Posts Tagged ‘employer wellness’

Wellness or Else Programs

January 16, 2015 — Punitive wellness programs are coming under increasing scrutiny. “Wellness or else is the trend,” according to Jon Robinson of Salveo Partners, a workplace health consulting organization. According to statistics from the National Business Group on Health, two-thirds of large companies use incentives to encourage employees to participate in their wellness programs. And nearly a quarter […]

Wellness Done Well — 3 Clues

December 21, 2014 — A learning curve is leading more companies to implement wellness done well. These companies are walking away from sticks and carrots. Instead, they are constructing programs that simply make it easier for people to improve their health. Evidence-Based Treatment. Instead of telling people to go away and lose weight, thoughtful employers are increasingly pairing a […]

Will Wellness Kill Obamacare?

December 19, 2014 — Will wellness kill Obamacare? Some observers are fretting that unless HR departments get to bypass concerns of the EEOC about discriminatory wellness programs, then “the whole point of the Affordable Care Act” will be subverted. The Business Roundtable — an organization of big business CEOs — is hopping mad that the EEOC has sued Honeywell because […]

Employers Worrying about Obesity, Not Discrimination

December 9, 2014 — Health insurance and business observers are noticing a growing blind spot for some businesses. These businesses more concerned with health costs than they are about discriminating against employees with physical or medical limitations. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) bars employers from compelling employees to provide personal health information for the purpose of health screening. The EEOC […]

No Smoking at the Cigarette Factory

October 26, 2014 — It looks like Joe Camel might have to give up smoking on the job. RJ Reynolds (RJR), the makers of Camel cigarettes, has announced a no smoking policy for its worksites. People who want a smoke will have to go to a designated indoor smoking area. They can also switch to electronic cigarettes, which is […]

Windowless Offices, Poorer Sleep

August 6, 2014 — Windowless offices and other workplace factors might have a greater effect on your health than some of the superficial employer wellness plans we’ve seen. More and more data is bringing attention to the need for thoughtful design of the work environment for optimal health. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine finds […]

4 Corporate Wellness Trends: Sticking with Carrots

July 22, 2014 — Four wellness trends pop out of the latest survey research on employee benefits from the Society for Human Resource Management. A year ago, all the talk was about outcome-based financial penalties to tame the threat of obesity. Now reality is taking hold. Carrots seem to have more staying power than sticks. Health and Lifestyle Coaching. […]

Workplace Wellness Meets Reality

July 5, 2014 — Workplace wellness is coming to terms with reality. A year ago, expectations were soaring that financial incentives would be just the ticket to persuade people to turn away from obesity. Sunny brochures were promising that programs like Healthy Blue Living would send everyone on their way to a healthy lifestyle and a BMI under 30. Never […]

Doctors Get the Final Say on Wellness

May 29, 2014 — Under regulations for employer wellness programs, doctors get the final say on wellness. This key point floats to the top of a lengthy point-counterpoint discussion just published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Both Morgan Downey and John Cawley seem to agree that the provisions for employer wellness programs under the Affordable Care […]

Less Smoking + More Obesity = Lost Productivity

May 11, 2014 — Lost productivity is the net result of a workplace with less smoking and more obesity, according to a new study of company health examination records for more than 5,000 Shell Oil Company employees over three decades. The investigators observed a stark contrast between effective interventions to reduce smoking prevalence among employees compared to an apparent of […]