Employers’ views of wellness have evolved over the last few years.

According to Working Well: A Global Survey of Health Promotion and Workplace Wellness Strategies, 78% of the world’s employers are strongly committed to creating a workplace culture of health, to boost individual engagement and organizational performance.

The report was conducted by Buck Consultants at Xerox.

The survey illustrates employers’ investments in wellness: 43% say they created a brand identity for their employee wellness programs, 52% offer health insurance premium reductions, and 65% believe wellness programs are extremely or very important to attract and retain workers.

“When we began this survey in 2007, employers were focused on basic health promotion activities,” says Dave Ratcliffe, a principal with Buck Consultants at Xerox. “Workers’ wellness is now viewed as a state of well-being across the spectrum of health, wealth and career. Wellness is part of the employee value proposition. Social media, gamification, mobile technology, automated coaching and personalized communication are all part of the mix.”

The commitment to employee wellness and a corporate culture of health prevails even as the challenges identified by Buck’s previous surveys persist. Participation rates indicate that employers are still struggling to find effective approaches to motivate workers. And there is a significant gap between employers’ stated desire to create a culture of health and their current progress in achieving this goal.

Survey findings show that 52% of employers worldwide are measuring the outcomes from their wellness programs—up from 36% in 2012. Yet, in the U.S., 59% of employers say they don’t know if their wellness programs are having an impact on the healthcare cost trend (their top-stated objective).

Other key findings include the following:

  • HR polices related to flexible work arrangements and paid time off ranked as the No. 1 component of wellness programs globally, with employee assistance programs ranking No. 2, driven by their prevalence in the U.S., Canada, Africa and Australia.
  • Globally, too much stress, too little exercise and a poor diet remain the top wellness-related areas of focus for employers. In Asia, Africa and the Middle East, worker safety is the No. 1 concern.
  • In the U.S., employers cite healthcare costs as their top reason for sponsoring wellness programs. Outside the U.S., employers use wellness programs to improve employee morale and to reduce sick days and presenteeism. Employers are making the connection between health and productivity.
  • Employee wellness communication—with personalization of employee messages—is closely linked to healthcare cost trend reduction. One hundred percent of the U.S. companies reporting a lower healthcare cost trend of six or more percentage points send their employees targeted wellness emails. The use of wellness mailings to employees’ homes also is on the rise, recognizing the influence that household members have on one another’s health.

The survey analyzed responses from more than 1,000 organizations in 37 countries.

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