The Employment Report

If you’re one of the lucky ones you may already work for a company that provides excellent health benefits and a stellar retirement plan. If you’re even luckier you work for a company that is promoting a new type of plan called Wellness Benefits. A friend of mine works for a company that practices this and I Googled it to find out more. If you too are intrigued keep reading… 

In an attempt to lower healthcare costs many employers are now researching and implementing Wellness Benefits into their benefit programs. It works like this: employers offer on and offsite preventive services, such as gyms or gym memberships, physical therapists, and even in-house health clinics to their employees. Some employers have even begun to offer cash bonuses to those employees taking the most responsibility for their health, whether by exercising regularly or otherwise.  

And so far it is working. Companies seeking a relief from rising health care premiums are seeing a positive affect from Wellness Benefits. Even though some companies are spending more on the program, they are saving nearly double on the cost of lost productivity that occurs when employees take off work due to doctor’s appointments or chronic illness.  

Some companies are also implementing a preventative screening program that picks up the costs of employees annual physical exams, mammograms, prostate specific tests, eye exams and even immunizations. 

Wellness Benefits improve the quality of life and work for everyone involved in the company. By exercising regularly and keeping up with preventative doctors appointment employees will feel better which will translate into better work results. At the same time employers are saving money and seeing a drastic increase in productivity in the workplace. With a win-win situation such as this I believe we will see a more widespread implementation of Wellness Benefits in the coming years.