Engage the Employee

These days, you can’t hear the term “employee benefits” without the words “cutting costs” close behind. The rising cost of health care in particular is a concern for most employers. To address the issue, companies are relying on their employees to take more responsibility for their health.

“Historically, employers have looked at different health care networks and have done some cost shifting to employees,” says Paula Barnes, principal for the health and productivity management practice in the Minneapolis office of Mercer, a human-resources consulting firm. “What we’ve learned is that we’ve kind of exhausted all the things we can do in that arena, so we have to think of other ways to get our arms around these costs, recognizing that this is a commitment and not a quick fix. We’re recognizing that behavior is what affects health.”

One of the best ways to change behavior—and hence create a healthier, more productive work force—is with a wellness plan that engages employees, provides incentives for positive behavior changes, and measures success. The following four companies share the ways in which they’ve implemented successful wellness programs—and what they’re getting in return.

Hennepin County

When he was first hired to oversee the health and wellness education for nearly 11,000 people, Murray Harber knew that a few pamphlets extolling the benefits of a healthy lifestyle weren’t enough to motivate people to be well. “Paper-based programs don’t change long-term behaviors,” says Harber, the coordinator for Hennepin HealthWorks, Hennepin County’s wellness program for its employees, retirees, and their dependents.

In his nearly four years in his position, Harber and his team have implemented new programs and improved upon existing ones that target employee health and wellness. One of Harber’s first tasks was to perform a health-insurance claims analysis to see which areas were costing Hennepin County the most money, and thus determine the most relevant health-behavior problems—such as poor diet, physical inactivity, and stress mismanagement—affecting county employees. “We based our programs on areas where we could make the highest impact,” Harber says.

One of the county’s newest programs is the Be Well campaign. Launched in early 2006, it encourages fitness, proper nutrition, and life balance for employees. In addition to wellness advice regularly posted on the county’s intranet, employees receive bimonthly newsletters with recommendations on how to best use health care, nutritious recipes, and health-related success stories from coworkers. Harber, an exercise physiologist by training, also developed a CD called “10 Minutes of Health,” which teaches exercises, stretches, and ergonomics for those who work at a desk all day.

Also under the umbrella of the HealthWorks program is Trade Time for Fitness, a reimbursement program in which employees who have accumulated paid time off may trade their leave hours to cover the cost of wellness-related expenses. Eligible expenses include health club memberships, behavior modification programs (such as smoking cessation and Weight Watchers), and fitness classes and equipment. The limit per employee is time off equal to $1,500 per year.