Three Ways Wellness Programs Fail.

When it comes to wellness programs, it may be tough to get past all the hype. Here’s how to avoid the three most common traps corporations fall into.

Trap #1. the “one-size-fits-all” approach

For good reason, your organization doesn’t simply copy other firms’ 401(k) plans or compensation designs. Yet, all too often, firms adopt ill-fitting wellness programs based on things that have worked elsewhere.

Your CFO might have seen data on the cost savings other companys have achieved via certain wellness incentives. Or an old colleague of your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) swears by the program at his or her own firm.

In response, the top brass pushes for a copycat program - for example, offering smoking cessation incentives.

That could  be a good idea, since smoking-related illnesses are a key driver of your company’s health care costs. But how can you be sure? is it good enough to have your staff members undergo a health risk (assessment|appraisal}?

Normally, the answer is no.

Health risk (assessment|appraisal}s are a excellent starting place, but it’s often a mistake to stop there. the assessments help you get a feel for what your employees’ baseline physical problems are before you try to design a program around them.

This creates rough outlines of what your program objectives must be and where to target staff member initiatives. If you want the maximum bang for your wellness buck, you’ll have to dig a little deeper for information. Key places to look -

• your organization’s medical-claims breakdown for the last three years

• prescription-drug claims

• employee absence information

• employee assistance program (EAP) use

• disability claims, and

• employee demographics (workers’ ethnic, gender, age and dependent coverage status points to greater - and lesser - health risks associated with each category).

Trap #2. Leaving the program on autopilot

Many wellness programs often get off to a good begin and then fizzle out. Employers are left wondering what went wrong. Their mistake -  They failed to revisit the program on an ongoing basis - at least every other year.

Why it’s crucial -  Your cost-drivers can easily shift as employees come and go from the corporation.

Example -  This year, emphysema and other tobacco use illnesses may  be your largest cost driver. But two years from now, it may be obesity and diabetes.

Unless you continuously track the program and adjust your goals as necessary, you may not be prepared to meet those new challenges.

Trap #3. Unrealistic expectations

Normally, it takes at least a year and a half for corporations to break even on the cost of a wellness program. as a rule of thumb, the typical program cost per staff member per month to the corporation is about $3 to $5.

If, after three years, you still aren’t seeing results, something went wrong. Currently, the benchmark ROI after the third year of a wellness program is $4 to $5 saved for every dollar spent.

How can you manage the cost in the short-term? In many cases, businesss pass the cost of the wellness program on to the employees. for example, let’s say you want to roll out a wellness program effective January 1 (or no matter what your first day is of the new plan year).

You can roll that $3 to $5 per employee per month cost directly into the employee’s monthly share of their health care premium. That makes the wellness program a budget-neutral expense for your organization.

But remember -  You get what you pay for - both in time and money invested. the less guesswork that’s involved in the planning and execution, the better the chance for success.