Company Wellness that's Legal and Effective

We're just catching up on some reading, and came across this great Business Week story about the efforts to create a wellness program at Scott's Miracle-Gro, the garden company. It's full of great details about what one company has gone through to create a wellness program that's legal and effective.

Three things worth mentioning:

• The story opens with great anecdotes which illustrate the benefits and dangers of corporate wellness plans. One is about a supposedly fit manager who, after prompting by his wellness program, got a stress test--and a 98 percent blockage in one artery was discovered. The other is about a man who, after being fired for smoking, sued his company.
• It has lots of comments from readers in the business community with their own struggles with health insurance premiums and wellness programs.
• It has a sidebar with some basic advice about how to keep a wellness program on the right side of the law. Nothing new, but some good reminders. It's drawn from Thomas Gilliam's recent book "Move It. Lose It. Live Healthy. Achieve a Healthier Workplace One Employee at a Time."