The second annual survey analyzed responses from more than 600 organizations in 25 countries representing more than 10 million employees. The research was conducted in association with vielife, a CIGNA company, as well as Wolf Kirsten International Health Consulting, and WorldatWork.
The fastest-growing components of global wellness initiatives around the world include technology-driven tools, such as Web portals, online programs, and personal health records. Other rapidly growing program elements are: health fairs, healthy vending machine food choices, and workplace health competitions. Use of these program components will grow dramatically over the next three years - in some cases, by more than 100 percent outside of North America.
Business objectives for wellness programs also vary by international location. In the U.S., health care cost reduction continues to be the top goal. Canadian employers cite improving productivity as the primary objective, while in Europe the top goal is improving workforce morale. Respondents in both Asia and Africa cite reducing employee absence as their main objective for wellness programs.
"This broad range of objectives is not surprising," said Barry Hall, a Buck principal who directed the survey. "In fact, it shows how versatile wellness initiatives can be in addressing a variety of employers' challenges around the world."
The survey assessed how effectively today's wellness initiatives meet employers' business objectives. Among U.S. respondents, only 16 percent report a reduction in health care cost trend rate attributable to their wellness initiatives, with an average reduction of two to five trend percentage points per year.
"Large employers that are able to realize a two to five percent reduction in health care cost trend are gaining significant savings in total health expenditures," said Hall. "But equally significant is our finding that two-thirds of U.S. employers have not measured the impact of their wellness programs on health cost savings. Worldwide, where other business objectives such as reducing absence and improving productivity are valued more highly, 40 to 60 percent of organizations are not measuring the impact of their wellness programs and therefore don't know the extent of the benefits."
Incentive rewards have increased 45 percent since Buck's prior survey in 2007. U.S. respondents spend an average of $145 per employee per year on wellness incentive rewards, up from an average of $100 last year. Twelve percent of U.S. respondents spend more than $500 per employee per year. Such incentives, designed to improve employee participation and engagement in wellness program activities, are more prevalent in the U.S., but are offered by employers in all parts of the world.
Only 19 percent of respondents rated their incentive rewards "extremely effective" or "significantly effective" at changing employees' behaviors, although this is up from 16 percent last year. However, employers' continued expansion of incentive rewards indicates a strong belief in their effectiveness at changing behaviors.
