The merits of employee wellness have been largely accepted by organisations worldwide. There is an acknowledgement of the interrelatedness between employee health and organisational health. Healthy employees are generally more productive, have lower rates of absenteeism, and are more engaged. They’re also better able to manage stress and change, have higher job satisfaction and a positive morale.
Organisations that focus on employee well-being seek to reap the rewards associated with a healthy workforce: lower absenteeism, fewer workers’ compensation claims, reduced disabilities, and greater workplace safety, productivity and performance – all of which contribute to a competitive and sustainable organisation.
A lot of time, energy and financial resources go into workplace wellness. In large companies, you often find a plethora of employee health management (EHM) programmes and employee-health-related costs, some of which include:
- medical scheme(s)
- IAS19 valuations
- primary care programmes
- occupational health programmes
- primary care nurse, doctor or on-site clinic
- employee assistance programme
- gap product cover, hospital cash plan, accident policy
- expatriate cover
- wellness programme(s)
- executive wellness programme
- sickness and absenteeism management
- incapacity management
- workers’ compensation
- death benefits
- funeral benefits
Owing to the magnitude of the employee health management portfolio, it is often divided among different areas within the organisation. Human Resources may deal with health policies, employee engagement and the psycho-social aspects of health; Benefits and Compensation may deal with health programmes, death and funeral benefits; occupational health and safety may sit in a different department and employee wellness and education in yet another. As a result, there is seldom any integration of data from the various EHM programmes.
Benefits of measuring employee health management programmes
Is your organisation reaping the benefi ts of the basket of EHM programmes offered? Are your workers healthier, happier, less stressed, and more engaged and productive as a result of your time, effort and expenditure? Are their health and well-being improving or deteriorating over time?
With the Protection of Personal Information Act, it is often very difficult to effectively integrate the data from EHM programmes in order to measure their relative success at an individual level. However, the data received from these programmes can be used to create a dashboard that provides the organisation with a big-picture view on employee well-being.
Integrating available EHM data with organisational metrics on employee engagement, absenteeism, disability cases and productivity will assist the organisation in better answering some of these questions. It will also assist with:
- understanding the health and well-being issues that employees are grappling with, and their impact on the health and well-being of the organisation
- showing the impact of the organisation’s policies, culture and environment on the health and well-being of its employees
- identifying both short- and long-term strategic objectives for employee and organisational health
- identifying where targeted interventions are required
- providing insight into the duplication of benefit offerings, enabling greater cost efficiencies within EHM programmes
- identifying the efficiencies and effectiveness of EHM programmes to ascertain whether these programmes are achieving the desired outcomes and if they are the most efficient mechanism for doing so
If organisations don’t integrate this data, it’s likely that EHM data won’t be used at all. For example, medical scheme wellness reports provide information on the many aspects of employees’ physical and lifestyle health. However, if the organisation doesn’t understand the impact this is having on the business, very little is done with this data.
What to measure
There are many measurement models available to guide organisations on what to measure with respect to their EHM programmes. The Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) and Population Health Alliance (PHA) have developed a model which incorporates the following metrics:
- Financial outcomes: This metric seeks to measure the savings derived from implementing EHM programmes.
This is not always easy to do, particularly in the case of programmes that operate within a community rating framework, such as medical schemes where contributions are not risk rated for the organisation. For example, the organisation may have implemented successful initiatives to reduce body mass index, resulting in fewer claims from the medical scheme, which could in turn reduce the costs of medical scheme contributions for all members ... but this would not be realised as an immediate cost reduction for the employer exclusively.
Some risk-rated insurance products may result in reduced contributions for the organisation thanks to the improved health of its employees. Such programmes are easier to measure under this metric. For example, reduced BMI may result in fewer employees with high cholesterol, which may result in fewer heart attacks and could yield lower group death cover rates3.
- Health impact: This metric assesses the impact of EHM programmes on the overall health and well-being of targeted populations. It includes an assessment of physical, mental and emotional health as well as the behaviours that affect these dimensions of health.
This metric also includes a review of the prevalence of health factors across all EHM programmes. Over time, any initiatives instituted by the organisation to improve aspects of health should be reflected in this metric.
- Participation: It is important to measure the uptake and ongoing use of EHM programmes by employees. Without adequate employee participation, the efficacy of these programmes is diluted and their cost effectiveness comes into question. This measure also assists organisations in understanding the effectiveness of the communication strategy for their EHM programmes.
- Satisfaction: This metric measures how satisfied both the organisation and its employees are with the benefits and services of the EHM programme. This assists in refining the benefit offering and improving the service delivery of the providers.
- Organisational support: This metric measures the level of organisational support for each of the EHM programmes. It looks at policies, procedures and facilities that make it easier for employees to make healthier choices.
- Productivity and performance: It is not always easy for employers to measure the productivity of their employees, especially in the service industry. In the absence of a definitive productivity metric for an organisation, these metrics often review absenteeism, disability and employee engagement ratios.
- Value on investment: This metric seeks to measure the value received (as opposed to savings derived, measured under the financial metric) by the organisation for each rand spent. It tracks the cost of EHM programmes, and the improvement and deterioration of health, satisfaction levels, employee engagement and productivity scores over time.
The evolution of employee health management programmes
Whatever metrics an organisation uses to review its EHM programmes they should assist in establishing a greater understanding of what works, what doesn’t, and which aspects of health to focus on to enable the organisation to achieve its strategic objectives with regard to employee health.
EHM programmes are dynamic, and successful EHM programmes go through a cycle similar to that depicted in Figure 5, which encompass the following steps4:
- Mobilise: For EHM programmes to succeed, buy-in from leadership (shareholders, executives, unions, operational management) within the organisation is paramount, as it demonstrates organisational support. Employee wellness and well-being should form part of the organisation’s DNA, incorporated in its policies, and aligned with its mission, values, objectives, operations and cultural norms.
- Assemble: Effective EHM programmes use collaboration as a means of driving the programmes. Break down silos by creating a committee that incorporates all stakeholders, including unions and employee representatives.
- Assess: The committee’s first responsibility should be to assess the present levels of employee and organisational health, then to compare this to the desired levels of employee and organisational health. There are many tools to assist in this endeavour, including the metrics listed above.
- Prioritise: The committee should agree on priorities that would benefit the organisation and its employees. Once again, collaboration is key to obtaining buy-in from all stakeholders.
- Plan: This is where the plan of action is established. The plan should include short-term goals (current year) and long-term goals (three to five years). The plan should be drawn up for each of the priorities and should include the policy changes required, if any; budget requirements; processes; and any resources required.
- Do: This stage includes assigning responsibilities and rolling out the programme.
- Evaluate: We have looked at the importance of evaluating the EHM programme in this section; establishing what works, what does not, and what is impeding the success of the programme. This exercise establishes the gap between the planned objectives and the actual results.
- Improve: If gaps are identified or there is a need to adjust priorities, this is the time to review the plan and repeat the cycle.
We’ve heard that the cost of healthcare is prohibitive. But has your organisation adopted a strategic and structured approach to implementing and running an employee health management programme? Measuring the effectiveness and efficiencies of EHM programmes is key to developing the right structure and refining your strategy to ensure it the programmes deliver maximum benefits to both employer and employees.
If you’re not already doing this, now is the best time to start.