Small businesses can benefit from high-quality employee wellness programs

A new study published today supports the premise that high-quality employee wellness programs in small businesses improve employee health and well-being, which drives improvements in organizational outcomes such as absenteeism, healthcare costs and disability claims. Featured in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, it is among the first peer-reviewed research evaluating the effectiveness of worksite health and wellness programs offered by a small employer.

The study marks an important step toward broadening the workplace well-being impact beyond just large businesses. Small businesses, which stand to benefit from financial incentives provided by health care reform legislation, are in need of guidance regarding their investment in programs that deliver results.

"These findings clearly indicate the dramatic consequences that small employer wellness programs can have on multiple domains of well-being, such as physical health, emotional health and healthy behaviors of employees," said James E. Pope M.D., coauthor of the article and Chief Science Officer at Healthways. "These comprehensive findings offer a broad understanding of the areas that can adversely impact the productivity and health of a workforce."

The study, facilitated by Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), known for its landmark research on modifiable health risks and employee health care costs, evaluated the impact of Nebraska-based Lincoln Industries best practices program using the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index^® (WBI).

The WBI is a comprehensive survey of a population's well-being based on a set of indices that assess physical health, emotional health, healthy behavior, and basic access to health-related conditions and services. The WBI achieved an 87 percent response rate among Lincoln's employees and individual values were assigned and aggregated to produce a set of domain scores for the entire population. Underscoring the strong health and wellness culture at Lincoln, this participation rate was achieved without incentives.

Hank Orme, President of Lincoln Industries, discussed the importance of wellness programs on a business's bottom line. "In today's competitive business world we are looking for every edge to improve performance, and we have found that investing in our culture of healthy lifestyles has created a workplace that yields high returns in all metrics including operating profit, customer satisfaction, supplier satisfaction, individual opinion surveys, trust surveys and overall a spirited group of people. I am confident that this can be achieved by both small and large companies with dedicated leadership."

Lincoln Industries was identified in the study as a best practice program, consisting of initiatives focused on:

• Increasing employee awareness of their health status

• Fostering personal accountability

• Promoting physical activity

• Healthy diet

• Community involvement

• High levels of job satisfaction

Approximately 99 percent of employees complete regular health screenings, with a majority of the workforce participating in wellness activities throughout the year. Previous analyses of Lincoln's program have documented the company's success in reducing tobacco use and workers compensation costs, and the company's resulting health care costs trend significantly lower than health care spending nationwide.

"This study marks a critical first step in wellness research specifically designed to inform the practices of small businesses," said David Anderson, PhD, coauthor and chair of the research committee for the Health Enhancement Research Organization. "By promoting high-quality research in a small-business setting, HERO is helping to put evidence-based wellness practices within reach of all employers."