BOSTON–New data finds that a huge chunk of employees are not participating in any well-being activity or health-related management program, evidencing that workplace wellness programs and their incentives still have a long way to go.
According to a survey of 1,669 employees by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health, half of workers did not participate in any wellness activity or program despite a variety of offerings.
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The groups released the survey results this week at the NBGH's National Health, Productivity and Human Capital Conference in Boston.
"Looking at these numbers, they are quite staggering," Shelly Wolff, New York-based senior health management consultant at Towers Watson, said during the conference. "Generally speaking, even if it's easy to get or online, there is still relatively little participation."
Average participation rates for wellness components, according to the data, were:
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Health risk assessments: 48 percent
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Biometric screenings: 48 percent
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Onsite vaccinations: 43 percent
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Well-being fairs: 35 percent
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Worksite diet/exercise activities: 22 percent
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EAP: 14 percent
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Online information: 11 percent
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Telemedicine: 8 percent
What's more, employees aren't even taking advantage of financial incentives. Though employers offered an average maximum annual incentive of $880 per employee, they paid out an average of just $365.
About 40 percent of workers did not receive any incentives, instead choosing to opt out of the program.
"Employees are leaving a huge amount of money on the table," Wolff said. "What does that tell us? It tells us that people can't be paid to change their health behaviors. Part of it is people give up, they think it's too hard, they think [employers] created too many gates."
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