It appears that the answer might be no. I attribute much of this to a lack of vision for what Employee Wellness programs are meant to accomplish. It does seem that two general camps have developed with one focusing on providing Wellness as a benefit for employees and the other intent on there being a proven Return on Investment for such programs.
This doesn’t perhaps seem unreasonable, until you survey available implementations that require determination on behalf of employees to realize any benefit from program offerings, or are so passive that any real return on investment is never actually realized.
Why bother then?
Because, educating your employees to make better decisions, not necessarily surrounding their health, but about how they approach their work is something that all Employers should have a vested interest in.
Nothing is more personal, nor as high-stakes as the decisions one makes about their own health, so it appears counterintuitive that $660 billion health insurance industry, and a $1.6 trillion (with a T!) healthcare industry could exist in a market based economy without promoting consumer choice.
This isn’t as reprehensible as it sounds, simply because there is some choice available when it comes down to carriers and plan designs. However, it is at this point that most of us give up our right to evaluate opportunity cost and make educated decisions about our medical care.
Employers should take note, that promoting good decision making in this area will yield considerably greater returns in critical thinking and decision making with respect to the work they perform. To say nothing of the reduction of health related risk factors and reduction in health care utilization.
Based on what options are available to employers, it seems unlikely that any Insurance Carrier, or Benefits Agent can provide Coincidentally, a successful implementation under with perspective appears to provide wellness as a benefit to employees and also yields a return on any investment. How you approach this matters.
