Canadian employees significantly underestimate their personal health risks, which underscores the need for targeted wellness programs in the workplace, according to a study.
How are employers promoting wellness at their companies? Here are just a few examples.
Independent Health, located in Buffalo, New York, is the first health plan in New York State to introduce money-back rewards for buying fresh fruits and vegetables. The benefit will be available beginning January 1, 2014.
Novus Health is expanding into the United States with the opening of a new client services and business development office in Los Angeles.
The role of wellness in the Canadian workplace has been increasingly embraced by employers as a key piece of their total health management strategy. Since its emergence, we’ve seen organizations move from offering their employees flu shot clinics and walking clubs, to having on-site chronic disease management programs to help keep employees productive, present and adherent to treatment.
Sometimes, an organization is very clear on its communications objectives: to educate, heighten awareness, modify behaviours, reduce confusion and put out a call to action. But it takes a keen sensitivity to one’s employees to know how to reach them in order to achieve those objectives.
Organizations are facing benefits plan cost increases, which are driven by healthcare inflation, increased utilization, and an aging workforce with rising health and societal responsibility pressures and challenges. Benefits plan sponsors intuitively understand that health and wellness initiatives should lead to more effective management of employee support programs and will positively impact employees’ productivity. Unfortunately, concrete documented evidence of return on investment (ROI) for wellness initiatives undertaken by benefits plan sponsors has been relatively rare in Canada.
Smoking bans on all company property both indoors and outdoors should be a visible part of a comprehensive non-smoking policy in Canadian workplaces, according to a report.
This spring, Momentous Corp., an Ottawa-based tech company attracted a great deal of attention, both positive and negative, by publicly declaring its strict policy of not hiring smokers. Not only are Momentous employees not allowed to smoke on company time or property, they are expected to carry this forward to their personal time, too. Momentous claims that by taking this stand, it has slashed the cost of its health benefits and also increased productivity.
A Ceridian survey finds that although 90% of Canadian organizations believe mental health as an important part of a health and wellness strategy, only 22% of respondents believe the services they have in place are adequate.
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