Poor health cripples a workplace. It not only impacts employees; it affects business profitability.  Factor in healthcare costs that continue to climb and it’s clear businesses need to abandon the “same old, same old” approaches when it comes to workplace wellness.

Waiting to treat people after they get sick isn’t a strategic way to improve workforce health. Forward-thinking companies see that disease management programs, for example, certainly have their place in a suite of employee health offerings for the people they serve. But they also know that in order to drive long-term business impact, they need to focus on prevention and create a culture of health that helps get (and keep) the majority of their workforce healthy – before costly conditions and diseases develop.  Fortunately, a progressive shift toward prevention is underway and population-based approaches are at the heart of it.

A population-based approach to employee health centers on reaching a large number of people at low and moderate risk that lead to more cases of costly conditions and diseases, rather than a small number of people at high risk.  Thinking holistically and keying into socio-ecological factors—the individual, their social system and network, and surrounding workplace environment, policies and programs that encourage healthy behaviors—is why a population-based approach is so effective. Influencing social norms and creating an environment where employees can more easily make healthy choices results in healthier, more productive employees.

This type of approach in the workplace makes sense since social relationships and culture play a tremendous role in our health.  Science proves individuals are heavily influenced by the behaviors and environment of those around them.  And with most adults spending a third (or more) or their day there, the workplace is an ideal venue in which to leverage social connections and help employees get healthy together.

Take physical activity, for example. It offers tremendous health benefits for everyone and is the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle.  Adults who get 150 minutes of moderate to intense activity over the course of a week significantly reduce their risk of developing the majority of today’s most prevalent and costly chronic diseases.  What’s more, the benefits are even greater for those who get 300 minutes or more per week, or include strength and flexibility training as a part of their program. A population-based approach that incorporates physical activity as a key element can help support a range of healthy behaviors, such as eating healthier, getting better sleep, avoiding tobacco, managing stress, and many more.  The workplace is a great place to help people become more physically active and embrace other healthy behaviors together.

Recently, I presented a webinar about physical activity’s role in disease prevention and how a population-based approach to employee health drives more significant workforce health improvements and greater impact for businesses.  I encourage you to check out the recording if you’re interested in learning more about how population-based approaches can help your organization improve employee health and productivity.

Last week, Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) released a study that found more employers (73%) are using financial incentives to drive participation in their employee health and wellness programs.

Incentives spending per employee is up again, according to the study.  Employers spent $460 per employee, on average, in 2011 (vs. $430 in 2011 and $260 in 2009). And about half of the employers surveyed are extending those incentives to their employees’ dependents, spending $420 on average.  The study also found most employers are utilizing a combination of various incentives to drive participation in a range of employee health offerings (cash, gift cards and HSA contributions, for example).

The majority of employers surveyed (57%) agreed that incentives-based programs had a better than expected success rate at increasing employee participation. Yet, interestingly, the study also found the majority of employers (76%) don’t know the return on their investments in health-improvement programs.

This finding, along with one from a Buck Consultants survey that found just 37% of U.S. respondents had even measured specific outcomes from their employee health programs, and another from a Forrester Research survey that found, depending on the program in question, 63-86% of employees aren’t aware of the programs their employers offer, underscores some key issues employers face with employee health investments. It’s clear that, even though employers are increasingly seeing the value of and investing in employee health and wellness initiatives, significant challenges persist.  Namely, how to drive higher awareness, consideration and adoption of existing employee health and wellness programs; and, how to more easily and accurately measure the impact of these programs on employees’ health and productivity.

Here at Virgin HealthMiles, we’ve been helping organizations address these challenges by providing them with a streamlined way to integrate and promote their various employee health and incentives programs with our Integrated Incentives solution. We’re also helping them get immediate information on progress and the impact these programs are having on their employees’ health with our real-time reporting capabilities.

Learn more about these capabilities at our Integrated Incentives Resource Center.  Here you’ll find links to datasheets, white papers, surveys and webinars that will help you learn more about on how an integrated approach can drive more impact and better results from your employee health and wellness investments.

Recently, Tom Abshire, SVP of Products, Marketing and Member Engagement at Virgin HealthMiles spoke with David E. Williams, author of the Health Business Blog and co-founder of MedPharma Partners, LLC, about workplace wellness and why standard approaches to employee health and wellness don’t work.  Here’s a brief excerpt:

Williams:
A lot of people do wellness programs and there are many standard approaches.  I’m wondering from your perspective, what’s wrong with those standard approaches to wellness that are used by most employers? If the standard approaches aren’t very successful, why do we see them persist in the marketplace?

Abshire:
Standard approaches just aren’t as effective as they need to be.  Much of the cost of health care and the increases are driven by preventable lifestyle related diseases.  That’s where wellness is supposed to be at the forefront of prevention and reversing those trends.

They persist as much as anything because of inertia.  They keep coming back to the same old things with the same old partners and getting the same results.  Much of the approach to wellness has been driven by the tradition of the medical system with which we evolved. There’s really much around last century’s focus on communicable disease when the answer was ‘do this’ or ‘don’t do this.’  It was more of a point in time issue.  The top down approach like what we have today really made sense.

Health issues today, the issues of lifestyle related diseases, are largely behavioral, so the fix needs to come from within.  That’s why Virgin is leading the way with our consumer group.  We think about the problem from the point of view of the individual and their motivations and helping them find the simple things they can do to stay healthy.

Williams:
Wellness is a topic that a lot of companies are interested in. There’s a feel good and positive image that can be created by investing in wellness, but does wellness have a real impact on profitability?

Abshire:
It certainly does.  Look at the economics behind the treatment of diseases and the impact on profitability. We know we have to do something.

Our group did an economic study last year and found, looking across different industries, that for the average company in a leading industry like technology or financial services, the impact over the next ten years of lifestyle-related diseases alone would cause about 25% reduction in per employee profitability.  Even the profitability leaders would see a 10% reduction in the average profitability per employee.

They have to do something unless they can raise prices or change behaviors.  That’s where wellness really comes into play.  That’s where more employers are going to see more of an impact on profitability.  There would be fewer consumers for the health services that they’re paying for and providing.

Added to that, there will be benefits in a couple of different ways; lower health care costs and higher profitability.  There is quite a bit of research out there that shows a large part of the positive impact of the healthy employee base is the increase in productivity.  Sometimes there is two to three times the cost savings that one would see in the savings from medical care costs alone.

As we come out of the current economic struggle, retention of top talent is going to be critically important for companies.  We hear all the time through our interactions with employees all the time how they love programs that they feel part of and enabled by because they feel that that’s much more of an investment in them by their employer. It really drives up loyalty and cohesion within the culture for the company.

Listen to the full podcast here. 

The power of senior-level support in helping employees make healthy decisions and  some good old fashioned competitive spirit were recently on display in the first ever “Beat the Chief” challenge, sponsored by Virgin HealthMiles.  During the two-week challenge, Virgin HealthMiles CEO Chris Boyce and Tom Linebarger, CEO of one of the company’s leading clients, Columbus, Indiana-based Cummins, put it all on the line to see which executive could burn the most calories.  At stake was a $1,000 donation to the charity of the winner’s choice.

The competition was fierce, with both Boyce and Linebarger tracking their daily calorie burn and progress using Polar™ heart rate monitors and the HealthMiles program’s tools. The two also engaged in some friendly, motivational “trash talk” on the challenge’s website throughout the event.  In the end, Boyce was crowned this year’s champ, with an impressive 58,951 calories burned. Boyce said he’ll donate his $1,000 winner’s prize to Virgin Unite.  And in the spirit of the competition, Boyce said he’ll also donate $1,000 to Tom Linebarger’s charity of choice, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.

“Chris’ activity level was impressive and he outperformed me,” said Linebarger. “I received a lot of encouragement and support from Cummins employees from all over. The notes of encouragement, the healthy lunches and delivering exercise equipment to my office all helped keep me motivated. At Cummins we offer many health resources to our employees and their families. I hope this competition helps emphasize the importance of making a steady effort to stay healthy for the long term.”

“Tom is one of the most active and fit CEOs I know, which is reflected in the emphasis Cummins places on creating a healthy workforce,” said Boyce. “Tom’s outstanding daily performance in the challenge inspired me to kick up my activity level a few notches to keep pace with him. And knowing our employees were working hard to best our progress was also incredibly motivational. Challenges like ‘Beat the Chief’ provide important motivation for Virgin HealthMiles members to stay physically active.  I’m honored to have won this year’s competition, and am pleased to donate the prize to Virgin Unite and Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.”

Employees Literally ‘Sweat it Out’ to Best CEOs’ Performance
Employees from both Virgin HealthMiles and Cummins (U.S. and U.K) also took part in the competition to see whether they could burn more calories and beat their respective CEOs’ performance. The top contenders from the companies were: Karl S. (32,950 total calories, Cummins U.S.), Johannes S. (29,535 total calories, Cummins U.K), and Dustin A. (17,617 total calories, Virgin HealthMiles).  In recognition of their top place finishes, each of these individuals will receive $1,000 from their companies to donate to a charity of their choice.

Learn more about the Beat the Chief challenge at www.beatthechief.com.

It’s the start of a new year. Your employees are geared up to make healthy changes, so why not seize the opportunity? It’s the perfect time to help them make those changes really stick. How? By adding some game mechanics to your health and wellness initiatives.

Health is serious business, but it can – and should – be fun, challenging, exhilarating.  Just like a good game. So how can you turn your employees from users of your health and wellness programs into players? Consider the following:

• Give your employees the opportunity to compete with one another to change health behaviors. Run some healthy contests company-wide, like seeing who can rack up the most activity in a month, and provide ways for employees to create and run their own challenges.  Nothing says “game on” like a little healthy competition.
• Use simple game mechanics that everyone understands – points, levels, rewards – to drive adoption of healthy behaviors and ongoing engagement.  No unlocking of secret keys necessary; keep it easy and achievable.
• Good games keep people coming back to hone their skills and up the ante, so provide your employees with fun and easy tools to use, ways to track their progress against their goals, and new milestones to reach. The challenge of getting better at the game creates healthy habits in the process.
• When it comes to health gaming, the more the merrier. Make it social by providing ways for employees to share their scores, exchange tips and tricks, even brag a little. Getting healthy is more fun, and more effective, when everybody’s playing.

Here at Virgin HealthMiles, our very first members got in the game back in 2005, and many have joined them since. HealthMiles members are earning points, hitting levels, winning prizes, earning rewards, spending cash – all while getting more active and healthy.  Game mechanics is just one of the multiple proven engagement and behavior change strategies we use in our solutions – one that’s helped to drive participation rates nearly three times the industry average and helped employers realize significant workforce health improvements and cost savings.

Want to get in the game? Get started by playing “Match Your Move” on our website!

It’s that time again, when organizations resolve to create healthier, more productive workforces. But many fail, mostly because they turn to the same old approaches that have proven to be ineffective over time. What follows are four approaches that drive real results, four best practices that we’ve learned through working with clients throughout the US,  that drive maximum impact from overall employee health and wellness strategies and investments:

Breakthrough #1:  Mind the Gap — The Desire for A Culture of Health and Today’s Reality
For years, creating a “culture of health” has been a goal for many organizations.  Yet a recent Buck Consultant’s survey found only 10 percent of U.S. respondents felt they’d fully achieved a culture of health in their organizations, while 85 percent intend to pursue one. How can companies close the gap between their desire for a culture of health and actually achieving one? Failed “Wellness 1.0” solutions aren’t the answer.

Lifestyle-related disease is driving much of our burgeoning healthcare bill. At the root of these diseases are personal health behaviors like not getting enough exercise, smoking, and poor eating habits. Often these behaviors are reinforced by personal relationships and become social norms. That’s one of the key reasons the traditional top-down push approach to health and wellness can only go so far.

To improve the health of their organizations, employers need to combine motivation, opportunity and triggers for the actions they want to encourage. Based on our experience working with leading employers, we’ve learned all three elements are a necessity, whether employers are seeking to create healthy habits or healthy cultures. Couple this critical mix with a proven, easy-to-use solution that drives healthcare and productivity savings, and our clients today are seeing real employee health improvements, while quantifying the impact on their overall health and wellness strategy.

Breakthrough #2:  Forging a Creative Health Partnership with Employees
Not surprisingly, employers who actively build a partnership with employees – one in which employees get the motivation and tools they need to make healthy behavior changes and employers reward them accordingly – see tangible outcomes. Leading employers are increasingly applying this version of the “good driver discount” to their employee health and wellness initiatives that, along with compelling incentives, turn what could have been sticks into carrots.

We pioneered the Pay-for-Prevention™ approach to employee health, and we’ve seen firsthand that this win-win strategy motivates employees. This approach helps employers align incentives for actual, ongoing performance and reward employees with cash or healthcare premium discounts for staying active and healthy.

Breakthrough #3:  Make it All Make Sense
A recent Forrester Research survey of U.S. employees found that with every health and wellness program offered, the majority of employees, between 63% and 86%, were unaware of the specific health improvement programs their employers offer. How can employees take action if they don’t know about or understand their employer’s health offerings?

Progressive organizations know the path to engagement is through awareness and are tapping tools to bring together employee health programs and incentives into one compelling platform. Through a technology-based solution that integrates a range of third-party programs, employers can promote, engage and incent all of their employee health programs centrally, making programs easier to discover and use, and drive better results from their health and wellness strategy.  For instance, one of our clients experienced more than 80 percent enrollment in its employee wellness program and realized a $3 million reduction in employee-only medical claims.

Breakthrough #4:  New Ways to Translate Small Steps into Big Results
Good health isn’t accomplished overnight. Rather, it’s the cumulative effect of small steps reinforced with positive feedback.  Even with big dollars on the line, financial incentives may not be enough on their own, especially when that reward is many months away.  Social networking and game mechanics are key factors in helping employees better understand what to do next, set short-term goals and celebrate their immediate healthy achievements, helping them stay on the path toward long-term health goals and incentives.  Social networking and game mechanics, in tandem with other behavior change strategies, help motivate employees long-term to stay on the path to good health by keeping it fun, engaging and rewarding.

Since 2005, Virgin HealthMiles has been at the forefront of developing innovations that help companies achieve significant workforce health improvements and cost savings.  These four breakthrough ideas are at the core of these successes.  Learn more about how we can help you get started with a health and wellness program or help you drive better results from all your existing programs.

By now, most of us have asked ourselves this question: can I fit 30 minutes of physical activity into my day? For many, the answer remains no. We might have those 30 minutes to spare, but we choose to do something else with them.

A physician in Toronto turns this question on its head: can you limit your sitting and sleeping to just 23 and ½ hours a day? It’s a provocative question posed by Dr. Mike Evans in a video which presents fact after fact about why physical activity is the single best thing you can do for your health. He and his creative team pack this nine-minute piece with statistics, studies, facts and figures to (literally) illustrate the impact that physical activity has on our health.

It’s worth the nine minutes, but if you’d rather use them to exercise, here are the highlights:

Patients who got the prescriptive “dose” of physical activity (150 minutes or more per week) saw:
- 50% reduction in progression to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
- 58% reduction in progression to diabetes
- 47% reduction in pain & disability from knee arthritis
- 48% reduction in anxiety
- 30% reduction of depression, 47% reduction with an increased “dose”
- 23% lower risk of death

Other notable facts:
- In a study of obese, inactive patients vs. obese, active patients, physical activity ameliorated many of the negative health consequences of obesity
- In a longitudinal study of 50,000 men and women, low fitness was the strongest predictor of death
- The biggest impact of physical activity on health is realized in patients who go from no activity to some activity

Here at Virgin HealthMiles, we’re really good at getting those sedentary employees, the ones who aren’t getting enough activity, up and moving.  Our programs are proven to get and keep employees engaged in physical activity by using a combination of financial incentives, social interaction (both on- and off-line), game mechanics, and easy-to-use technology.

And the results show this approach works.  In a recent 18-month longitudinal study of 11,000 HealthMiles members, 50% of participants who were inactive at the start of the program shifted their behavior to achieve and maintain physical activity levels exceeding CDC-recommended guidelines.  What’s more, a study of more than 100,000 HealthMiles members showed that HealthMiles members are 2.5 times more active than the average U.S. adult.

Learn more from our own Jennifer Turgiss about why a physical activity program is the best thing you can offer your employees to help them prevent chronic disease.

Tough to believe the holiday season’s already in full swing, isn’t it?  Typically, this is a time when good health can too easily go right out the window.  But, it can also be a great time to help your employees understand how to navigate the challenges of the season in a healthy and fun way.

Here are 7 quick tips you can share with your employees right now to help them have a healthy and active holiday season. 

1. Create a fitness challenge. Enlist your friends and colleagues in your quest to make exercise a priority during the season by creating a little friendly competition.  Who can Zumba down their waistlines a bit before Santa arrives?  Who can get all their holiday shopping done on foot?  Who take most steps between now and New Year’s?
2. Seek stress reducing activities. Is there a yoga or meditation class that can fit into your schedule this month?  Can you fit in a good walk during lunch?  Try to carve off some time each day to recharge your batteries.  It’ll help you stay energized and focused all season long.
3. Set your New Year’s resolutions early. Committing to health and fitness goals before the New Year kicks off can help keep you stay focused on achieving them.  Sharing your own strategies to get through the season in a healthy way can be a great motivator for family, friends, and colleagues, too.
4. Share the spirit of the season. Leverage the support of your colleagues by sharing tips for all things healthy—recipe ideas, new workouts, festive personal challenges, and more. 
5. Create a holiday wish list. Let family and friends know how they can support you and your healthy lifestyle pursuit this season by sharing your holiday wish list.  Healthy cookbooks, exercise DVDs, sporting goods gift cards, and relaxation CDs will help you achieve your health goals well into the new year.
6. Create a holiday playlist. Who doesn’t want to move when listening to Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”?  Motivate yourself to move with a playlist of your favorite holiday tunes.  Share the list with your colleagues and friends to spread the good energy and grow your own playlist with their suggestions.
7. Celebrate! Dancing is a great way to celebrate the season and burn off those extra calories. Plus, it can be done anywhere—in your home, office, or at holiday parties – and it’s fun!  Dancing for just 15 minutes can burn up to 80 calories, so turn on your favorite tunes or your new holiday playlist, and celebrate the season.

And here are a few tips you can implement in your organization this season:

1. Lead by example.  Make the office holiday party a place where employees can easily make healthy food choices.  Foods like low-fat dips with vegetables, hummus and pita chips, and fresh fruit trays can make for a festive celebration – just as easily as rich, calorie-laden foods can.
2. Celebrate the spirit of giving and fight hunger with a healthy food drive.  If you’re fortunate to have enough food to gain the typical 5-7 pounds during the holiday season, why not share that food with those who are less fortunate?  Center your food drive around healthy foods so that others benefit from the gift of good health, as well. 
3. Offer incentives. Everyone can use a little extra cash during the holidays, or a gift card to help with their holiday shopping.  Create a friendly activity-based competition in your workforce (like which team can take the most steps in 2 weeks) and offer a few prizes for participants, if you can.  Incent your staff and reinforce healthy behaviors so both your employees and your organization are set up for a healthy new year.

Learn more about how your company can create a culture of health by helping your employees develop healthy behaviors.  And stay tuned for more healthy tips you can share with your workforce.

Many U.S. Companies Can Expect 25% Drop in Operating Profits in 10 Years without Immediate Action, Says Virgin HealthMiles Research Team

The nation’s debt crisis and Corporate America’s profitability have a common enemy: rising healthcare costs.  Despite 1.2 trillion in planned budget cuts, U.S. debt remains a record proportion of the country’s GDP due to years of spending hikes.  Likewise, a cumulative 138 percent increase between 1999 and 2010 in health insurance premiums  and associated costs are putting an untenable strain on businesses’ bottom lines.  Congressional Budget Office director, Douglas Elmendorf, recently stated, “An aging population and rising health-care costs will exert significant and increasing pressure on the budget in the years beyond 2021.” If the CBO is worried about the impact of rising healthcare costs on the U.S. balance sheet, businesses should be concerned about the impact on their books too, says Virgin HealthMiles.  Otherwise they’ll face a profitability crisis of record proportion driven by healthcare costs.

Medical science has historically focused on dealing with pathogens.  In modern times, healthcare problems often stem from behaviors that are driving the demands on our healthcare system.  Unless health policy and business priorities shift to focusing on prevention and helping employees make better health decisions, the financial consequences could be dire:

• According to the CDC, chronic disease drives 75% of healthcare spending today, of which 95 percent is spent on managing current cases of the disease.  Yet just five percent is spent avoiding the onset of these conditions.

• The Milken Institute reports the lost productivity associated with largely preventable chronic conditions like obesity, hypertension, heart disease and type 2 diabetes totals more than $1 trillion, including time lost for employee and caregiver workdays and individual and caregiver presenteeism.

• A Virgin HealthMiles research team recently conducted an economic study on the impact of chronic disease on U.S. company profitability and found if the last decade’s trends continue and companies don’t increase prices or productivity, by 2021 the average company in key industries such as finance and technology can expect to see a 25% decline in operating profits.

“Years of spending to treat preventable chronic conditions has failed to make us healthier as a nation; instead, it’s imperative businesses help employees become better ‘users’ of their bodies and more educated healthcare consumers, starting with the value of prevention,” commented Tom Abshire, senior vice president of marketing and member engagement for Virgin HealthMiles.  “Otherwise, our research shows companies are poised to take a potentially disastrous hit to their financials, which could threaten any sort of long-term economic recovery for our nation.”

Traditional corporate wellness efforts, where employees complete HRAs and self-report biometric and physical activity data, have consistently failed to motivate employees to become better health consumers.  Businesses must abandon this wasteful, ineffective spending and focus instead on prevention-focused, technology-based employee wellness solutions that are proven to have an impact and engage employees in long-term behavior change.

By focusing on prevention, employers can improve workforce health and avoid the onset of the costly medical conditions that drive the bulk of today’s healthcare spending.  With Virgin HealthMiles, employers ensure their employees see the short-term benefits to better health by providing cash or premium discounts.  And instead of just hoping an employee wellness program is making an impact, organizations can see their investments are driving real health improvements and lowering healthcare costs thanks to validated data provided by Virgin HealthMiles’ technology-based solutions.

Employers have a unique opportunity to align their interests with those of their employees and help them take more accountability for their health.  Most U.S. adults spend a third of their lives in the workplace and data shows workplace social connections play a powerful role in driving better health decisions. So before businesses find themselves in the same cash-strapped position as the U.S. government, now’s the time to take action.

It happens to the best of us. The afternoon rolls around and energy levels start to fade.  Keep energy and productivity levels high in your organization by sharing these few simple tips with your workforce. Help them perk up and avoid reaching for sugary, unhealthy solutions – all while promoting the healthy behaviors you want to encourage.

1. Take a quick walk. Take a few brisk laps around the office or outside. You’ll revive your body and your brain and go back to your work focused.

2. Drink water.  Dehydration can make you tired, so make sure you’re drinking water throughout the day.  Also, thirst can disguise itself as hunger so drinking water will help you know when you’re really hungry.

3. Eat a balanced lunch. Avoid foods high in fat and sugar; these will cause your blood sugar levels to spike and then crash. Try not to overeat, but do include a complex carb like brown rice or whole wheat bread or crackers to keep you full and fuel your brain.

4. Have a healthy snack. Snacking is okay.  In fact, it’s good to eat small snacks throughout the day to keep your blood sugar up so you stay alert. Just make sure the snacks are healthy.  Try some almonds, string cheese or fresh fruit to refuel.

5. Stand up and stretch.  If you don’t have enough time for a break, take just a minute to stand up and stretch. Don’t forget to breathe in and out deeply to send some oxygen to your brain.

6. Schedule a meeting. Well, only if you need one.  But getting up and interacting with co-workers can help revive you and engage both your body and mind.

7. Have a cup of coffee or tea. Caffeine in moderation is fine, and the antioxidants in tea are an added bonus. Just make sure you’re not adding sugar or other additives that increase the calories and decrease the impact.

Learn more about how innovative companies are taking a prevention-based approach to improve employee health and productivity.  And stay tuned for more healthy tips you can share with your workforce.