Canadian HR Reporter

N E W S 12 www.hrreporter.com Are wellness programs a waste of money for employers? The global wellness industry is estimated to be worth almost $50 billion yearly as employers worldwide jump on the bandwagon and try to make workforces healthier. But questions persist around their effectiveness, finds John Dujay "They are healthier, exercising more and looking more favourable in terms of their outcomes than non-participants, but you could incorrectly attribute that differ- ence to the wellness program because the people were different in the first place." By adding the randomizing factor, says Song, the results returned a more accu- rate picture. "There had been many studies over the years that sought to measure the effect of workplace wellness programs. Most of those studies had methodolog- ical limitations and so that motivated us to look for an opportunity to do a more rigorous study to truly discern not only what the effects of the program would be, but also what is the difference when you use a randomized method versus a typical observational study." This was a very rigorously conducted study, says Duygu Gulseren, assis- tant professor at the School of Human Resources Management at York University in Toronto. "I trust the results and it's published in highly reputable journals," he says. "These findings are in line with what by BJ's Wholesale Club, a retailer with about 26,000 workers at 200 sites across the U.S., researchers found only marginally better health outcomes. At the end of three years, employees at the treatment worksites had better self-repor ted health behaviours, including a higher rate of actively managing their weight, but there were no significant differences found in: self-reported health; clinical markers of health; health care spending or use; or absenteeism, tenure or job performance. The study, "Health and Economic Outcomes up to Three Years After a Workplace Wellness Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial" in Health Affairs was conducted by Katherine Baicker, Emmett Dedmon professor at the University of Chicago in Chicago, and Zirui Song, assistant professor of health-care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The results were consistent with those of an earlier study, says Song. "At 18 months, we found improve- ments in health and no changes in the other outcomes, and then, once again, in three years, we found exactly the same thing," he says, adding that the study randomized results to remove a bias that many of those participants who enrolled in workplace plans were already inter- ested in achieving healthier outcomes. we already know about creating healthy workplaces in general, and workplace wellness programs and practices." Wasted money? But does this mean that wellness initia- tives are not worth the investment? It all comes down to employer goals and who are they trying to help, says a wellness programs expert. "Sometimes the programs aren't designed to meet the actual needs of the employees; it's kind of a generic program that's put into place," says Beverly Beuermann-King, founder of Work Smart Live Smart in Lindsay, Ont. "[Employers might say] 'We're going to do something on nutrition; we're going to do a walking program,' but those might not actually be the strategies that people are needing, so design is certainly an issue and measure- ment is always an issue." Thinking about other goals, rather than increasing employees' health and reducing health-care costs, is a reasonable use for implementing these programs, according to Song. "For example, they could be used as a way to attract talent on the labour market. If you believe, as an employer, that it's important to send a signal "When we ask the right questions, we get the right information that's going to help us to design a comprehensive wellness program." Beverly Beuermann-King, Work Smart Live Smart MANY organizations tout wellness programs as one of the reasons why they are a great employer that truly cares about the health of employees. And many hope this approach will lead to more productive, less costly employees. But are they truly seeing a return on their investment? Not really, according to the results of a new study out of two American universities. In analyzing the results of a three-year wellness program that was implemented HOW BIG IS THE WELLNESS MARKET? $66.20 billion Estimate annual spending by 2027 One-third Market share of North America against the rest of the world 6.6% Compound annual growth rate of stress management services segment (highest) Source: Allied Market Research

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