Engage the Employee

The county’s human-resources employees pitched in their Trade Time for Fitness earnings for a department “well space,” which features a stationary bike, elliptical machine, treadmill, fitness ball, and weights. The space is considered a pilot, and Harber hopes that other departments can implement similar rooms of their own. On-site classes for yoga and toning are also available over the lunch hour at some county facilities.

Incentives tied directly to health care also account for a wellness program’s success, Harber believes. For example, Hennepin County provides a $5 discount on doctor-visit copays for employees who complete a health assessment offered by HealthPartners, the county’s insurance provider, during open enrollment. “Our participation [in the health assessment] went from 11 percent to 78 percent of employees when we moved to this incentive approach,” he says.

Like incentives, accessibility is important when it comes to helping employees make healthy choices. For example, Hennepin HealthWorks is partnering with HealthPartners to establish a “well at work” clinic in the Government Center in downtown Minneapolis. Another program is a mobile health fair, which travels to different work sites throughout the county to teach people about healthy choices and benefit-plan features.

Implementing such a comprehensive wellness program, Harber says, makes economic sense. “Healthier people cost us less,” he says. And the success of HealthWorks lies in the numbers: He found by looking at historical data that, in the last two years alone, Hennepin County has avoided approximately $8 million each year in insurance claims.

Carlson Companies

Minnetonka’s Carlson Companies spends $50 million a year on health care for 18,000 employees and their dependents nationwide. However, like many other corporations in their situation, rising costs aren’t the only motivator in implementing a comprehensive wellness plan.

“The consumer-driven health plan is just a new way of subsidizing and paying for the delivery of health care,” says Charles Montreuil, vice president of corporate human resources for Carlson, which includes a number of hospitality businesses. “This is more about personal health awareness. Part of being a great worker is that you bring in your full body, mind, and spirit into this organization. The health of our business depends on the health of our employees. Five to 10 percent of the population has some sort of severe stress. Imagine that in any given time, 10 percent is not coming in to drive the organization’s mission and vision. If we can get that 10 percent healthy and more engaged, we are in essence making an investment in our people.”

At the start of next year, Carlson Companies will implement Be Well, a health and wellness management program being   developed by Carlson Marketing, one of Carlson Companies’ largest divisions. Carlson Marketing saw the need for a system that could organize disparate health and wellness programs within a company, engage the employee through relevant incentives and consistent communication vehicles, and measure and analyze the effectiveness of such a comprehensive program.

As part of Living Well, employees can earn Gold Points—Carlson’s internal currency already used for rewarding positive behavior. Participants can earn points toward things such as gift cards, fitness equipment, and airline tickets by creating a personal health record, taking classes on maintaining health, and attending physician-led seminars.