Despite an uptick in the number of employers offering wellness programs, a new survey conducted by Hewitt Associates suggests that few workers are participating in the initiatives, the Hartford Courant reports. Based on a survey of 248 large- and mid-size companies, the study finds that, although more than half of companies offered smoking cessation and weight management programs, less than 5 percent of eligible employees actually participated in them, and less than half of employers were satisfied with the programs' results.The full note is available here.
I was especially interested in this since I'm in the middle of helping The University of Texas at Austin Division of Housing and Food Service roll out a new wellness program. We have a really nice team in place from the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, and I'm the oddball from Advertising.
We're only a couple weeks into the program, but I'm pretty sure we've already crossed 5% of the employees participating in the program - which ranges from personalized fitness trainers available before/after work and educational offerings (financial and nutrition this semester). We engaged the employees throughout the process of developing the program (a few focus groups, a large survey) and seem to have hit a great community of employees with very supportive leadership. If we keep rolling along like this, I think we're going to have some interesting findings (regarding improved wellness) and best practices to share at the end of the project.
2 comments:
I've only had ONE boss who has advocated for "Well Days" instead of sick days. As an entrepreneur and a Community Director of a social network, I'm now able to practice this...to great effect! Sickness prevention in terms of offering a few days a year to celebrate wellness might just go a long way in terms of increasing morale.
I know, it's exciting to watch employees get fired up over something like this. It'll be interesting to see how sick days (hopefully) go down over the course of semester and year. Good luck with your own wellness program!
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