Assessment of Employee Wellness Programs

It is important to assess the effectiveness of all Employee Wellness Programs. There are several very  simple ways to assess Employee Wellness Programs:

How many attended the corporate health and Employee Wellness Program, and was there participation or a  visible level of interest?

Use a short and simple pen and paper assessment that people fill out at the end of the Company Health  and Wellness Program /presentation. Statements that are rated on a scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5  (strongly disagree) will give valuable information. Ask about:
•    The value of the Employee Wellness Programs to the individual
•    The style of the presenter
•    The presenter’s knowledge of the topic
•    The level of knowledge gained by the worker
•    Other areas that would be of interest for future Employee Wellness Programs

Examples of Questions about Employee Wellness Programs
•    This program provided me with information and/or skills I will use.
•    The presenter was knowledgeable about the subject matter.
•    There was adequate time for questions.
•    The methods used to present the information were effective.

Open-ended questions about Employee Wellness Programs may include:
•    The best component of this Company Health and Wellness Program was…
•    The component that needed improvement was….
•    I would attend another Company Health and Wellness Program by this speaker…
•    Topics I would like to see included in other presentations or Wellness Programs…

This would be a process assessment that examines how well the Employee Wellness Programs were  implemented. It is also important to evaluate health outcomes and cost outcomes of Employee Wellness  Programs.

More in-depth information about the cost-effectiveness of Employee Wellness Programs can be found by  analyzing data before and after Employee Wellness Programs concerning health care claims, workers’ comp  claims, sick time, productivity levels, etc. Health outcomes for Employee Wellness Programs can be  measured by looking at health claims and sick time.

It is also important to evaluate the impact of Employee Wellness Programs on family members. For  example, smoking by pregnant mothers may lead to the birth of a severely impaired child. This could  cost an employer or medical plan hundreds of thousands of dollars, an expense that could have been  avoided with well-designed Employee Wellness Programs.

You can also compare the cost per worker of running the Employee Wellness Programs to the savings per  worker. One assessment of Employee Wellness Programs involving 20,000 to 25,000 workers at New York  City-based Citibank showed a return of $6.70 for every dollar the business invested in Employee  Wellness Programs. The findings were based on a research study of medical costs and absenteeism.1

An ongoing assessment of your Employee Wellness Programs should be performed each year and additional  periodic evaluations of Employee Wellness Programs should be conducted on an ad hoc basis. An ad hoc  assessment of your Employee Wellness Programs might be initiated by a variety of triggers. For example,  at the end of flu season, a business might want to assess its flu shot program.