As the link between employee health and productivity becomes more apparent, more American employers are offering wellness programs. However, few employees participate, so companies are now planning different carrot-and-stick measures to promote healthy behavour, according to a new study.
Nearly 80% of companies see lack of employee engagement as the biggest obstacle to tackling their staff’s most common risk factors—stress, obesity and lack of physical activity, according to the 2013/2014 Staying@Work Survey by Towers Watson. Companies say that although they offer a variety of health and productivity programs, few workers enroll.
As a result, employers are thinking of trying different approaches to wellness.
“There is a realization that companies need to manage these programs more effectively and encourage employee participation and engagement,” says Shelly Wolff, senior health care consultant at Towers Watson.
Seventy percent of companies say their priority is to develop a culture where employees are responsible for their health, according to the consulting firm’s report. So employers are planning to increase the use of financial incentives to hold workers more accountable.
In 2014, 36% of organizations will enforce penalties such as an increase in premiums and deductibles for workers who fail to complete the requirements for health management activities. This number will jump to 61% for 2015/2016.
For example, result-based incentives that reward or penalize employees for tobacco use will grow from 54% next year to 71% in 2015/2016. Rewards or penalties for measurements such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels will increase, too—from 26% in 2014 to 68% in 2015/2016.
Another area firms plan to work on is more clear communication about their health programs. Only 30% of respondents say they have effectively communicated a health strategy in the past, making it difficult for staff members to understand the purpose of these programs. But in the future, nearly all employers (94%) intend to change that by providing articulate health and productivity strategies with stated goals.
“More than ever, employers view health as a total business issue that links to worker performance,” says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a U.S. non-profit representing large employers’ perspective on national health policy. “Highly effective organizations do a number of things differently and their results are far better than those of their peers.”
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