Strategies for implementing low-cost or budget-neutral wellness programs

From the May 2009 issue of Ceridian Connection.

Given the economic hardship facing most organizations in today's struggling economy, health and wellness programs are often one of the first "elective benefits" to be cut or forgotten within an organization. However, with health care costs continuing to spiral out of control, improving the health and wellness of your employees is an effort your organization can't afford to ignore.

According to the National Coalition on Health Care, employee health insurance premiums increased by 5 percent in 2008; this represents twice the rate of inflation. The good news is, it's believed that 60 to 80 percent of these costs are preventable. One of the best ways to lower health care costs is to improve employees' behavior related to health.

If your organization wants to implement or continue an existing wellness program, but is struggling to find the funding to do so, the following strategies have been implemented by Ceridian LifeWorks customers and have proven successful.

1. Offer premium differentials to those individuals who report healthy behaviors or who participate in a wellness program to improve existing health behaviors.
   
   An organization can either use data captured in a Health Risk Assessment or gathered during open enrollment with employee-verified documents.
   
   A LifeWorks client recently implemented this strategy by asking all employees to indicate whether or not they used tobacco. Employees who indicated they used tobacco paid $50 more per month toward their health insurance premium unless they participated in the Ceridian Tobacco Cessation program. This effort resulted in 75 percent of the organization's tobacco users enrolling in the program. While it's still too early to determine what their 12-month quit rate will be, things are looking good! The great thing about this program arrangement is that the 25 percent of tobacco users who chose not to enroll in the program are paying the enrollment fees for the tobacco users that did enroll through their $50 per month increase in health insurance premiums.
   
   This is just one of many examples of how employers are implementing budget-neutral wellness programs that create a win-win situation for both the employer and employees.



2. Roll the cost of your wellness program into your employee health insurance premiums.
   Rather than directly footing the bill for employee wellness programs, some employers are "passing the buck" to their employees. When new annual premiums are released, employers build the cost of the wellness program into the premium. This method only increases the premium by a few dollars annually. In order to achieve optimal success with this approach, the employer should be ready to put money toward an incentive. Incentives for participating in health coaching can go a long way to driving program utilization.

Both of these approaches have received a lot of traction among employers in recent months, and many employers have achieved great success in changing employee behavior as a result of their efforts. Both employers and employees need to remember that you can't take a one-size-fits-all approach to wellness. Some important concepts to keep in mind as you implement your wellness program include:

• Create a culture of wellness. Ensure that the importance of wellness is not only communicated by upper management but throughout the entire organization. Many clients have experienced great success by having middle management communicate the message of wellness during staff meetings. Implementing new policies such as allowing employees to take time during the workday to walk for 30 minutes can send a strong message that wellness is valued.
• Get input from employees. This can be done formally with a survey or anecdotally in conversations. Find out what motivates employees to be healthy, discuss what incentives are attractive and determine what benefits are most valued. In the process, you may even find an employee to champion your program and serve as a success story.
• Seek legal advice. As wellness programs become more prevalent and incentives are offered, it is important to seek legal advice to ensure you are in compliance with HIPAA, ADA and GINA.
• Avoid the wellness rut. All too often, employers implement a very successful wellness program where they achieve their utilization and employee satisfaction goals; however, year after year, they keep delivering the same program. The results begin to diminish. In order to maintain a successful program in the long term, you need to change the scenery for employees. This may include changing the look of the promotional materials, the incentive offered, the requirements to receive incentives and the actual programs offered. Work with your employees to keep the program exciting and fresh.
• Find a vendor that is a partner. The vendor that provides your health risk assessment, health coaching and other wellness offerings should act as a partner. Partners provide consultation on how to achieve your desired results as well as a willingness to integrate with other employee benefits you may be providing though other vendors.

Successfully improving employee wellness and reducing health care costs doesn't happen overnight. But with proper planning and consideration, your wellness program can contribute wealth to your organization in a number of ways: healthy and happy employees, reduced health care costs and improved business results.