In the face of rising health care costs, nearly all U.S. employers with more than 5,000 employees now offer wellness programs in an effort to cut costs and improve the health and well-being of their workers, according to a new infographic created by ShapeUp Inc. and provided by Compliance and Safety.
The infographic shows that among these large employers, 91 percent offer Web-based wellness resources; 81 percent offer smoking cessation programs; 71 percent maintain gym membership programs or on-site exercise facilities; and 70 percent offer weight-loss programs.
Employers also cited their top three goals they hoped to achieve through wellness programs: increasing worker engagement, boosting exercise and weight loss, and reducing health care costs.
The Price of Good Health
Obesity and its related illness account for $73 billion in U.S. corporate health care costs, and the average annual employer health insurance premium has doubled to $15,073 in the decade spanning 2001 in 2011. As a result, employers’ return-on-investment for wellness programs – which, according to the infographic, can reach up to 600 percent, as demonstrated through reduced health care claims, increased worker productivity and improved morale – can be priceless.
To learn more, including how these employers address financial incentives in their programs, prioritize their budgets for wellness, manage wellness providers and more, view the infographic below:
