Wellness

I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you: Pregnancy - even at its best - is difficult. However, pregnancy with a high-deductible health plan is even more difficult. Want to get educated about the true cost of high-quality health care in a hurry? Enroll in an HDHP and then have a baby.

Senior managers, CFOs, accountants and HR/benefits professionals all want to know that their company wellness programs are making a difference. I can share with you five mistakes to avoid:

This article is the third and final in EBN's annual Open Enrollment Boot Camp series, designed to strengthen benefits practitioners with different strategies to employ during this year's enrollment season. Earlier this month, the series examined the advantages of maintaining financial, legal and physical wellness programs as a single component. The article, "Under one umbrella," as well as the first installment from EBN May, "Breaking down the wall," which outlined strategies for employers to use in increasing employee engagement and participation in retirement plans and financial planning, is available at ebn.benefitnews.com.

Almost half (49%) of U.S. workers are at least somewhat likely to look for a job this year, but there is undeniable evidence linking benefits offerings and employee loyalty, according to the 2012 Aflac WorkForces report.

Leading U.S. organizations are turning to prevention-based employee health benefits to improve workforce health and reduce health care costs. Yet, according to a survey released this week by Virgin HealthMiles, there's a critical awareness gap threatening that strategy's success

Jack in the Box, a fast-food chain restaurant, rewards employees for taking biometric screenings, which they can conduct from their home or a lab. When the company implemented BioIQ’s program, flexibility was key for an employee population that is spread across the United States, so that they could easily understand their health data and be motivated to improve.

Identifying the health risk factors for your clients' employee population is the fabric of your wellness bag of tricks. An effective program connects a total wellness solution to those specific risks. The trick is finding the right motivator for changing unhealthy behavior.

Anyone doubting the sustainability and projected growth of mobile technology should take heed of these statistics from technology and communication leaders Qualcomm Life and Virgin HealthMiles.

I've written previously about wellness and health management, but since it's a topic that comes up in virtually every client planning meeting I have these days, it seems worth revisiting. The biggest challenge facing HR professionals looking to devote resources to wellness initiatives at their workplaces is responding to the question, "What's the ROI?"

I've always been sporty: I climbed trees and played sports as a kid, go to the gym often and think that in my next life I'd like to be a personal trainer. So, I was very interested in talking to Dr. Jack Groppel, co-founder of the Human Performance Institute and vice president of applied science and performance training at Johnson & Johnson's Wellness & Prevention. According to Groppel, there is a way to bring sports - or at least sports-related concepts - into the workplace to make employees more engaged and productive. Recently, he and I discussed the idea of "sport science" and how its application in corporations could produce winning ways. -K.M.B.

What better way to take lessons of branding a wellness program than from one of the top-branded companies in the world, Procter and Gamble? The producers of timeless product lines like Old Spice and Tide recently introduced Vibrant Living, P&G's in-house line of benefits specially designed to help employees live healthier.

This article is the second in a two-part series examining the challenges in achieving true parity for mental health benefits. This article addresses barriers to care due to lack of access and provider shortages. The previous installment, "Separate, but not yet equal," featured in EBN April 15, explores the history of mental health parity legislation, and is available online at ebn.benefitnews.com.

China may be on the forefront of economic development, but it has a long way to go in providing health care for its hundreds of millions of workers, according to Hocking Cheng, managing director for health management solutions in China for Aetna. Such health care woes may haunt U.S. multinationals that have to contend with employee wellness issues at home and abroad.

When it rains, it pours. For employees, financial strain can lead to legal trouble, the stresses of which can bring on health problems. A new white paper suggests an integrated wellness program can bring brighter days for workers and the bottom line.

Over time, Chrysler LLC delivered a 2.6 to 1 return on investment for its wellness programs by engaging employees, offering company resources to those with high risk factors and rewarding healthy behaviors with premium incentives. Notably, the programs are completely voluntary.

The cost of U.S. health care services is expected to rise 7.5% in 2013, more than three times the projected rates for U.S. inflation and economic growth, according to an industry research report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

One broker looks at how his company walks the talk with wellness programs and says how that can work for all your clients.

If businesses were people, most of them would be feeling a bit under the weather these days. A host of nagging issues continue to nip away at their health - the economy, sagging profit margins and rising benefits costs, just to name a few. But many companies are getting some relief now that they've added wellness programs to their benefits offerings. And your clients can, too - with a good benefits communications strategy that helps their program succeed.

Employee engagement is the goal of just about every wellness and health management program. You need to engage employees to be more active, eat better, get more sleep. … You get the idea. So why is engaging employees so hard? Maybe it’s because we haven’t really thought about it from the perspective of the employee – the end-user of the wellness initiative. According to research from a partnership of Aon Hewitt and The Futures Company, most…

Over time, Chrysler LLC delivered a 2.6 to 1 return on investment for its wellness programs by engaging employees, revealing company resources to those with high risk factors and rewarding healthy behaviors with premium incentives. Notably, the programs are completely voluntary.