The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is cracking down on employers who encourage, require, or incentivize their employees to provide private health information as a requirement for participation in the employer-sponsored wellness program. The EEOC's mission is to keep employers from having access to information that may lead to bias when it comes to hiring decisions (e.g., hiring, firing, promotions, or raises).
Most often, these numbers come from biometric screenings, health assessments, or onsite screenings that are required or encouraged through the hired wellness program. Employers, in conjunction with the wellness program, may use these numbers to divide the employee population into risk categories—or simply to determine whether an employee has reached a specific goal (often rewarded with a financial incentive). With the current EEOC rules in place, how are employers supposed to gauge progress if they're don't have access to employees' baseline health information?
Answer: Administer a strategically designed wellness program that motivates employees without collecting sensitive genetic information or health records. It's not only a more effective way to engage employees, it's also the best way for a wellness program (and the employer) to stay in the EEOC's good graces. Why spend valuable time and money trying to determine whether your program is compliant, when it's possible to maintain engagement without poking for personal information? Don't throw in the towel just because your access to baseline health measures are limited. Here's how EEOC-approved wellness vendors make these “restrictions” work to their advantage.
Establish trust
Establishing trust between an employer and employees is imperative to creating an effective wellness program. The less employees feel as if “Big Brother is watching,” the better. Help them see that the intention behind the wellness program is to help them lead a happier, healthier life.
Value improvements over outcomes. Over-stressing of outcomes data and ROI takes away from the value of daily progress. Of course, baseline health data is useful in many ways, giving employees a way to track improvement, follow overall performance of the program, or justifying the cost of employee wellness programming. Collecting this information is approved by the EEOC, as long as it's voluntary. Significant changes in biometrics or reduced claims costs won't happen in the first year of implementing a wellness program.
Instead of focusing on outcomes, focus on advances made over time by engaging employees in sustainable health-habit improvement. There are a number of ways to measure the value of a wellness program: boosted retention and recruitment prospects, improved morale, more productive people, better office culture, increased job satisfaction, and better focus. Regardless of EEOC regulations or employees' medical histories, keeping the focus on progress allows worksite wellness to thrive.
Don't bundle employees into risk categories based on their numbers. The general prescription is the same for everyone. Whether you're an avid marathon runner or a sideline sitter looking to change, the path to a health is the same: small, sustainable improvements that'll build up to huge changes over time.
People with specific or chronic conditions will require an individualized approach; that's where wellness stops and disease management begins. Disease management requires a more in-depth look at an individual's health (which the employer shouldn't need access to) — usually alongside a doctor or nurse who has access to their records.
The easiest way to stay EEOC-compliant is to work with a wellness program that doesn't require the collection of health records or genetic information to be successful. By turning the focus toward steady improvement instead of annual changes in biometric numbers, the wellness program is able to thrive in an EEOC-approved environment.
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