programs.
Indeed, only 17% of organizations are implementing comprehensive programs which track data, analyze it and
follow up with participants. Meanwhile, 40% of plan sponsors admit they're not evaluating the impact of
their wellness efforts and another 37% don't even know whether or not they're tracking effectiveness.
It's worth noting that the survey incorporates feedback from 412 public and private firms across Canada,
and size and location do not play a role in the nature of plan sponsors' wellness programs.
Ed Buffett, chairman and CEO of Whitby, Ont.-based Buffett Taylor, says that many organizations have good
intentions, but there are no long-term improvements in employee health patterns associated with
implementing one-off or short-term wellness initiatives.
More pressing, however, is the fact that wellness needs to make more inroads as a concept that's good for
business--not just employees--and this won't happen until outcomes are measured.
Ironically, many small wellness efforts are more than likely being implemented in place of comprehensive
ones because human resources (HR) professionals simply can't get the buy-in from those holding the purse
strings.
HR reps often lament that it's difficult to sell wellness because it's hard to make a business case for
it--something that's impossible to do without the systems in place to gauge its impact in the workplace.
CEOs want to hear a pitch that talks about return on investment--after all, Buffett says the average
comprehensive wellness program costs about $60 per employee per year.
The other irony emerging from the survey is that respondents point to an inability to measure the impact of
wellness programs and a lack of money as two key reasons for not implementing initiatives, perhaps not
realizing that the two go hand in hand.
We can blue-sky about ways that wellness can be made more appealing--such as tax breaks for plan sponsors
with comprehensive programs because healthier employees aren't as dependent on the public system--but the
real work begins at home.
For his part, Buffett says most employers don't understand how to develop a comprehensive wellness program
and more education is clearly needed in this area.
Tracking declining rates of absenteeism, increased productivity and lower usage of benefits may sound
basic, perhaps even tedious, but these measures must be incorporated in every wellness game plan. Only then
can we start building a universal business model for wellness that will truly elevate its reputation from
feel-good, morale-booster to a common sense productivity-enhancement tool that can actually cut workplace
healthcare costs--a status that is much deserved.
Kathryn Dorrell is associate editor at BENEFITS CANADA.
CONFERENCES
Fields of Vision
CPBI 2000 National Conference
June 14 to 16, 2000
Regina
This annual industry event includes a session on ethics and governance as well as a trade show and
workshops. Tel. (450) 465-1921
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