Focusing on Employee Health Through Wellness
Posted By: Kathy Osborn 
Date Posted: September 1st, 2009 Category: Health Care
The health of employees is a priority for any organization, and wellness programs are undoubtedly a core component in controlling health care costs and improving the productivity and morale of employees. Health and wellness programs serve as a gauge of an active community and are very important to both employers and the St. Louis community. At The Regional Business Council, health care is a topic of great importance to all of our businesses and we have provided our members with the necessary tools to implement effective health and wellness programs within their companies.
Daily exercise and a commitment to eating healthy, for example, have numerous benefits among employees in the workplace – decreased stress levels, increased energy, reduced risk of cancer – just to illustrate a few. Together, these factors help contribute to decreases in health care costs. We recently entered the 18th month of our two-year wellness initiative, in which we partnered with BJC HealthCare in 2008 to assist us in establishing this program and measuring its results. This 2 –year pilot is extended to all RBC companies through sharing of best practices of effective health programs. Our shared goal is to provide employers in the region with the necessary tools to implement effective wellness programs in their companies.
We have worked successfully with approximately 20 RBC companies to implement this initiative. We have assisted in data collection processes so each organization could measure year- to-year changes in their company’s performance on established wellness benchmarks, such as decreases in blood pressure, cholesterol and Body Mass Index (BMI). Although there are many components of successful health and wellness programs, the reduction in these three factors help alleviate a host of health problems. We have also encouraged RBC companies to work with their insurance carriers to provide incentives for participants, thereby increasing employee motivation and engagement. Ultimately, the participants found value in understanding what more sophisticated programs were implementing. This understanding of best practices has resulted in an overall improvement in employers’ individual programs.
There were some similarities among successful health and wellness programs. As with any major decision within an organization, CEO encouragement and involvement is critical. Executives that view employee health as a job safety issue are more likely to explore ways to help employees reach their health goals. Additionally, consistent communication is necessary to employee participation. With numerous personal and economic benefits resulting from healthy lifestyles, there is no question that the business community would be better served if employers chose to implement health and wellness programs in their workplace.