Online solutions designed to educate employees and help them make better life choices may be moving from the "maybe they work" zone to the "they do work!" zone.
That would be good news for benefits managers, who often wonder how many employees complete and get any benefit from the online surveys and training programs they are asked to participate in.
The latest indication that such self-guided systems are becoming more mainstream comes from a company that sells such systems. SelfHelpWorks released results of a survey of 250,000 health plan subscribers who engaged in online courses that were aimed at getting them to modify or eliminate adverse health behaviors, such as smoking, drinking and taking drugs.
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This survey sought to discover whether companies could quantify a return on their investment in such digital courses. The study concluded than a $50 to $90 investment by an employer could result in a positive outcome and, presumably, a more productive employee who would use health benefits less often.
In a related study, SelfHelpWorks looked at 390 employees who participated in three 10-session online courses. The outcome offered further proof that employees are more fully engaged in online courses and benefit from their participation.
What the company found was that, for employees who stuck with the courses through the fourth session, positive results began to pile up. At the end of session four, 55 percent of participants reported that they had reached their daily cessation/modification goal. Of those who continued through session seven, 77 percent reported success, and by session 10, of the 132 participants of the original 390, 84 percent reported achieving their goals.
Still, the dropout rate suggests that self-guided coursework doesn't have the teeth of required classes, since 66 percent failed to stick with the program to the end.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
