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Tips for implementing a wellness program

Posted on April 16th, 2013 Read time: 1 minutes

Employee benefits administrations might want consider developing a wellness program in an effort to cut healthcare costs. A recent report by MetLife's Mature Market Institute, an online aging resource, found 26.2 percent of adults are sedentary and report having health issues such as diabetes and high blood pressure. According to the study, the average employer cost for health insurance has significantly increased from $1.60 to $2.58 per worker per hour. 

Due to the Affordable Care Act, many companies have begun looking for ways to cut healthcare costs, and adopting a wellness program is one of the easiest ways to promote healthy habits among employees. 

Creating an workplace-wide initiative does not need a large budget and only takes a few steps:

  • Conduct an interest survey to find out what areas employees are most interested in
  • Implement a no-smoking policy
  • Provide nutritional information in break rooms or outside the human resource office
  • Install a water cooler
  • Set up a walking group
  • Balance junk food in vending machines with healthy options

Employers might want to consider developing wellness programs, even if they are small, to cut healthcare costs in the long-term and create a more productive workforce.

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