With obesity rates high and chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes on the rise, it takes more than just some pamphlets in the break room to improve employees’ wellbeing and see a decrease in related health costs. A recent study sponsored by Wellsteps illustrates the role that various factors play in the behavior change process among individuals.
The data suggests that "awareness and education" are only about 5% effective at instigating a change in lifestyle habits while "policy and environment" typically result in a 40% rate of success in rallying workers to health. The other factors of behavior change, according to the previously mentioned study, include "motivation" (30% successful) and "skills and tools" (25% successful). This data is invaluable when it comes to designing and implementing wellness programs because it helps companies determine how to budget efficiently.
So policy and environment are key. It is important for companies to reward behavior itself, and not merely required healthy activities. If using a wellness portal or reading educational materials is incentivized, employees lack motivation to engage in any activity beyond whatever earns them points (ie money, benefits, perks). If, however, actual weight loss, or minutes of exercise, or hours of sleep are incentivized, an employee is more likely to embrace these healthy habits and incorporate them into their day to day life.
As Rachel Permuth-Levin of Sodexo recently stated in The 2012 Workplace Trends Report: “It’s important to evaluate drivers of success, revenue generation, and operational efficiency” without sacrificing the core values of a company.
That's where we come in. Questions? Reach out to Wellness Corporate Solutions today!
2 comments:
At my company ETrainer Health we have found that when we deployed the mobile applications to the workforce participation went up. So this along with the website portal, along with the website portal plus incentives has had a positive impact on our client populations. We believe the mobile apps help engage the employee when they are on the go or home vs having them login to the portal. However we also noticed that it is the younger audience doing so ages 24-50. Check us ot at http://etrainerhealth.com
If you can motivate your employees to workout and live healthy then you would definitely cut the cost of health care. Try to encourage them to workout their body and tell them the demerits of a unhealthy life. Set some examples of healthy living in front of them and first, apply all the thing on your own then only your saying will be listened by others.
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