With health care reform, a renewed focus on prevention and changes to insurance, business owners have learned that you can change people’s health by changing their lifestyles, says Debra Siena, president of Proactive Partners, a fitness center management company based in Chicago.
“Wellness initiatives are really coming to fruition now,” she says.
Indeed, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently stated in its 2011 Employee Benefits research report that companies are attempting to ensure workers’ wellness in various ways. The following are the percentage of businesses in the survey that offer these fitness and wellness programs. The percentage of respondents who currently do not offer these services but plan to do so in the next 12 months is in parentheses:
• Health screening programs for conditions such as high glucose or high cholesterol levels, 42 percent (5 percent)
• Health and lifestyle coaching, 37 percent (6 percent)
• Smoking cessation, 36 percent (5 percent)
• Subsidies or reimbursements for fitness center memberships, 30 percent (2 percent)
• Weight-loss programs, 30 percent (5 percent)
• On-site fitness centers, 24 percent (1 percent)
• Nutritional counseling, 17 percent (2 percent)
• On-site fitness classes, 16 percent (5 percent)
• Stress-reduction programs, 12 percent (2 percent)
Source: The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2011 Employee Benefits report.