In the last few years, there’s been a rising trend for public employers – not just private businesses – to ban tobacco use. Here’s what your peers are doing.
What’s New in Benefits and Compensation recently surveyed 374 of our readers from both the private and public sectors to find out their organization’s policy on permitting [...]
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Quitting tobacco use at any age can improve a person’s health. And believe it or not, older staff members often fair better with tobacco use cessation than younger staff members.
According to the Journal of American Medicine, Duke University reseearchers tracked 573 older patients over 10 years. They found that just 16 percent of those [...]
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In this recession economy and out-of-control employee debt, many employers who don’t have automatic 401(k) enrollment have seen participation drop.
Here’s how one small company in Arizona cleverly tied 401(k) education to employees’ other financial concerns. Rather than simply holding its usual 401(k) open enrollment education meeting, it held a “financial health fair.”
Stressed 401(k) importance
Just how [...]
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Looking for incentives to get overweight staff members to purchase into a health promotion program? A recent study suggests many staff members are even willing to pay much – or all – of the cost themselves.
Roughly 35 percent of firms with wellness programs focus on providing personnel with convenient access to weight reduction resources.
A poll [...]
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Studies show that roughly five percent of workers drive about 80 percent of your health benefit costs.
No shocker here – Smokers and obese personnel are the highest risk group for developing the sorts of chronic medical problems that send costs through the roof.
A small, but rapidly growing number of employers are taking desperate measures to [...]
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Wellness programs come in all shapes and sizes. But regardless of plan design there are five common components that set the successful health promotion programs apart from the rest.
At their core, wellness programs require constant monitoring and periodic adjustments. The wellness programs that get mediocre results are the ones that are left to run on [...]
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Here’s more evidence that health promotion programs pay for themselves –
Over the last two years, one company in five has seen significant betterment in employees’ health status – and started to stabilize their costs – as reported by one study.
Among firms noting improvement, nearly two-thirds (64%) feature wellness programs offering incentives for healthier life [...]
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Health promotion programs are a long-term investment. But how long should you wait for results?
Finance and the CEO want hard numbers to show ROI. And wellness ROI is tougher to calculate than, say, a 401(k).
18-month guideline
Recent studies have established some benchmark data on wellness Return On Investment (ROI) you are able to use as a [...]
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Several years ago, corporation health fairs were all the rage. Now they’re making a comeback, with a slight twist.
In the past, the fairs often better served the provider(s) who came onsite than the needs of the hosting corporation or their workers. More recently, businesses have refined the planning of the events to serve especially to [...]
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Medical research has long shown quitting tobacco use at any age can improve a person’s health.
But a Duke University shows that the group you could think would be the least likely to quit – people over the age of 50 – may actually have the best odds for quitting through a tobacco use cessation program.
Scientists [...]
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