Engagement, Mental Health and High-Risk Employees Are Critical Issues for Employers As They Examine Opportunities for Improvement.
Despite reporting success with wellness initiatives, employers are not yet satisfied with their efforts, based on findings from the 2020 Trends in Wellness Survey conducted by WELCOA and CHC Wellbeing. In total, 329 WELCOA members completed the survey, including 250 employer groups and 87 partner organizations (brokers, consultants, health plans and TPAs).
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While 75 percent of employers believe their current wellness efforts are effective, only 49 percent were satisfied with their current engagement levels and only 43 percent were satisfied with their program’s ROI.
Companies reporting wellness success were 75 percent more likely to have clearly defined their “why” for wellness, 50 percent more likely to have a multi-year plan in place and 35 percent more likely to leverage data in the design and implementation of wellness programming.
Less than half (49 percent) of respondents reported having a thoughtful approach for measuring the impact of their efforts and only 46 percent had a long-term, strategic plan in place for their wellness initiatives. Employers are specifically struggling to support their high-risk populations. Fewer than one-in-three (28 percent) said they had an effective solution for engaging high-cost employees with chronic health conditions.
For those who believed their current wellness efforts were ineffective, more than half (55 percent) ranked low levels of engagement as their biggest challenge. The second most frequently cited issue was a lack of a strategic plan (35 percent).
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The study was fielded just prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the research team believes the coronavirus has only further solidified the findings.
“What we have experienced with our clients over the last several months has echoed the key findings from this study, possibly even magnifying them,” said Ramki Ramanarayanan, CEO of CHC Wellbeing. “These results validate that how you bookend your program is just as important as the program itself. The strategy you start with, and the measurement approach to gauge your success, are just as important as the support you offer. Many organizations focus solely on implementation at the expense of strategy and measurement. That limits their impact.”
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