Health & Wellness Initiatives - A Win-Win Approach
Q. In the recent past, organizations have started focusing on health and wellness initiatives. Why do you think has this become a top concern for HR leaders globally?
A. The health of the global population has changed and there are increasing health risks which lead to increase in healthcare and disability-related costs as well as absenteeism and impact on job performance. Organizations are looking to create a healthy and high performing workforce. This includes well-being in terms of how people respond from an emotional and mental perspective, as well as from a financial standpoint how happy and productive they are at work. It is becoming a business imperative and while different organizations will have different needs, from a bottom line perspective, everyone wants that advantage to have the best and brightest of people at work and making sure they are at their optimal health.
Q. Apart from the basic practices like annual health check-ups and reimbursements, can you throw some light on different initiatives that can be covered under health and wellness?
A. Setting up a successful health program requires an organization to go through four stages. There are different initiatives for each step. First is 'Building Awareness' amongst their population on health risks they are susceptible to and the impact on individuals as well as the organization. Usually it is this awareness phase that organizations do not move out of. This phase includes initiatives like a health assessment program to identify risk, a biometric screening to look at health values like cholesterol levels or weight or blood pressure and also assessments of mental health and depression, etc. There are multiple kinds of assessments that can be done within a population to build awareness. Unfortunately, a lot of organizations stop there. They don't take the next step which is what can we do to help people change their behaviors that identify that risk. We call it the 'Action and Behavior Change Phase'. One should put in initiatives which work from an organization's as well as individual standpoint in terms of changing the behaviors. For example, in an organization where people are seated all day, a message promoting walking and physical activity can be conflicting. The organization also has to introduce initiatives which promote physical activity at work to ensure that it is not just an empty message. Initiatives like standing workstations, walking treadmills, etc. ensure that from a behavior change standpoint the organization isn't asking people to do certain things but not giving them the right tools and resources to accomplish that in their workday as well. It is not about the individual making the change but also about looking at what the organization can do from a culture and work environment perspective to support the behavior change. The last phase is 'Sustaining the Change'. Many organizations institute a walking program challenge which usually lasts 12 weeks, but at the end of the 12 weeks, how these organizations sustain these behaviors is a key question. All three phases are incredibly important in creating the atmosphere where people can actually improve their physical health, exercise more and be resilient from a stress standpoint.
Q. What are the key results derived through implementation of health & wellness programs in an organization? Also, how do organizations measure the return on wellness programs?
A. Across the many clients that we have worked with, the consistent key results that we have seen is that with improved health, people engage more with their employer. So, the healthier you are, the more engaged you are with the workforce and as a result your work performance improves. While there are linkages to reduced absenteeism and reduction in healthcare costs, these results typically take some time and don't show effect immediately. But we do know that people, who engage, become more active, are healthier,less stressed and cost less money, even if they started out at a higher cost! There is always the question if there is any direct correlation on business. There are practices and metrics to measure these programs. There are processes which capture the participation and number of people engaging in the program. There are impact reports to see if health behaviors are changing, and if there is a change in attitudes, and then obviously there is the final yardstick that organizations look at like absenteeism, productivity, healthcare product costs and costs of these programs. We are slowly moving away from solely looking at internal investment on these programs and looking at – value-added investments and recognizing the fact that organizational behavior change take some time and hence, it is prudent to look at the value of the investment from a different standpoint. For example, if an organization observes that their employees are working better together, it implies they are more productive. Such a result may be visible long before there is a reduction in the healthcare cost. Tangible things may be very difficult to measure immediately, but there are visible effects on the workforce, since these physical activities and challenges will bring people together in a different way since they achieve results as a team.
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