Promoting such healthy behavior can reduce overall premium costs for employee-sponsored health plans, which have become increasingly costly for most large companies.
Over the past decade, annual premiums for employer-sponsored health plans have increased 80 percent, reaching $16,351 last year — up 4 percent from 2012, according to the 2013 Employer Health Benefits Survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Most of that cost increase has been driven by employees with the highest health risks and highest medical claims, said Mike Suttman, president of Dayton-based employee benefits brokerage McGohan Brabender Inc.
“If you can make a difference in employee health claims and utilization, you can reduce your costs,” Suttman said. “Wellness programs are one way to do it. And if you can say to your employees that your premiums will be 30 percent less if you agree to do it, you’ll see a lot more people willing to participate.”
But incentives can take many forms.
At Appvion Inc. — formerly Appleton Papers in West Carrollton — employees have free access to the company’s newly renovated fitness center, which is just one example of how the company is making employee health a top priority, said Heather Bogard, health and wellness coordinator for the Appelton, Wis.-based paper company.
“We have seen our health care costs increasing….and we’re trying to keep costs down for employees as well as for the company,” Bogard said. “Having the on-site fitness center is a great way for employees to increase their physical activity and reduce their risk for chronic health conditions.”
Based on biometric screenings to measure workers’ health risks, Appvion discovered that 80 percent of its employees were at increased risk for chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, with obesity being the No. 1 risk factor, Bogard said.
But getting employees to hit the gym to loose weight is only part of the company’s overall wellness strategy, said Mindy Mayberry, payroll coordinator at Appvion’s West Carrollton plant.
“It’s not just about fitness and weight loss, we have other resources to help employees achieve whole body wellness,” Mayberry said.
In addition to the fitness center, the company has a wellness resource room with literature and DVDs on healthy eating, cooking, lifestyle choices, Mayberry said. And the company offers employees rebates of up to $500 a year for such wellness-related purchases as health club memberships, personal training fees, and fitness accessories and equipment.
Appvion is not alone.
In 2013, nearly all large employers — those with at least 200 workers — offered at least one wellness program, and more than a third (36 percent) of large employers who offered wellness programs offered some kind of financial incentive for workers to participate, according to the health benefits survey.
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