For Everyone’s Benefit: Giving Government Well-Being Programs a Boost

HR practitioners often lament that they have solid wellness program offerings for their organization’s employees, but those programs may go underutilized. Additionally, organization administrators can have concerns on the return on investment of wellness programs. This can present a difficult challenge for HR practitioners, in terms of how to satisfy their organization’s employees, while also demonstrating the program’s value to administrators.

A 2022 Gallup survey indicated that only 24% of employees polled indicated they felt their employer strongly cared about their well- being. It’s worth noting that this poll was conducted in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. But, as the article pointed out, similar employee sentiment goes as far back as 2010. Additionally, a 2024 Reward Gateway Report found that just over 50% of employees rated their employer’s well-being support as either average or poor.

While there is at least some demand from employees for employer well-being assistance, there is research surrounding program effectiveness that can reduce support and resource allocation from administrators.

For example, a 2019 Journal of the American Medical Association article found, at least in the short term, little evidence that the employer’s wellness initiatives improved their employees’ health.

Furthermore, a 2021 Harvard Business Review study found on average that only about 23% of employees participate in an employer’s wellness initiative.

There is evidence, however, that well-designed wellness programs can yield a return on their investment (ROI). A 2022 Avalere Health study found that employer-sponsored health insurance and programs will yield a 47% average return on investment. In other words, for every dollar an employer spends on workforce health, it would receive $1.47 in financial benefits.

Furthermore, a 2019 Health Advocate study was able to generate a specific breakdown by condition. For example, the research found that, of 1,497 people identified with hypertension, 76% were reduced to normal or borderline within three years, generating a cost savings of $1,568,164. To further gain leadership buy-in, when employees’ well-being is good, it leads to better attendance as well as a higher level of engagement and ultimately increased productivity.

So, how does an employer go about developing a well-designed wellness program once they have received at least some degree of support from their administration? The first step is to find out what to offer, which can vary from employer to employer.

Finding What Works for Your Agency

Figuring out what your agency should provide in terms of well- being offerings can be determined by a couple of means. First, you can work with your benefit providers to obtain aggregate data through means such as health risk assessments, claims data and biometric screening results. The other method would be to conduct surveys with your employees either electronically, or perhaps via in-person town hall meetings for smaller organizations. Hopefully you will see correlations between the data from your providers and employee desires through the surveys. In the event you do not, it is best to make your selections based on which may have the largest benefit to your employee population as well as help your ROI.

As with any HR-related initiative, there are compliance considerations. In addition to state laws, there are federal laws that require employers to be sure their programs are in agreement with the FLSA, Internal Revenue Code, ERISA, ADA, GINA, HIPAA, ACA and EEOC regulations, among others. And, without delving too much into each federal law and regulation, keeping employee data secure and confidential is critical to any wellness program, as is ensuring that employee participation is voluntary.

In terms of the actual offerings, they can include, but are certainly not limited to, programs to reduce hypertension and high cholesterol, diabetes screening and intervention, annual flu shots, stress management, cancer awareness, nutritional assistance, mental health care and financial guidance. Where possible, try to establish program benchmarks; for example, set a goal that 30% of your workforce participates in a lunchtime walking club.

Program offerings typically will be a combination of in-person and virtual. For in-person offerings during the workday, lunch-and- learns can be effective. As a good portion of the workforce is at least operating somewhat remotely under a hybrid arrangement, and virtual offerings make it easy for employees to access them wherever they are, during the moments they need them most.

Once you have determined what you will be offering, communication is critical. There is a fine line to walk between over-communicating and communicating too little, but you want to make sure you get the word out. A creative name for your program can help better brand it to your employees.

Communication methods that can help promote your program include imaginative periodic emails to employees, flyers placed in strategic locations, utilize your social media platforms which would include a dedicated intranet page, chatbots to respond to employee questions and requesting those in leadership positions periodically make a brief mention of the program at their team meetings.  Another great method is to hold sporadic wellness fairs, where vendors can present their services and employees can ask questions directly to experts.

It Comes Down to Participation

Of course, you can have the best program design and communication initiatives possible, but their success will ultimately come down to employee participation. One aspect that can lead to increased involvement is when employees see their supervisors and upper management actively participating. Another method which might increase participation is sharing individual success stories from those willing to volunteer, or through your aggregate employee data.

Creating friendly competition through imaginative activities based on your established benchmarks, and rewarding those employees who reach and exceed those benchmarks is ultimately the best way to elicit participation.

One increasingly common method used to accomplish this is gamification. Gamification allows employees to collect points as they complete tasks. Once they reach a certain number of pre-established points, you can create a published leaderboard, allowing the top performers to earn prizes. In addition, offer some type of sweepstakes for other program participants to earn prizes where feasible.

Gamification programs can be applied to both physical and mental health initiatives. An example would be a walking initiative in which employees wear a device to track their steps over a particular time period. Once the deadline arrives, the top participants receive prizes. Conversely, organization health plans benefit as participating employees should see improvements in their heart health, cholesterol levels and body mass index (BMI), among other areas. If there isn’t room in your budget for prizes, reach out to your health providers/partners for suggestions. They may be willing to donate prizes or provide them at a discounted rate.

Finally, you will want to continue surveying your employees about your offerings as well as analyze the aggregate data to determine what is working and which areas are in need of improvement. To continue to gain administrative support, a return-on-investment calculator can help exhibit your program’s impact on healthcare savings. Demonstrating the financial success of the program should help you be able to maintain it, and hopefully grow it over time.

About the Author

Wesley Jones is a senior human resources consultant with the Virginia Department of Transportation Hampton Roads District Office in Suffolk, Va. He can be reached at wesjones78@icloud.com.