How Healthcare and Wellness Programs Affect Employees Outline

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about health and wellness programs and how they affect employee productivity. I. INTRODUCTION A. In a 2015 survey conducted by the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), over 90% of business leaders say that health and wellness programs can affect the performance and productivity of employees. 57% of the corporate leaders also viewed health as part of their companies’ core business strategy or as an investment in human capital. The largest productivity gains from health and wellness programs come from the employees who see their health improve through the programs (HERO). b. Health and wellness programs also help reduce presenteeism. Presenteesm is the state of workers being physically at the workplace but not working. Health and wellness programs help in reducing presenteeism, which is associated with poor health behaviors, presence of a chronic illness, and elevated health risks.

The best way to reduce health care costs is to prevent the need for them. High healthcare costs cause employers to raise premiums, deductibles, and copayments by employees, thereby reducing their access to healthcare. Health and wellness programs are the most important cost containment metrics because they are preventative rather than reactive. They significantly impact employees’ bottom lines (Whitmer). Transition: Now that we’ve seen how health and wellness programs impact employee productivity and health care costs, let’s explore how they affect recruitment and retention of employees. Another survey by MetLife indicates that 60% of employees agree that health and wellness programs are more likely to make them remain with their current employers (ADP Research Group). Transition: Now that I’ve elucidated the main points, let us review.