By the Numbers: Employee Wellness Programs

5 lifestyle behaviors (physical inactivity, poor nutrition, smoking, alcohol use, and non-adherence to medications) and five chronic medical conditions (diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, mental illness, and cancer) drive 75% of all deaths worldwide.  https://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/022436_labr_wellness_report_opt.pdf

More than 60% of survey respondents in a RAND report, reported that workplace wellness programs reduced their organizations’ health care costs. Soeren Mattke et al., RAND Inc. Workplace Wellness Programs Study: Final Report (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Health, 2013).

Michael Roizen, M.D., chair of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, has determined there are five behaviors that mitigate chronic disease:

• Walking 30 minutes a day
• Eating healthy
• Not smoking
• Having a waist size that is less than half of your height
• Drinking alcohol only in moderation.

If an individual engages in these five behaviors, they typically spend 33% to 50% less on health care costs compared with people who have health risks.

Multiple authors published an article in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that asked the question, “Do Workplace Health Promotion (Wellness) Programs Work?” The authors concluded that programs using evidence-based strategies produced a ROI between $2 and $3.60. Employees adopted healthy habits, less time away from work, and lower medical and pharmacy costs. Goetzel et al., “Do Workplace Health Promotion (Wellness) Programs Work?”