Workplace Wellness

Jan Collins

Why more and more U.S. companies are deciding that the workplace is
an ideal setting to address health and wellness issues.

Jan Collins is Editor of the Business & Economic Review.

Photographs in this article provided by Colonial Life and Accident Insurance Company in Columbia, S.C.

Sidebar: Tips for Starting a Corporate Wellness Program

Sidebar: Energizing an Anemic Wellness Program

“There’s no question that workplace wellness is worth it. The only question is whether you’re
 going to do it today or tomorrow. If you keep saying you’re going to do it tomorrow,
you’ll never do it. You have to get on it today.”1
—Warren Buffett
Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

Fact: It costs U.S. employers billions of dollars annually to provide their workers with health insurance, and the cost will continue to increase—by an estimated 12 to 14 percent each year.

Fact: Expenses associated with medical claims, disability, lost productivity, and unscheduled absences cost U.S. employers at least $13 billion a year.2

Fact: The “desk-bound office lifestyle” can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems.3

Fact: Obesity is fast becoming the biggest health problem in America.

Fact: Stress, whether generated at home or at work, can be a killer.

What are U.S. companies doing about these interrelated issues? More and more are turning to corporate wellness programs. Today, more than 81 percent of U.S. businesses with 50 or more employees have some form of health promotion program, although their breadth and formats vary widely.4

Healthy employees, says Don Montgomery, assistant vice president and director of human resources for Colonial Life and Accident Insurance Company in Columbia, South Carolina, “have lower levels of stress; increased well-being, self-image and self-esteem; improved physical fitness; better stamina; and potential weight reduction.”5

And, university studies show that for every $1 spent on wellness programs, employers can expect an average return of about $3—the result of less worker absenteeism and fewer workers’ compensation and health care claims.

Because the majority of Americans “spend most of their waking hours at work,” says Montgomery, “the worksite provides an ideal setting to address health and well-being.”6

Employee wellness programs had their genesis in the executive fitness programs begun in the 1970s to keep top management teams fit. As the health and cost benefits of executive fitness programs became clear, health promotion programs “expanded beyond top managers to the entire workforce, and beyond fitness to wellness.”7

In the 1980s, interventions to treat “sick” employees became interventions to prevent disease, while in the 1990s, worksite health promotion programs expanded across the country at a fast pace.8 The Year 2000 National Health Objectives for the Nation integrated “worksite-based health promotion programs into the list of targeted objectives for improving the nation’s health.” 9

University studies show that for every $1 spent on wellness programs, employers can expect an average return of about $3. . . .

In the early 1980s, Gale Averyt, then chairman of the board and president of Colonial Life and Accident Insurance Company and himself a fitness buff, decided to implement a wide-ranging wellness program at his firm. At that time, it was a new idea; in fact, Averyt and Don Montgomery had to trek all the way to Colorado to find a corporate fitness program they could model.

Aerobics classes are held on these gleaming wood floors in
a workout room at Colonial Life’s Columbia facility.

Averyt, who is now retired, was “light-years ahead [of most executives] in terms of how to integrate a wellness program into the company,” says Montgomery. “He had this vision of a better quality of life for his employees. He also believed that in tough times, a wellness program would help us save money [because our employees would be healthier]. And he was right.”

Colonial’s wellness program was launched in 1983. Today, it features a 1,600-square-foot fitness facility called Wellpower, located on the company’s campus. The facility houses men’s and women’s locker rooms with showers, thereby allowing employees to work out, run, or play basketball on their lunch hours or during work breaks.

The wide-ranging wellness program also provides a raft of exercise machines and a variety of group fitness classes that feature cardio step aerobics, kickboxing, strength training, cycling, body sculpting, and yoga. Another popular offering is a 15-minute seated-chair massage that can be scheduled during the workday. In addition, the company offers flu shots for employees and their families, mammograms, health screenings for prostate cancer, blood pressure checks, and cholesterol/lipid screenings—all given on-site at little or no cost. Colonial also pays a portion of the fee for employees who enroll in Weight Watchers classes, which are offered on-site.

That’s not all. Health Promotion Coordinator Jada L. Hubbard and her colleagues offer one-on-one fitness consultations and evaluations for fitness facility members, who must pay $16 a month to use the facility. (Nearly 50 percent of the company’s 1,000 employees are members.) The fitness programs include custom-tailored, doctor-approved rehabilitation sessions for employees who have suffered heart attacks or other adverse medical events.

Hubbard and company also offer specialty classes such as shag lessons and canoe/kayak trips. A new Walking Club is in the works. “These activities are fun and they help people stay in shape,” says Hubbard, who has a Master in Public Health degree from the University of South Carolina.
Colonial is always looking for ways to pump up their employees’ interest in fitness, and in 2003, it hit upon the Army Fitness Challenge, where employees volunteered to undergo a series of tough fitness tests—the same ones given to the U.S. Army’s active-duty personnel.

The Challenge involved a two-mile run or a 2.5 mile walk, plus two minutes of both sit-ups and push-ups. Hundreds of employees were on hand to cheer on the Army Fitness Challenge participants, and all who participated received prizes. “It was so much fun,” says Montgomery. “But it had a real purpose to it.” The event was such a success that it was repeated in 2004, and Montgomery and Hubbard expect it will become an annual thing.

A number of Colonial employees, both male and female, are also members of the company’s track team, a spin-off of the company’s wellness program. The Colonial team, which competes nationally each year against other major corporations, always sets the pace.

Colonial Life employees begin their two-mile run as part of
the Army Fitness Challenge.

Is Colonial’s wellness program paying financial dividends? It seems so. The firm’s parent company, UnumProvident, spends $80 million a year on medical costs for its 13,000 employees nationwide. But UnumProvident’s health care costs are not going up as fast as the nation’s; Colonial officials point to the wellness program as one reason. And, a company study done in 1995 reported savings of $2.81 for each $1 spent on health promotion.

“Our wellness program really adds something to the company environment,” says Don Montgomery, “If you took it away, there would be a major hole.” Colonial’s focus on fitness, in fact, is a featured aspect of the company’s recruiting ads, and the focus helps attract good employees. The fitness programs also help the company retain employees. “We’ve got a lot of people who won’t leave here because they like their jobs, but they love our wellness center,” says Montgomery.

Pat Carson, a slender senior actuarial analyst and 18-year veteran of the company, is one of those employees. Indoor cycling, body sculpting, and other classes that she attends at least four times a week keep her physically in shape and are helping her build needed bone mass. (She was diagnosed last year with osteopenia, decreased bone density that puts a person more at risk for developing osteoporosis.) Carson says her workouts also help her stay mentally in shape. “People don’t make me mad if I’ve had my workout,” she says with a smile. She takes fewer sick days, too, and when she does become ill, says Carson, “I don’t stay sick as long.” She rarely takes a Friday off, because she’d miss one of her workouts, and she frets about missing her workouts when she does take a vacation.

Debby Jones, a fiftyish business analyst and project manager, calls Colonial’s wellness program “just what the doctor ordered for women my age.” In fact, one reason she accepted a full-time job with Colonial last fall, after consulting for the company for a couple of years, was the company’s wellness program. Jones, who attends a cardio kickboxing class regularly and also uses the treadmill on her own, says she feels great and is rarely ill. “I’ve lost some fat and gained some muscle,” she says, “and my clothes are looser.” And, since she began Colonial’s wellness program, she rarely needs to see a doctor.

The Army Fitness Challenge at Colonial Life involved
numerous sit-ups.

Doctors Care came up with financial incentives to increase participation: teams were formed at each center for the weight-loss challenge, and the contests became fiercely competitive.
 

In early 2003, Dr. Michael Stout, president and CEO of Doctors Care, a South Carolina-based network of medical offices providing urgent patient care, implored his elder daughter to give up smoking. She eventually did. Then Stout decided it was time to make his medical centers, which employ more than 600 people at 41 locations, smoke-free.

“Smoking sets a bad tone, especially in a medical facility,” says Stout, a medical doctor. “And it sends a bad message to our patients.” So the word went out that as of Feb. 1, 2003, Doctors Care would be a smoke-free company. But the company didn’t just issue the directive. Stout announced that Doctors Care would reimburse employees who were trying to kick the habit up to three months’ cost of over-the-counter or prescription medications to help them quit.

The upshot was that 22 employees gave up cigarettes. “If just one person had (stopped smoking), it was worth it,” says Stout. But Doctors Care didn’t stop there. To further promote the health and well-being of its employees, the company launched a fitness program in collaboration with Specialized Fitness, a wellness center that focuses on personal training and nutrition counseling.

Called the JumpStart Challenge, the program was a specific exercise and weight-loss program for its employees. Workers were able to use Specialized Fitness’ exercise equipment, free of charge. Experts also provided nutrition counseling and personal training.

Doctors Care came up with financial incentives to increase participation: teams were formed at each center for the weight-loss challenge, and the contests became fiercely competitive. “One office would send over donuts in the morning to tempt the workers,” says Stout. “They would respond by sending candy back.”

In the end, 80 participants completed the 10-week challenge, losing a total of 607 pounds. Cash prizes were given to the winning teams. Now, similar programs are being planned at all Doctors Care centers in the state. In addition, employees can continue their free use of exercise equipment and are provided with monthly nutrition and healthy lifestyle updates.

Stout is pleased with the results of the Doctors Care health initiative. “People are happy, and our health care costs are down,” he says—one reason being that employees are taking fewer sick days. Workers are “very appreciative of the program,” agrees Jacqueline D. McAllister, vice president of finance and corporate controller. She herself is one of these grateful employees.

McAllister has lost 48 pounds in the past year and is well on her way to her goal of losing 80 pounds. “I feel better,” she says. Plus, now she takes just one blood pressure medication when she used to take three. McAllister continues to work out three to five times a week. So do Stout and Jerry F. Wells, Jr., the company’s chief financial officer. “It’s important for our employees to see us participating, too,” Stout says.

In the spring of 2004, Doctors Care won a Best Practices Award in the category of Health and Safety from the South Carolina Psychological Association for its smoking cessation and physical fitness initiatives.

At the University of South Carolina (USC), the state’s largest university with its main campus in Columbia, faculty and staff can participate in the Wellness Works program, introduced in 1996.

The program, run on a shoestring budget of about $6,000 annually, is looked on “as a benefit to faculty and staff,” says Michelle Murphy-Burcin, program director of Corporate Wellness at USC.

Wellness Works has a variety of offerings: comprehensive health screenings (including a cholesterol/lipid profile) for just $15; bone density and PSA (to detect prostate cancer) screenings; group walking programs; a weight maintenance program to help people maintain their weight over the holidays; free blood pressure readings at any time; Lunch-’N-Learn noontime programs that cover a variety of health topics; and a video lending library that offers exercise videos and tapes on yoga, dance, weight control, stress management, Pilates, meditation, and so forth.

During the 2002-2003 academic year, 576 USC workers took advantage of the health screening services, and nearly 500 participated in other programs.

In addition, more than 500 employees have signed up for the Wellness Works list-serv, and receive regular e-mails about program offerings, nutritious recipes, and the like. This past fall, more than 200 University employees participated in Walking Works, a 6-week walking program, organized by teams, that compete against one another. “This is, by far, our most popular program,” says Melissa Hale, a former graduate assistant with Wellness Works.

Wellness programs can now be found at U.S. companies across the country. At Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, employees are offered points for participating in healthy activities, such as attending a yoga class, exercising for 30 minutes at home, running a marathon, or playing on a sports team. Points can then be cashed in for gift certificates. “The highest gift—worth 250 points—is a paid day off,” writes Carol Patton in the May 2004 issue of Human Resource Executive. “Last year, 22 employees received this reward.”

Patton also tells of the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada, whose wellness program for its nearly 7,000 teachers and staff is “focused on individual responsibility and incentive-based activities.” Activities sponsored by the program include cholesterol screenings, food-safety programs, and wellness adventures, such as kayaking on nearby Lake Tahoe. A study to determine the short-term impact on employee health-care costs and absenteeism rates during 2001 and 2002 in the Washoe School District found that absentee rates for program participants dropped by 20 percent, saving local taxpayers $3 million.

Enormous progress has been made in the past 30 years toward wellness in the workplace. But significant challenges remain.

Not all worksites offer health promotion programs to their employees. The smaller the workplace, the less likely it is to offer health promotion programs.10 Moreover, certain industries, such as retail sales, have been less likely to offer health promotion programs.11 And, low-wage, blue-collar, and minority workers have less access to health promotion programs at work, despite evidence that these very employees “suffer a disproportionate share of diseases and health problems. . .”. 12

It’s clear that employers need to acknowledge the role that work conditions play in their employees’ health and productivity. It’s also clear that employers and employees must work together to improve workers’ health. o

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• Secure senior management’s support. Senior Management must make wellness a cornerstone to corporate culture. They must take an active role with an open door to communications, funding, and process.

• Do the homework. HR professionals should conduct their due diligence before jumping in headfirst. Visit other corporate facilities to quantify the type of programs that the company can afford (from both a space and financial perspective) and that fit employees’ needs.

• Set a strategic course. A busy HR department doesn’t need another hat to wear. Hire a program director and staff who are true professionals and can help establish and maintain the program’s direction. Look for professionals who are knowledgeable about national health and fitness standards and are certified trainers.

• Balance the scales. Facilities and activities need to be inviting to anyone who wants to improve their health. The key is to find the right balance of programs that attract the A-Z employee—from the marathon runner to the person whose only exercise is walking from the parking lot.

• Create a supportive environment. A wellness program should be fostered in a friendly, encouraging environment. Develop a tracking system of “what works” and “what doesn’t.” This is not only helpful from a programming standpoint, but also serves as a Return on Investment measurement for budgetary reasons.

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• Re-evaluate your wellness program staff. Staff should not only fill their fiduciary roles, but also should act as true, enthusiastic ambassadors within the workplace. Instructors should combine the right mix of encouragement, excitement, and follow-up with a true personal touch to service.

• Initiate employee feedback. Solicit feedback from both active employees and those who have disengaged from the program. Channels for employee feedback should be established, whether it’s an employee advisory committee that actively solicits feedback and aids in communicating the program, or a suggestion box that’s more anonymous in nature.

• Motivate, motivate, motivate. Wellness programs should incorporate attainable goals and objectives for employees. Establish programs with a progressive level of short-term goals under the umbrella of an overarching, long-term objective. Rewards—from T-shirts to gift certificates at local sporting-goods stores—help encourage employees to stay on track.

• Update and upgrade program image. Evaluate facilities and equipment for upgrades. A fresh coat of paint and a good deep cleaning often work wonders. . . Staff should address current health issues, capitalize on the latest exercise fads, and leverage annual health observances. . .

• Tap low-cost resources. A myriad of low-cost resources are available to beef up any wellness program, such as free health screenings by local hospitals, health and fitness information available on the Internet or from area physicians, and “Lunch-and-Learns” offered by health-related organizations.