It's not just about the money. That's what most employers in a recent survey said about company wellness initiatives.
A survey of more than 700 large and small employers conducted by Willis Group Holdings, a major insurance brokerage, found that 64 percent said their wellness plan was focused on value of investment (VOI), rather than financial return on investment. Only 28 percent said their focus was ROI.
VOI refers to the intrinsic benefits that a wellness program may produce, including happier and more productive employees. ROI focuses solely on the wellness program's ability to reduce employee health care costs.
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The survey also found that organizations that focused on VOI were more satisfied with their wellness programs. Two-thirds of VOI-focused employers said their goal was "building a culture of health," compared to half of ROI-focused employers said the same.
"More organizations are realizing that the expectation of an immediate return on investment for their wellness programs through medical cost reduction is unlikely," said Dr. Ronald Leopold, Willis practice leader in health outcomes.
In fact, it was just last week that a study claimed, for the first time, to find a financial ROI for a wellness program. The study, which focused on a program put in place by Aetna for its employees, found that identifying workers with certain risk factors and setting them up with personal advisers saved the company significantly in health costs. A number of critics have claimed that traditional wellness programs, which seek to involve all employees, do not produce financial returns.
The Willis study also revealed insight on the state of corporate wellness programs, including who's paying for them and who's avoiding them entirely.
Although health insurers have been leading the charge in encouraging wellness initiatives, it is still employers who are footing the bill. The survey found that only 27 percent of employers reported having a wellness program financed entirely or partially by their carrier.
Only twenty-eight percent of employers responding to the survey lack a wellness program entirely (it's worth noting that businesses without wellness programs may have been less likely to complete the survey). While 11 percent of employers said they plan to offer a program in the future, 17 percent said they had no plan to get into wellness.
Employers who lacked wellness programs gave many different reasons for avoiding them. But by far the most reason, cited by 29 percent of respondents, was a lack of staff and time to set up a program. That was followed by budget constraints (14 percent), a lack of interest from employees (10 percent) and a belief that the program was unneeded (9 percent).
Only 3 percent of employers without wellness programs said they were forgoing them because they were unconvinced of the ROI. That is a surprising finding, given that much of the latest criticism of wellness programs has focused on ROI.
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