An “impressive array of medical, fitness, employee assistance, wellness, and work/life options” garnered the Prudential Financial Companies a prestigious HR Best Practices Award from the New Jersey affiliate of SHRM. Here’s how they managed it.
Wellness: From Asthma to Weight Loss
K. Andrew Crighton, vice president and chief medical officer for Prudential Financial Companies, shared with BLR how the company goes about its wellness initiatives, which include:
- Ergonomics training and evaluations
- Screening and interventions for hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes
- Annual flu vaccinations
- Cancer awareness
- Stress and change management
- Education focused on women’s health and men’s health
- Weight Watchers®
- Smoking cessation
- Online nutrition and fitness program
The online nutrition program, which is based on diet guidelines and walking, provides employees with an interactive method to establish goals for body mass index (a mathematical formula comparing weight to height) and to monitor their progress.
Corporate wellness programs show great ROI. And, as one expert noted, there’s no downside—even small improvements make a difference. Find out more about BLR’s Workplace Wellness: Healthy Employees, Healthy Families, Healthy ROI.
How to Choose Wellness Programs
Prudential managers chose their programs based on feedback from Prudential’s workers’ compensation and disability insurers. For example:
- Because a big chunk of workers’ comp claims involved repetitive motion injuries, the need for ergonomics training and evaluations was obvious.
- Conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes were clearly driving many disability claims, especially through diagnoses of cardiovascular disease.
- The prevalence of diabetes among overweight employees prompted a partnership with Weight Watchers and the debut of the online nutrition and fitness option.
Other suggestions came from the many healthcare coverage providers used by employees, as well as from the nurses who staff on-site medical clinics available at the eight largest Prudential work locations.
For example, increasing complaints of asthma were reported at one point, and employees were also asked what health concerns they felt their employer might help with.
In addition, the demographics of each work location were reviewed to determine which programs (such as those for working mothers or those providing elder care) were likely to be in demand.
What’s In It for the Employer?
It’s easy to see how employees benefit from such a range of valuable services, but one of the employer’s advantages of meeting some employee health needs on-site or nearby was obvious: If workers could be screened or treated quickly and conveniently, they could be back on the job faster.
Also, as Crighton observes, “Managing healthcare costs requires a risk management strategy.” The goal of wellness programs is not just to make workers feel good, though that matters. Rather, it is to move participating employees into lower health risk categories.
So far, much of the evidence of success at Prudential that Crighton and his staff have gathered is anecdotal. It comes from employee thank-you notes, such as the one from a woman who said she would never have taken the time for a mammogram if Prudential hadn’t arranged for screenings in a mobile van outside her building. Early detection of a lump may well have saved her life.
Crighton also remembers an employee whose physician recommended replacement of both knees. But exercise and diet led to a significant weight loss, and the surgery was no longer needed.
Wellness—NO downside! Wellness programs show impressive ROI, so management and employees are happy. And that means HR is happy. Check out BLR’s Workplace Wellness: Healthy Employees, Healthy Families, Healthy ROI. Find out more.
How to Do It in Smaller Companies
On-site fitness centers and medical clinics are out of reach for many employers, but Crighton recommends a range of manageable and cost-effective efforts, such as:
- Partnering with area healthcare providers to offer “lunch-and-learn” sessions on disease prevention and management, blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, flu shots, and other evaluations.
- Partnering with a nearby hospital for mobile mammography exams.
- Banding together with other small companies in the area to share wellness services and advice from specialists in occupational medicine. You’re likely to reap the benefits in productivity and lower healthcare costs.
In tomorrow’s Advisor we’ll answer the question, “Does your wellness program need a checkup?” and we’ll introduce a dynamic new turnkey program for wellness at your organization.