Executive Summary
By shifting more resourses toward prevention, employers can help keep employees healthier and more productive while reproducing overall health-care cost.

Corporate wellness also has gained a spot on the national agenda. In 2003, Congress will consider the Health Promotion Research Act, which could infuse millions of dollars into health promotion efforts and research. And a recent survey found that two-thirds of Americans surveyed feel that disease-prevention research is more or equally important than treatment or cure research. (Ref 2)  In other words, if your employees aren't asking about corporate wellness programming yet, they will be soon.

Why are workplace corporate wellness programs gaining such popularity?
As pioneering employers have found, corporate wellness is proving to be excellent business. The Wellness Councils of America, a national non-profit organization promoting healthier lifestyles, offers three reasons behind the growth in corporate wellness:

• Most Americans spend more of their waking hours at work than they do anywhere else.
  
• Medical costs can consume half, or more, of company profits.
• Well-designed corporate wellness programs can affect health-risk behaviors at the worksite, thereby affecting the bottom line. (Ref 3)

Employers say that they pursue corporate wellness for related reasons. In a recent study of employers offering worksite wellness in a major metropolitan area, improvement of health and morale, along with reduction in absenteeism and health-care costs, were reported as primary motivators for doing so. (Ref.4)

Reference Notes

1. Cincinnati Enquirer, Aug. 15, 1999. http://enquirer.com/editions/1999/08/15/fin_tipsheeet.html
   
2. "From Grassroots to the Nation’s Capitol: Building a Vision for a Healthier America." The Art of Corporate Wellness, vol. 6, no. 5. Sept./Oct. 2002. Published by the American Journal of Health Promotion.
3. "Understanding Worksite Wellness," Wellness Councils of America, Date 2002
   
4. "Working Healthy: A Report on Worksite Health Promotion in Hennepin County." Hennepin Co. (Minn.) Community Health Department, Minneapolis. 2000.