Employee Wellness SurveyEmployee Wellness Programs – Corporate Wellness Programs

In the contemporary workplace human resources are highly valued. Employers understand, employees make or break the success of a company and therefore seek to ensure employees are able to maintain a consistent level of productivity. The health and well-being of employees is important to the modern employer. Wellness programs are becoming commonplace within working environments.

Wellness programs are implemented by a third party company that takes care of the health and well-being of employees within the company. Employee wellness programs vary from health screening and nutritional advice to fitness programs and education.

Companies employ these third party agencies to try to offset the cost of rising medical cover for their employees. Wellness programs are designed to ensure the physical well being of employees is being looked after however these kinds of programs have benefits for both the employer and the employee. Employer benefits include a reduction in sickness related absenteeism and a reduction in the time employees take off in general. Other benefits for the company are reduced medical cover costs and a more educated and healthy work force. Ensuring the health of employees within a company is highly contusive to a happy and productive work place.

Employee wellness programs also have a lot of benefits for employees. Wellness programs often involve some form of education. From smoking cessation programs to weight loss to biometric testing and diabetes
screening these programs at the very least raise awareness around important health issues. This awareness can have a drastic effect on employee health and lifestyle. Employee wellness programs aim to improve family health in order to improve the overall wellness of the individual employee.

The basic idea behind employee wellness programs is to align the needs of the company with those of the individual in order to implement a more cost effective solution to health care. The programs education focuses on reducing the need for health care in the future by preventing health problems through education and training. This benefits both the employer and the employee as while the company reduces its outlay in medical cover the employee reaps the benefits of these programs.

There are many resources online that will greatly aid in your Wellness Program search. Employee wellness Programs Quotes is a fast and easy way to get quotes from many of the nation’s largest, most reputable Wellness Programs.

While there has been no hard numerical evidence as to the value of employee wellness programs the qualitative substantiation is very apparent.  Workplace wellness programs increase the productivity of the employee as well as contributing to their overall lifestyle. A happy and health workplace has proven to be a productive and effective one.

“75% of health care spending pays for illnesses which are preventable”.- Centers for Disease Control

Four of the leading causes of death in the nation—heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease —are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyles and tobacco use. Encouraging individuals to adopt healthy habits and practices may reduce the burden of chronic disease in communities throughout the United States. Public and private efforts and programs are increasingly designed to promote these healthy behaviors and lifestyles. Employers are becoming more aware that obesity, lack of physical activity, and tobacco use are adversely affecting the health and productivity
of their employees and ultimately, the businesses’ bottom line. As a result, innovative employers are providing their employees with a variety of work-site-based health promotion and disease prevention programs using health coaches and the “trans- theoretical theory of change” approach to wellness. These programs have been shown to improve employee health, increase productivity and yield a significant return on investment for the employer.

What is a Health Coaching Program?

Health coaching programs help people make smart choices about health behaviors through education, motivation and reinforcement of healthy options. Taking the time to build a rapport, assess readiness to change, identify areas of need and to create an action plan, leads to a healthier outcome. Research proves that this personalized, collaborative approach is more effective than the cookie-cutter method that often leaves those most at risk far behind.

Health Coaches typically are licensed, degreed healthcare professionals that have made the choice to work one-on-one with their clients, outside of the typical “medical model”; empowering them to make long-term healthy changes by building solid skills that will last a lifetime.

Wellness Promotion

Employee wellness education is the starting point of prevention. It is about encouraging individuals who have demonstrated the behaviors of healthy living and providing them with the tools and support they need to stay fit, manage stress and continue to make good health decisions. Programs often include initiatives such as health risk assessments, on-site screenings, preventive care reminders, health club memberships, and financial incentives.

By promoting healthy behaviors, employers can reduce overall healthcare costs and absenteeism as well as support a “culture of health” and wellness.

Health Improvement Plans

Health improvement plans are about identifying high-risk factors, and preventing or slowing disease progression and encouraging individuals through education and one-on-one behavioral health coaching to begin altering their risky actions.

The types of behavioral-related high-risk factors addressed by health improvement programs include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco cessation, and weight management. Individuals with known or potential health conditions may be aware of elevated risks but have not found the motivation to change. They haven’t experienced any major hospitalization or serious complications – yet. However, without some form of intervention, their conditions will likely progress to a much higher-cost, productivity-limiting chronic disease.

Disease Management

The goal of disease management is to empower individuals to effectively manage disease and prevent complications through adherence to medication regimens, regular self-monitoring of vital signs and healthful diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices by education, support and encouragement of both the physician and the health coach.

For employers, the cost of chronic disease goes far beyond the direct costs of healthcare and medical expenses. Absenteeism due to lost wages amounts to $65 billion annually for American companies. This cost is compounded by the impact of lost productivity due to workers who are limited in the amount or kind of work they can do, which can be as high as 34% of the total workforce. Disease management programs have proven to not only control health benefit costs but also improve the overall health and productivity of workplace environments.

If a Texas business can encourage their employees to lose weight, stop smoking, and exercise, they will reduce the likelihood of their employees and dependents will contract diabetes, cancer, heart disease and strokes. A Corporate Wellness Plan, sometimes referred to as an Employee Wellness Plan is a very low cost Employee Benefit that offers specific programs that helps employees and their adult spouses improve their overall health.

Adding a corporate wellness plan is smart business for Dallas Fort Worth, Texas companies. According to the Center for Disease Control, 75% of all disease are preventable, and programs that reduce tobacco use and encourage weight loss and exercise can effectively reduce the occurrence of numerous expensive and disabling diseases.

Reducing these diseases reduces the number of health claims and absenteeism by employees and their families. It also helps make employees more effective and productive on the job.

Employee Wellness Plans have been proven to save employers on average about four dollars in reduced healthcare expenses and lost wages for every dollar spent. This is a tremendous return on investment for any business.

But there is even a way to make a Corporate Wellness Plan an even better tool for improving employee and dependent health and reducing costs. This is called a Wellness Driven Health Plan that the author has developed that Texas businesses can implement at no additional cost.

The Wellness Driven Health Plan works by first raising the deductible on the company’s group health insurance Texas plan. Employees therefore become responsible for a greater portion of their medical expense, but the cost of group health insurance is reduced for the employer and employees.

Next, the employer implements the employee wellness plan. This plan gives employees and adult dependents simple tools and programs that have been proven to improve their health, such as weight loss plans, tobacco cessation plans, and exercise programs.

Next, the company implements a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) that lets the employer to reimburse employees on a tax free basis for the cost of the programs in the wellness plans. The health reimbursement arrangement also lets the employer “reward” employees who participate in the wellness plan by contributing a flat amount of money towards their eligible medical expenses. The end result of implementing the Wellness Driven Health Plan is that there is no additional expense to the employer, or to those employees and dependents who take steps to improve their health. The savings in group health insurance expenses from raising the deductible covers the cost of the wellness plan and the rewards to employees who participate in the Employee Wellness Plan.

Employees who take responsibility for improving their health will pay less for their health care than those who don’t. Employees and adult dependents who choose not to participate in the Corporate Wellness Plan do not receive the wellness incentive reimbursements that are available in the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA).

Wellness becomes part of the employee culture as employees see how they can earn money for their lifestyle choices and help control their company’s group medical insurance Dallas rates. Over a very short period of time, the Texas company’s workforce (and their dependents) will become healthier as a result of lifestyle improvements from participating in the Corporate Wellness Plan. Employees who don’t participate will pay more for their health care and may elect to leave the company.

There are specific federal HIPAA and ADA guidelines that must be followed in designing and implementing the Wellness Driven Health Plan strategy, in addition to the typical employee benefit regulations. For more information, contact the author.

Thousands of men and women all over the world have reduced their chance of getting stress-related diseases through wellness programs and general health and wellness. Corporations in the Western world have been recently implementing voluntary wellness programs in order to create healthier happier employees. This may mean providing facilities where employees can practice their fitness regimes as well as providing wellness tips through trained professionals and tailoring routines for all of the individual employees. The benefits of reducing the stress in our every day lives is endless.

Health and wellness is so important because it affects all aspects of our lives. Information is available through the Internet, media, and of course the references of our friends and family. Wellness programs suggest we use whole food supplements, Chinese herbs and the ayurvedic medicine of India. Wellness tips are a great way to start experimenting on what best works for you. This is a free guide to all alternative healing products and information so you can find exactly what you are searching for.

We provide a guide that allows you to find many qualified alternative healing providers as well as an abundance of wellness tips. You will be able to create wellness programs that are specially customized for you and your entire family. Remember, balance, health and wellness can drastically improve all areas of your life. Imagine living completely pain free and stress free, the possibility is there and available to you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregg_Makarowski

The new pay boom for Wellness Coaching has reached grandiose heights. Wellness coaching is a form of life coaching specifically related to improving ones overall physical well-being and improving the quality of one’s diet and fitness lifestyle.

In recent years, Wellness Coaching has increased in popularity in the health community because of it’s foundation in holistic nutrition and alternative health. As more and more people become in tuned to the benefits of holistic health, career opportunities for Wellness Coaches, Holistic Life Coaches, and Holistic Life Counseling are sky-rocketing. Specifically, Wellness Coaches are reaping the tremendous benefits.

After teaching Wellness Coaching online since 2003, Carmellita M. Brown the lead instructor for Lose Weight While Becoming a Wellness Coach says: “Wellness coaching is now seeing a pay boom. More people are looking for someone to help whip them into shape.”

According to Carmellita Brown, Fitness Trainers are not the only ones able to earn by the hour. “Wellness Coaches can earn as much as $150 an hour for their services,” says Brown. With just 20 clients and twice a week visits, Wellness Coaches can earn a staggering $6,000 weekly.

So, what are Wellness Coaching clients looking for? Wellness Coaching clients are looking for eating plans for weight-loss and anti-aging, information on the lifestyle improvements, and a regiment for the entire family. Furthermore, the main focus on lifestyle improvements has included ways to increase live foods in the diet, promote natural weight-loss, and prevent disease through food and mineral consumption.

According to Brown, this is where the Wellness Coach shines, “Unlike Nutritionists who normally follow the Standard American Diet model, properly trained Wellness Coaches understand more about the benefits of live foods, food combinations, maintaining the body’s pH levels, detoxification, and mineral supplementation.” In addition, Brown emphasizes that Wellness Coaches who also understand spiritual principles and self-development techniques are the most effective in helping clients develop healthful habits and lose weight.

And how are Wellness Coaches building their list of loyal clientele? First, many Wellness coaches are using the internet as a viable resource for building clientele even in their own cities. With their own blogs, websites, and online social networks, Wellness Coaches are finding the internet a great resource for building clientele. Even in face to face transpersonal coaching (one on one coaching), Wellness Coaches can find clients in their own cities on the net.

Second, many Wellness Coaches use nutritional network marketing companies to expand their list of clientele. Many Wellness Coaches work with Network Marketing Sales representatives for nutritional products to reach new clientele. Many Network Marketers of nutritional products hire Wellness Coaches as speakers and trainers in order to increase sales. For this service, many Wellness Coaches may charge a fee of $200 to $500 for a 3 hour workshop.

Third, many Wellness Coaches succeed at writing books and e-books on subjects related to nutrition, physical health, mental health, and weight loss. Coupled with blogs and websites, this proves to be an excellent way for Wellness Coaches to build clientele.

And finally, the key to most Wellness Coaches’ success lies in their ability to articulate the anti-aging process, the science of losing weight, and the ability to transform one’s lifestyle. Training and access to the latest information about such matters can quickly evolve into a thriving career in Wellness Coaching and earn a Wellness Coach the new hourly pay boom.

When approaching a whole food diet, what do you hope for? Rapid results in 30 days or are you seeking prolonged results to last for a lifetime? And, what is the untold secret between lasting results and temporary results. And why is permanent success so elusive? Why are manufactures of diet pills able to depend on us to buy their latest and greatest product?
Consider the frustration of succumbing to the pressure to try the latest fad diet, and in a few months you are struggling with the same weight problem.

Clearly the lasting diet success rate would be huge if the answer was about taking the latest pill or potion. What if your diet success generator is in your total control? This could have a negative effect on social condition that led us to believe that the cure is elusive and outside of ourselves.

Here is a new thought about getting what you want with regards to success with your diet. It is the idea to use wellness coaching to help you recondition your brain to accept a new concept permanently.

Research on the brain has shown that it has the capacity to change its biology to accommodate us, when we change our mind about our every day choices. This concept of the biochemistry of the brain changing in a positive way, to guarantee our success with new challenges is called neuroplasticity.

The Neuroplasticity concept has yet to reach the social main stream. It is never the less significant. This is so, because to get the mind to change brain biology gives control back to the individual, without the use of pills and drugs. This is huge personal control. It is bordering on the realm of the miraculous.

Here is how this mind-brain interface helps humans to meet and beat any challenge.
It is not a miracle, and it takes more effort than taking a pill, but then this is what makes it permanent and you get to keep your biological profits.

Actually there are only two things you have to do well. Be totally focused and be serious about wanting permanent change.

With the help of your wellness coach find out what habits hinders you now. Accept that it is your block to success, and then give your mind an entirely new process. The neuroplasticity theory assures that without much more effort on your part your mind will change the biochemistry of your brain to override old unwanted habits and accept the new suggestion.

There is however the hard stuff. I once had a client that felt that she was falling apart bit by bit, and visiting her doctor far too often for minor ailments. As her wellness coach, I asked her to write down everything she drank for one week. Since this seemed like a no brainer, she did it. On her next session she said to me, I was so clueless about what I drank! I was so amazed that I drank so much Coke and wine.

I than asked her what are you going to do about this insight? She had accomplished the major milestone on change – gathering information without judgment. This is close to the Buddhist practice of mindfulness. She was at the point of clarity where she took the mental effort, using her mind to give her brain new information.

With my guidance she decided what and how much she willingly desired to drink, and how well she wanted to feel. With neuroplasticity or (change of neuronal circuits) the choice created by your mind changes the brain’s biochemistry.

The joyous news about this is that with this practice in mental effort, you can accomplish just about any milestone in your life. The scientific world is very excited about these momentous findings and is even investigating using this mind-brain interface on serious medical conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder that does not respond to medication.

If you are struggling with a new diet it is wise to accept this neuroplasticity theory – The brain continually refines its neural circuitry to meet the challenges presented. This is the breakthrough that with a bit of coaching brings you to easy lasting success.

It is good news, that your mind has the capacity to influence your brain power, to help you overcome your specific challenges with great accuracy.

The employee survey is an effective tool for determining the health of an organization. Problems can be quickly identified and fixed, new ideas can surface, and overall morale can improve substantially, resulting in significant increases to productivity. However, if not executed properly, not only can the benefits of surveying be reduced, but severe damage can be done. Follow the tips below to avoid the common pitfalls and conduct an effective survey program.

Approach

Maintain confidentiality. Employees must be reassured that their responses to surveys are confidential. If the survey is not perceived as such, there is no point in administering it as the answers will not be forthright. One of the easiest ways to maintain anonymity is to have a third party conduct the survey. There are plenty of alternatives available in a wide variety of price ranges to suit your needs.

Keep it simple. Employees are doing this on their own time. You should not overburden them with hundreds of questions.

There are plenty of canned surveys out there that gauge employee satisfaction. Take advantage of what is already available. In addition to saving time and money, another benefit of not inventing your own survey is the ability to benchmark against other organizations in your industry, against national averages, etc.

Allow for and encourage free form comments. Numbers are helpful, but often the larger value is in the explanations behind them.

Administration and Reporting Results

Don’t force employees to take surveys. Yes, participation is important. You want a representative sample of the employee population. However, forcing participation does not necessarily give accurate results. It also deprives you of important information. If employees don’t participate, it’s a sign that they either don’t trust the process or have no faith that anything positive will result from it. This is a valuable piece of information to have and to track from one survey to the next.

Once the survey is completed and the results are tabulated, share all of them with the employees. Don’t filter. Hiding information decreases trust and sabotages the process.

Don’t make sweeping judgments about the results. “Oh, the economy has been poor. It has impacted raises. That’s why the results are lower in this area.” Rather, if you need more information about a particular area, ask for further clarification from the employees. This is easier with a third party as anonymity can be maintained. The next best approach is to have someone from a different organization, like HR, solicit the extra feedback. However, absent an HR department and deep pockets to pay for a third party, it is still worth having individual managers do the asking. If people think that something good can come out of sharing additional information, they will often risk anonymity to share it.

Action Plans

That brings up the most important part of surveying. Something must be done with the results. If survey results are taken, shared, and then ignored, the message to employees is that management simply doesn’t care about them or their opinions. That is a morale crusher. Better not to conduct the survey at all than to conduct it and do nothing about it.

When putting together a plan to figure out areas to address, get the employees involved. If the employees are involved in the planning they will have more ownership in it, and the chances of completing it will be greater. They’ll also tell you if they think a particular action will work or not.

Don’t ignore an area just because it’s equal to or better than a benchmark. Rather, address the areas that can impact your business the most. If a national survey says that 29% of employees are engaged and your results show 32%, that does not necessarily suggest you are sitting pretty. If you raised that percentage to 40% it might have an enormous impact to your business. It makes perfect sense to go after that area regardless of the position against the benchmark.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Remember, results are the key. Pick a couple of areas, put together plans, and execute with a vengeance.

Share the plan with all the employees and report on progress against the plan frequently. This will demonstrate the importance of the plan.

Frequency

Don’t stop with one survey. Surveying is an ongoing process. It should be done at least annually to demonstrate ongoing concern for employee opinions and to effectively measure the success of your action plans.

Conclusion

If executed properly, a good employee survey program can be extremely beneficial to a business. There are more resources available now than ever to assist. Follow the suggestions above and begin reaping the rewards.