Corporate Wellness – Nothing But A House of Cards
Just a few months ago I received an email regarding an exciting new wellness initiative coming Jan 1, 2018. My company is on the preventative health bandwagon and charging full speed ahead. Hey, I’m always down for a little health in the workplace so I was pleasantly interested in what this program was all about. And so it began, over the next two months I had the honor of going through the grueling, time-consuming, annoying effort of taking a biometric screening and health assessment to fulfill the requirements. I’m complaining and I already had my biometrics tests done from my yearly physical (technically I only had to send in the result with my Doctors sign-off), I can only imagine what my peers who needed to schedule appointments were thinking. And if your feeling confident (or unsure) about your current health status and wanna opt out? Not a problem, just be ready for fork over an extra $20 a paycheck.
Re-thinking it yet? I did! Although I was strongly against providing biometric information to a third party, it ended up being the lesser of the two evils. Sometimes you gotta take the punch and live to fight another day. And I took the hit my friends! Lets dig deeper to understand the different sides of the picture, starting with the ever so generous employer.
There are a couple of different angles and incentives that lead employers down this “big brother” like path. Wellness programs have been around for quite some time, during the 1990’s and early 2000’s companies were allowed to provide financial benefits to employees based on participation in these programs, but NOT on an employees health outcomes. This all changed in 2006 when a new rule was passed allowing organizations to tie these financial benefits to the outcomes of your wellness screening, and charge a premium (up to 20%) to employees who failed or opted out. Then came the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare in 2010, which loved the idea of “Wellness Programs” so much it raised the premium employers could charge their employees up to 30%, all on the premise of creating a healthier corporate America and driving down rising healthcare costs. How you ask?
Well, by positioning the two most common components of any corporate wellness program: a biometric screening and health assessment. In fact: According to a 2015 Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 50 percent of large firms (defined as having 200 or more workers) annually offer or require employees to complete a biometric screening, and more than half of those companies offer a financial incentive to employees who participate. Maybe they should use a different word then “offer”. Basically this translates to, employees who pass the two (biometric and assessment) requirements will continue paying their premiums as is, but those who fail or opt-out will be presented a surcharge. This essentially transitions rising healthcare costs from the employer to the”unhealthy employees”, without consideration for preexisting conditions or special situations. Now I kinda get what that orange looking dude with the hair means when he says “Our Healthcare System is Crumbling” (right hand up with index finger and thumb pressed together, of course).
As always, this seems to be coming back to something green and dirty (literally) that always brings out the best in people, money. If employers were actually serious about creating a healthier workforce they would focus on the biggest health drivers: Nutrition and Exercise. They would incentivize their employees to eat a balanced meal consisting of less processed and more real food. They would encourage breaks for fresh air, exercise and swole sessions during work hours. Merely forcing a yearly screening and assessment upon your workforce with two (or three) health webinars isn’t gonna move the needle in creating a healthier employee community, it’s simply going to piss people off.
Why aren’t organizations bringing in healthy food everyday for their employees, or leading group fitness classes in the morning, at lunch and when the workday concludes? The evidence that correlates Nutrition and Exercise to productivity is quite abundant, so whats the hold up???
Ahhhh, Dollar Dollar Bills Y’all. But could that excess cost be looked at as an investment with a hefty ROI rather then a daily capital cost? A Leeds Metropolitan University study, examined the influence of daytime exercise among 200 office workers with access to a company gym. Here’s what they found: On days when employees visited the gym, their experience at work changed. They reported managing their time more effectively, being more productive, and having smoother interactions with their colleagues. Just as important: They went home feeling more satisfied at the end of the day. WHOA! You mean to say that providing access to exercise throughout the day may lead to a more productive workday, what happens when we add proper nutrition to the equation?
In an comprehensive study conducted by BYU, Researchers collected data on 19,803 employees from three large, geographically dispersed companies. Findings indicated that employees with an unhealthy diet were 66 percent more likely to report having a loss in productivity as opposed to healthy eaters. Likewise, employees who only exercised occasionally were 50 percent more likely to report lower levels of productivity versus their exercising colleagues. Lead author and professor at BYU Ray Merrill went on to conclude :“Total health-related employee productivity loss accounts for 77 percent of all such loss and costs employers two to three times more than annual healthcare expenses”.
So why hasn’t there been a wide scale adoption of true company sponsored nutrition and exercise initiatives throughout large organizations? Well, my guess would be the simple inability to quantify the productivity increases of the workforce against the investment the organization makes. It’s a tough sell in the cost cutting corporate landscape where executives owe a number to Wall Street every three months. Why invest while they can offset? Building the perception of a “Wellness Program” that sends increasing healthcare costs to their unhealthy workforce (all based on survey and a biometric results) is a much easier way to meet quarterly financial expectations, and it allows executives to pat themselves on the back at the same time. “Wellness Programs” may simply be a piece of corporate propaganda build from nothing but a flimsy deck of cards. There are few companies out there (mostly technology) that provide both free “nutrition conscious” food and access to on-premises exercise facilities, and as you can imagine, it’s an environment that their employees don’t mind spending some extra time at.
All research thus-far suggests that corporate “wellness programs” do not drive down healthcare costs or create a healthier employee. In fact, many organizations are missing the bigger picture: the correlation between employee health (mainly nutrition and exercise) and increased productivity(or they just don’t care). Maybe the recent tax cuts will be a spark for corporate health initiatives across America! Or maybe just share buy backs, it’s definitely a toss-up. What do you think?
