Concerns regarding worker stress, obesity and sedentary lifestyles continue to drive employer commitment to health and well-being programs.  Despite offering a wide complement of programs to enhance worker health and productivity, employers are struggling to change employee lifestyle behaviors, according to a survey by Towers Watson.

 

"U.S. employers have long recognized that the health and productivity of their workforce can influence business success and create competitive advantage," said Shelly Wolff, senior health care consultant at Towers Watson. "Yet while the hot-button issues of stress and obesity remain ever-present, the numerous programs and incentives designed to combat them have failed to effectively engage employees. Employers may find the key to making better progress hinges on looking at these programs through an employee's eyes."  Research shows that employees consider health to be a priority, seventy-one percent of surveyed employees prefer to manage their own health and forty-six percent do not want their employers to have access to their personal health information.

 

To ensure effectiveness in a workplace wellness program, companies are working to develop an articulated health and productivity strategy and to measure the impact of their existing wellness programs.  Employers are also taking a broader view of well-being by connecting financial well-being to health.  Forty-seven percent of surveyed employers offer financial well-being programs as part of their overall wellness offerings, while another 33% are considering making such offerings by the year 2018.  Source:  Towers Watson