Business Proposal on "Benefits of Implementing a Corporate Wellness Program"

Business Proposal 4 pages (1728 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Corporate Wellness Program

Benefits of Implementing a Corporate Wellness Program

With more Americans typically working longer than normal hours, encouraging them to foster a healthy work life is becoming increasingly important. Employees who are unhealthy usually experience work related injuries that include but not limited to back pain, muscle strain, stress fractures, and carpal tunnel syndrome.

More often than not, these employees are prone to developing other ailments such as heart disease, diabetes, or stroke. These individuals may develop more serious illnesses if they do not have the opportunity to partake in a corporate wellness programs. Subsequently, theses employees may discover themselves on long-term disability or be required to stop working entirely.

The chief benefit of a corporate wellness program at Sea Island is to lessen employee rates of illness and injuries and increase employee productivity. Equally important to averting employee illnesses, a corporate wellness program may also lead to a decline in absenteeism amongst employees. Corporate wellness programs which, lower fitness and stress levels will increase the overall output of their employees.

In addition to ensuring Sea Island employees are happy and healthy, the company will observe a decrease in healthcare costs, significantly when a corporate wellness program is implemented. When employees are healthy and less stressed they tend to rely less on costly programs such as disability insurance and sick leave.

The implementation plan for a corporate wellness program is both cost effective and efficient. The corporate wellness taskforce team will consist of Spa/Fitness manager, Human Resources manager, and me. Initially, we will consult with 5 leading corporate wellness program consultants in the nation to ensure a successful development of the program. I estimate the startup time, the introduction of the program, which will include tools, resources, informational brochures and pamphlets, and a company blog to be approximately 6 months.

As healthcare costs continue to rise and employees are becoming increasing ill, I believe the corporate wellness program will become well received by all Sea Island employees. I believe this will prove to be an extremely worthwhile investment for the future of company and its employees.

Benefits of a corporate wellness program

Introduction

It is becoming increasingly important to ensure that employees are healthy and happy. One way to establish this balance is to implement a corporate wellness program. The main objective of a corporate wellness program is to promote the well-being of all Sea Island employees. Through educating and promoting the program's chief goal which is to reduce the rates of illnesses and injuries among employees. "Unhealthy employees experience a wide range of work-related injuries such as muscle strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, stress fractures or back pain," Bates, 2012.

These individuals may develop more serious illnesses if they do not have the opportunity to partake in a corporate wellness program. Subsequently, these employees may discover themselves on long-term disability or be required to stop working entirely. Corporate wellness programs thus play an integral part in reducing the cost of healthcare for the company as well as keeping employees healthy and stress-free which increases their productivity and helps the business to thrive.

Problem statement

Many organizations are unaware of the benefits that they can accrue by investing in a corporate wellness program. This is seen in a study that was conducted by National Worksite Health Promotion Survey conducted in 2004 which show that only 7% of the organizations that were surveyed met the criteria for a comprehensive corporate wellness program. The goal of Healthy People 2010 was to reach a 75% implementation of corporate wellness programs which means that the current values are far below the target.

Method used

To establish the findings, a comprehensive search of literature was conducted to find the benefits of corporate wellness programs established by studies conducted as well as the cost benefits that organizations have achieved as a result of implementing these programs. Literature was searched on the internet using search engines such as Google as well as online libraries such as JSTOR and EBSCOhost which helped to find relevant studies. The keywords for the search were "corporate wellness programs" and "employee wellness programs."

Findings

Benefits of a corporate wellness program and an active lifestyle

Corporate wellness programs have several advantages for companies and organizations. The first is that they significantly reduce the costs that the company incurs in health insurance for the company. When employers provide corporate wellness programs, they are given subsidies on the amount of premium paid for health insurance for their employees since these programs help their employees to live healthier lives thus allowing the company to significantly reduce the cost of their health insurance since the employees tend to file fewer claims on their health insurance.. It has also been found by Shillingford and Mackin (1991)

that companies which run corporate wellness programs significantly reduce their disability costs as a result of employees filing fewer disability claims. In addition to this, a meta-review of 42 studies that were published on the advantages of corporate wellness programs by Heinen and Darling (2009)

found that there was an average reduction of 26% in the health costs of employers who provided corporate wellness programs. There was also an average reduction in compensation and disability claims of more than 30%. The savings-to-cost ratio ranged from $5 for every dollar spent on the corporate wellness programs. This is supported by research conducted by Natural Healthcare Canada to range from $2 to $10 for each dollar spent on the corporate wellness program. These cost savings also come from other advantages of these programs such as decreased absenteeism and increased employee performance and productivity.

These cost savings are also supported by research which shows that since corporate wellness programs invest in preventive measures such as exercising, health and nutrition education and advice, health risk appraisals, screenings and immunizations, the employers are able to spend fewer resources in ensuring their employees stay healthy and happy which reduces costs incurred in healthcare by between 20 to 30% with increase in productivity of employees ranging from 2 to 18%. Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC&P) also found that the return on investment for wellness programs was between $1 and $6 for each dollar the company invested in the program. These resulted from increased employee satisfaction and productivity and decreased absenteeism. Another study conducted by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services listed the estimated benefit-to-cost ratio for organizations and companies as $3.5 for reduced expenditure on healthcare and $6 for decreased absenteeism for each dollar that the company or organization invests in a corporate wellness program Porter, Kraft, & Claycomb, 2003()

Corporate wellness programs also help to reduce absenteeism among employees. In a study conducted by Ipsos-Reid, it was found that the main contributors to absenteeism of employees are preventable and they are stress, depression and anxiety. Since these programs help to make the workplace more fun and engaging for employees since they are able to exercise with their coworkers and other friends Moxley, 1990.

The employee wellness program also creates health care incentives for the employees such as exercise programs, medical assistance and nutritional advice. The employees are thus likely to participate actively in these programs which reduce their incidence of heart attacks, diabetes and strokes. Overall, the employees become healthier and their job satisfaction level and morale increases considerably. This makes the employees enjoy coming to work and saves time and money for the organization as a result of decreased absenteeism. A study that was conducted by Cigna also found that decreased absenteeism in the workplace improves the costs for the organization by an estimated two thousand dollars per year per employee Barton, 2002()

Corporate wellness programs also help companies and organizations to increase the productivity of their employees. Since the programs help to improve the job satisfaction levels of employees, the employees are able to concentrate better in the workplace and thus give consistent performance and output. Companies also benefit greatly from this increased productivity since it will increase the company's bottom line. This increased job satisfaction and employee moral also reduces employee turnover rates in the company or organization which reduces hiring costs for the company. This information is supported by a study that was conducted by NASA which proved that when employees are given time to exercise at their full efficiency in the workplace, it improves their productivity by 50% which results in an overall improvement of 12.5% in the productivity of the organization Barton, 2002()

Analysis

Corporate wellness programs help to raise the awareness level of employees on the importance of healthy lifestyles and also provide them with opportunities for personal growth in their health. Among other advantages, the findings reveal that corporate wellness program make the employees happier with their workplace which increases their job satisfaction and makes them less likely to make errors in the workplace. The programs also greatly decrease the absenteeism rate of employees which results in increased productivity for the company or organization. Despite these high advantages and… READ MORE

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