Published:

01/15/2015 09:45pm

The Hidden Healthcare Secret Everyone Is Ignoring

In the past year, many companies have felt the squeeze of rising healthcare costs due to new laws.
Providing healthcare for employees has always been expensive, but in light of recent changes, employers are scrambling for ways to reduce rising healthcare costs while keeping their employees healthy and happy.
There's a big, fat secret floating around that many companies continue to overlook: it's the secret to slashing healthcare costs without jumping through hoops or compromising employee care.
What's the secret?
It's simple: in order to reduce the cost of healthcare for your employees, you must keep it a priority to keep people ACTIVE & HEALTHY.
Fostering healthy, happy employees is the best way to significantly reduce escalating healthcare costs, making a positive affect to your bottom line.
Here are the top 3 ways to improve employee health and wellness and in turn dramatically cut the costs of healthcare:
Take a 360° Approach
Just about every company with a wellness program offers heart screenings, diabetes testing, and other clinical procedures.
Sure, these types of tests are beneficial, but they don't get employees excited about getting healthy.
Lasting health comes from employee engagement in your program, which is impossible to achieve unless you find that "secret sauce" that inspires employees to participate and stay well.
For some employees, that might mean giving out Fitbits to track progress. For others, it might mean offering a Weight Watchers program, family fitness days, kickball tournaments, or yoga classes.
Create a Fantastic Program
The fastest way to get employees excited about their health, and in turn cut healthcare costs, is to create a program that caters to the specific needs and challenges of your company.
If your employees work in a stressful, high-pressure environment, the fitness benefits you offer must address those challenges.
For example, employees under lots of stress may do well with a nap room, relaxing lighting, and access to healthy foods and drinks.
Don't forget to take the physical office environment into account as well. Employees that spend much of their time in enclosed spaces may benefit from spending more time outside and taking frequent walks or nature breaks.
Focus on the Family
Do you know that 70% of employees who participate in their company's wellness program have a spouse or child on their plan?
One of the easiest ways to get employees excited about fitness is by involving their families. Remember that your employee only spends 8 hours per day with you. A truly great wellness program addresses the employee's lifestyle outside of work.
An example program that incorporates moms and kids in health and fitness activities is a program AFC sponsors called momNmeFit a 30-Day Fitness Challenge in which moms, kids and family teams compete in fitness, nutrition and wellness challenges.
In addition to family outings, family fitness days, and family gym memberships, give your employees the opportunity to discuss issues concerning their family. Doing so addresses mental and emotional health as well as physical health, and gives the employee the opportunity to thrive in 3D. Specifically, see if your EAP program can include family discussions and/or family coaching calls.
By focusing on making your team healthier, your company will be able to taper off the rising costs of healthcare, all while creating an exciting company culture based on balance, wellness, and family fun.

Fran Dean Bishop is an award winning business coach and CEO with 20 years in the health management industry. She founded Aerobodies Fitness Company, (now AFC Management Services), in 1994 as a corporate service provider of health promotion, fitness management and behavior change programs for the private sector and federal agencies. Fran also designed and launched two successful health technology innovations, MyEquilibriumCoach and MECkids.com. To request Fran for a speaking engagement or workshop, contact her at franb@afmsco.com - 703-402-8477.