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Recipe for Success

1. Mix 1 part company culture, with equal parts leadership support. Add communication, program offerings, greater choice, and compensation until smooth.

2. In a separate room, combine core values and mission, and mix until well blended. Add right people gradually, depending on consistency and size of company.

3. Add lead by example and work-life balance in equal parts until well blended. More work-life balance may be needed if mixture is runny, lumpy, or not mixing evenly.

4. Once set, add incentives, wellness goals, greater choice, and compensation.

According to a 2015 RedBrick Health survey, respondents define employee engagement as “taking responsibility for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, with rewards for participation and improvement” (Optum, 2014). For this assignment, I decided to use the idea of a food label to determine the different “ingredients” of employee engagement. Four major elements- company culture, leadership support, communication, and program offerings make up the majority of the “recipe”. From there, smaller ingredients such as core values, mission and vision, incentives, and wellness goals can be “mixed in to enhance employee engagement.

Sources:

Bultman, K. & Zimmerman, E. (2015). Employee health management comes of age: How definitions and predictors of engagement evolved from 2010 to 2015. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/GeoffreyKratz/redbrick-health-employee-health-management-comes-of-age-rbh2015

Optum. (2014). How gender and work site affect employee engagement: A join national business group Optum study. Retrieved from https://cdn-aem.optum.com/content/dam/optum3/optum/en/resources/white-papers/100819_OptumHealth_Gender-Worksite_Engagement_Final.pdf

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About this Survey

The 24th annual Willis Towers Watson Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey was completed by U.S. employers between June and July 2019, and reflects respondents' 2019 health program decisions and strategies. Respondents collectively employ 11.3 million employees and operate in all major industry sectors. Results provided are based on 610 employers with at least 100 employees.

U.S. employers' top priority for the next three years is controlling health care costs while making health care affordable for employees. Already high health care costs are projected to rise again nearly 5% next year, well above the rate of inflation. Although two-thirds of employers say they've made progress containing health care costs and improving affordability over the past three years, work remains to be done.

of employers see affordability and costs as an important priority over the next three years.

Our survey reveals a number of levers - short- and longer-term strategies - that employers can pull across all areas to address this challenge.

At the same time, recognizing that employees value health benefits, 95% ¹ of employers are very confident their organizations will continue to sponsor health care benefits in five years. Moreover, employers' longer-term commitment to sponsoring these benefits in 10 years grew to 74% ¹ (up from 69% in 2018), reaching the highest level in the past decade.

of employers are very confident their organization will continue to sponsor health care benefits to active employees in five years.

Increasingly, employers are putting employees at the center of their health and wellbeing strategies. Consequently, there is a growing emphasis on understanding employee wants and needs. With better insight into what employees value, employers can build programs that prioritize affordability and focus on the following three objectives:

This approach will help employers in today's tight labor market develop more holistic benefit programs that attract and engage talent, enabling employees to thrive and organizations to prosper.

Source: 2019 Willis Towers Watson Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey, companies with at least 100 employees
1 Sample: Companies with at least 1,000 employees

Survey results at a glance

74% are confident that the organization will continue to sponsor health care benefits in 10 years, an increase of 5 percentage points from 2018 ¹

Tackling affordability and costs

Cost increases remain steady at 5% before plan changes

68% have made progress over the past three years

93% say affordability and costs for the business and members is a top priority over the next three years, but...

63% indicate that continued progress will be their biggest difficulty over the next three years

50% have made progress on enhancing employees' total wellbeing over the past three years

83% think it's important to enhance employees' total wellbeing in the next three years, but...

Only 41% agree that their wellbeing programs meet employees' needs

Only 30% say their programs inspire employees to achieve their personal goals

Top wellbeing actions by 2021

Top clinical condition

will emphasize mental/behavioural health over the next three years

will enhance navigation to services to improve mental/behavioural health during this period

Capture the potential of telebehavioral health

89% are expected to offer coverage for telebehavioral health services by 2021, up from 72% today

Prioritize technology to support employee wellbeing
Actions by 2021

55% have a formal technology strategy to support wellbeing programs and goals

70% offer apps and connected devices for condition management or reducing health risks

78% integrate wellbeing vendors and employee experience across physical, financial, social and emotional wellbeing

Highlights

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2019 Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey Highlights

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Unlock More About this Survey The 24th annual Willis Towers Watson Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey was completed by U.S. employers between June and July 2019, and reflects respondents' 2019 health program decisions and strategies. Respondents collectively employ 11.3 million employees and operate in all major industry sectors.

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Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement

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Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement

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Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement

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Performance fluctuates widely in most companies because there’s such inconsistency in how people are managed.

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Health Alliance Workplace Wellness Toolkit

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CDC Workplace Health Resource Center | Initiatives | Workplace Health Promotion | CDC

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Work@Health® is an employer-based training program. The ultimate aim of the program is to improve the organizational health of participating employers and certified trainers, with an emphasis on strategies to reduce chronic disease and injury risk to employees and an eye to improving overall worker productivity.

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How employers are controlling health care costs; starting with employee wellbeing

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How employers are controlling health care costs; starting with employee wellbeing

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Looking to mitigate future cost increases and connect benefit programs to workforce culture, 82% of employers are investing in wellbeing initiatives, or plan to over the next three years. Despite current participation challenges, employers remain committed to improving employee wellbeing.

Employers also recognize that workers are more productive when they are healthier and emotionally and financially secure, and wellbeing is evolving accordingly as employers seek to align the work environment and company culture with their overall health and wellbeing initiatives. Currently 53% of employers report aligning company culture with health benefits, and that number is expected to rise to 76% over the next two years.

However, engagement remains a challenge for wellbeing and health care programs. The use of financial incentives for participating in wellbeing programs has plateaued. To improve engagement, there is growing emphasis on connecting the workplace environment and leadership involvement to the many aspects of wellbeing. Some of the initiatives at the workplace that address physical, emotional and social wellbeing include:

Flexible work arrangements

Paid parental leave

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Events that give back to the local community, such as food drives

Organizations with increased health engagement are focused on improving the employee experience by connecting to the company's culture and ultimately providing tools and resources that support employees when they need it most.

Today's workforce demands greater choice among plan offerings that better address all career stages, whether it's starting a first job or preparing to retire. Employers are addressing these issues by:

Offering choice of health plan options or insurers

Expanding the menu of voluntary and supplemental benefits

Making workforce perks such as childcare services, time off to volunteer and onsite services a core part of the EVP

To support the growing number and complexity of programs being offered, employers need to have tools not only to support enrollment but also to support health care decisions. Employers are adopting new technology and partnering with innovative companies to improve health care navigation, increase wellbeing, improve the delivery of health care and better connect members with chronic condition management.

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How top employers are controlling health care costs, focusing on wellbeing: Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey

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Looking to mitigate future cost increases and connect benefit programs to workforce culture, 82% of employers are investing in wellbeing initiatives, or plan to over the next three years. Despite current participation challenges, employers remain committed to improving employee wellbeing.

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Today the employment deal is evolving to encompass a broader range of employee benefits. This means going beyond traditional benefits and including voluntary benefits, workplace perks, onsite benefits and services, and enhanced policies on flexible working. These programs not only enhance perceptions of the employment deal but also allow employees to better manage their work/life balance. Our research highlights the importance of such a broader deal to employees.

Employees report significantly more positive views around their work/life balance and greater engagement with their jobs when they can work more flexibly (i.e., work from home, flexible work hours) more often (Figure 17). The value employees place on this flexibility is also evident in a greater willingness to stay with their employer.

For many employers, the desire to help employees better manage their work/life balance and to cater to a broader range of employee wants and needs is leading them to consider providing expanded workplace facilities and services. These onsite and near-site services could include support for childcare (e.g., onsite or nearby facilities, access to preferred providers, ability to bring your child to work in an emergency), support for an older family member (e.g., counselling, access to preferred providers, backup elder care services), or access to onsite or nearby medical facilities. These services may be provided alongside an expanded list of workplace perks.

For many employers, the desire to help employees better manage their work/life balance and to cater to a broader range of employee wants and needs is leading them to consider providing expanded workplace facilities and services.

The provision of these benefits has a clear impact on benefits appreciation, retention and work engagement for U.S. employees (Figure 18). And the uplift in benefits appreciation may not just be among those employees who take advantage of these benefits. Such visible support may also be a signal to the wider workforce of the employer's commitment to its employees, leading to greater worker appreciation.

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Shaping a flexible Total Rewards experience

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Today the employment deal is evolving to encompass a broader range of employee benefits. This means going beyond traditional benefits and including voluntary benefits, workplace perks, onsite benefits and services, and enhanced policies on flexible working. These programs not only enhance perceptions of the employment deal but also allow employees to better manage their work/life balance.

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How can we train leaders to be inclusive influencers of worksite wellness best practices?

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In describing and attempting to define best practices in workplace wellness, one would definitely need to address the idea that workplace wellness is comprehensive, strategic, and dynamic. Workplace wellness programs and best practices also include and encompass multiple areas and levels of health. The Centers for Disease Control defines best practice as being a rigorous process of peer review and evaluation, indicating effectiveness and consistent results in improving health outcomes (CDC, n.d.). Other elements of best practice include assessing and defining employee health, planning and development components of program, implementing strategies and interventions, and evaluating program effectiveness.

Impact and quality of evidence affect the extent to which the practice achieves the acquired outcome. If a practice isn’t sustainable, then it is going to have little impact on the target population. Best practices encourage individuals to change their behavior. Best practices also examine other organizational factors that influence health behavior. A culture of health that aligns with company goals and backed by senior leadership have been found to be the best practices for the success of workplace wellness programs (Scovill, n.d.). Another important factor of a best practice is that it be replicable and should be able to be transferred to other settings, groups, or target populations.

Several examples of best practices within workplace wellness include resources from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Wisconsin Worksite Wellness Toolkit, and WELCOA’s 7 Benchmarks.

Sources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d). Workplace health program definition and description. Retrieved from  https://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/pdf/workplace-health-program-definition-and-description.pdf

Khoury, A. (n.d). The evolution of worksite wellness. Corporate Wellness Magazine. Retrieved     from http://www.corporatewellnessmagazine.com/worksite-wellness/the-evolution-of/

Scovill, S. (n.d.) What is best practice? [video]. Retrieved from https://uwsa.instructure.com/courses/244381/pages/video-presentation-best-practices?module_item_id=3614980