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According to a new survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt and the US charity National Business Group on Health, those employers best controlling costs and increasing productivity are integrating a broad array of health management programmes.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of employers surveyed currently offer financial incentives to encourage workers to monitor and improve their health or plan to offer incentives next year. By 2009, that number is expected to surpass 70 per cent, according to the 2007/2008 Staying@Work survey. A total of 355 large employers participated in the survey.

The survey also claims that companies with effective health and productivity programmes demonstrate superior performance. They achieve 20 per cent more revenue per employee, have 16.1 per cent higher market value and deliver 57 per cent higher shareholder returns (from 2004 to 2006).

Additionally, companies with highly effective health and productivity programmes have cost increases that are five times lower for sick leave, four and one-half times lower for long-term disability, four times lower for short-term disability and three and one-half times lower for general health coverage.

New growth engine

Shelly Wolff, national practice leader for health and productivity at Watson Wyatt, said, “Global competition and pressure for greater efficiency are causing employers to seek new ways to help manage benefit costs and increase worker output. Increasingly, companies are looking at the health of their workers as the new growth engine to stave off health care inflation and keep employees on the job and productive.”

The survey found that more companies are planning to connect employee health to company goals. Almost one-third of employers (29 per cent) currently link health and productivity programmes to their broader initiatives, or plan to in 2008. Another 26 per cent of them plan to do so in 2009. Employers are also implementing various programmes to engage employees in managing their own health.

Yet, while both companies and their workers say that a healthy workforce is a priority, accountability remains low. Although 79 per cent of companies think employees should be held accountable for improving and maintaining their own health, only 4 per cent actually are taking action on this issue. Similarly, 68 per cent believe that managers should be responsible for workforce productivity, yet only 13 per cent are holding managers accountable.

“The survey results confirm that successful employers are more likely to provide tools to support health improvement, promote emotional health, educate employees on safety at work, use positive economic incentives, and involve senior management in promoting health and productivity. It's a very inspiring message," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health.

Preventable factors

The survey also found that employers spend a average of 21.2 per cent of payroll on direct and indirect costs of programmes for wellness, sick leave and disability, slightly less than the 22 per cent they spent in 2005.

Preventable factors lead the list of health-related items affecting business performance, followed by adverse physical conditions, such as back pain. The leading health issues are lifestyle risks (42 per cent), physical conditions (34 per cent), chronic conditions (31 per cent), unscheduled absences (30 per cent) and mental health conditions (23 per cent).

The two most commonly cited barriers to effectively managing health and productivity are lack of data (45 per cent) and organisational structure (41 per cent).

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Related links

• Watson Wyatt