Promoting wellness reaps rewards for companies

Companies that promote workplace wellness reap huge financial rewards in terms of decreased absenteeism. There are other significant benefits, as well, according to researchers at Brigham Young University.

The new study, featured in the latest issue of the journal Preventive Medicine, shows that employees who participate in workplace health promotion programs have fewer sick days than those who don't. And the financial return is a cost savings of about $16 for each $1 spent on the program, said Steve Aldana, professor of exercise science at BYU, who led the research team.

The researchers looked at 120 different work sites with a total of about 7,000 employees, all part of the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nev. Employees themselves funded the program, which focused on good nutrition, regular physical activity, healthy eating and healthy lifestyle, said Aldana, author of the book "The Culprit and the Cure."

Much of the program was done online, with a "wonderful Web site," he said. The school district employees could go online and enroll to participate in a variety of programs and activities.

The Utah researchers studied the employees for about four years, Aldana said, then went back through the records for six years and gathered health-care cost and absenteeism data. The employees were grouped into those participating in the program and those who were not, then the researchers did comparisons, controlling for differences between the groups.

While much of the difference was due to improved health, Aldana said, improved morale probably had an effect, too.

Among the most impacted were those in the group Aldana called "the contemplators. They're thinking about it, they just need a little push and to be shown how" to live a healthier lifestyle.

Participants ate a lot of fruits and vegetables and whole-grain foods, he said. They were physically active at work every day. They shared information with their families. That kind of change "trickles into all aspects of community environment," Aldana said, noting, for example, that walking groups were formed.

"They created, from my experience and travels, the healthiest corporate culture I've ever seen. A culture of healthy living."

The program is "by far the most important catalyst in the district in improving both morale and productivity," said Aaron Hardy, who is in charge of wellness efforts in the school district and is one of the study's authors.

It's also deceptively simple, he said, and that accounts for much of its success. The effort centers around offering simple and entertaining programs that run four to eight weeks each and that "engage and empower the employee," he said. The effect is to "basically change and enhance people's lives.