Wellness programs in the workplace are most prevalent in the United States with 86% of organizations offering them, but even outside North America, about one in five employers offer wellness programs, according to a survey.
Buck Consultants’ study, Working Well: A Global Survey of Health Promotion and workplace wellness strategies finds that multinational employers that have developed a global wellness strategy are 50% more likely to provide wellness programs outside the United States than other employers in those geographies.
Objectives for wellness programs vary by region. In Canada, employers cite attraction and retention as the primary objective while healthcare cost reduction is the top goal south of the border.
European employers aim to reduce employee absences due to sickness or disability and respondents in other countries seek improved workplace morale as the main objective for wellness programs.
“This broad range of objectives is a good indication of why wellness initiatives are becoming popular around the world,” says Barry Hall, a Buck principal who directed the survey. “Employers recognize that improving their employees’ health and reducing the risk of disease also returns real value to the company in multiple ways.”
The survey analyzed responses from 555 organizations worldwide, representing approximately seven million employees.
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