Employer Healthcare Strategies

Researcher and management guru Jim Collins is well-known for his authored works Good to Great and Built to Last. In this latter book, a thought-provoking point is made:

“Indeed, if there is any one 'secret' to an enduring great company, it is the ability to manage continuity and change — a discipline that must be consciously practiced, even by the most visionary of companies.”

Managing continuity and change can be challenging – especially in the realm of healthcare, and especially if you’re a small- to medium-size business (SMB). 

Small and medium-size businesses place high importance overall on workforce health. In fact, nearly 93% say the health of their employees is important to their business's bottom line. Unfortunately, nearly 60% of these employers say that there is not enough information available to small businesses about implementing wellness programs – and there isn’t any wonder why.

Healthy, happy employees are also more productive employees. In fact, employee health and wellness – or lack thereof – is possibly the single biggest determining factor when it comes to employee productivity.

Think about it. The barriers to productivity are either physical: Fatigue, illness, injury. Or mental: Depression, stress, distraction.

Reducing these physical and mental factors will increase attendance and ensure that employees are able to perform at their best, as well as create an environment with high morale that employees enjoy being at.

To attract and keep top talent, it’s no secret that leading employers offer a healthy mix of benefits – great pay, ample time-off, opportunities for continuing education, and rewarding culture. And speaking of healthy, companies are investing in the health and wellness of employees now more than ever.

Nearly 68% of employers have some type of wellness program, and there isn’t any wonder as to why. Wellness programs have the power to promote awareness, incentivize positive behavior change, and address rising healthcare costs – it’s a win-win for waistline and bottom-line.

Proper nutrition is the foundation to a healthy lifestyle for your employees. By helping them implement changes in the way they eat now, it may reduce the chance of them developing chronic diseases in the future.

From a company standpoint, this is an enormous benefit because it can help reduce future healthcare costs. In order to motivate employees to change their nutritional habits we've rounded up 3 critical areas to address in your workplace nutrition solutions.

Jean Sutherland sits at her desk inside the CareATC® corporate office as a more flexible, happy and healthy 65-year-old woman, who has been inspired by the company’s program, HealthPassport™, to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

"I think this is what everyone has been trying to tell me for a long time," Jean said. "Pay attention to what you’re doing and it will help."

It's no secret that Americans are an unhealthy lot. In addition to heart disease being the number one cause of death in the United States, a third of all adults and one-fifth of those aged 6-19 are clinically obese.

Can it get worse? You bet it can. Dr. Youfa Wang recently predicted that if current trends remain, 100% of the American population will be overweight or obese by 2048. This astounding prediction is based on science, mathematics, and the true reality of the health care epidemic that our nation is experiencing.

As designers and researchers who have spent the better part of two years creating systems of healthy living for a large national populace, Cortney Rowan and Karuna Harishanker identify the unique power workplaces have on reframing the very mindset of health itself in their Harvard Business Review post, “What Great Corporate Wellness Programs Do.”

As part of a joint project with the Department of Defense, the pair recently researched over 20 award-winning and leading workplace wellness programs implemented by visionary companies.

Owning the responsibility to change how everyday people view healthcare has lead to incredible changes that neither government or healthcare organizations have been able to achieve. 

Instead of paying pricy premiums to insurers, self-insured companies pay claims filed by employees and health care providers directly and assume most of the financial risk of providing health benefits to employees. To mitigate significant losses, self-funded companies often sign up for a special “stop loss” insurance, hedging against very large or unexpected claims. The result? A stronger position to stabilize health care costs in the long-term. No wonder self-funded plans are on the rise with nearly 81% of employees at large companies covered.

Despite the rise in self-insured companies, employers are uncertain as to whether they’ll even be able to afford coverage in the long-term given ACA regulations. Now more than ever, employers (self-insured or not) must understand that wellness is a business strategy. High-performing companies are able to manage costs by implementing the most effective tactics for improving workforce health.