Corporate wellness programs are a fast-growing trend, with employers noticing the value they can add to both employees and their bottom line. However, what does corporate wellness have to do with your medical insurance? Does your corporate insurance broker offer complimentary corporate wellness within your insurance? If they do, what does it include, and is it provided by an independent party or a medical provider within their network, and if so what implications may this have? There are all relevant questions to look at when analysing your corporate medical insurance policy. As a start, what questions should you be asking your corporate insurance broker with regards to corporate wellness and what are the key areas to look at including in a program? Many reputable insurers brokers such as Beneple, now offer complimentary wellness programs for qualified clients.
Below is a summary of our top 5 things to ask your broker to see if these areas are covered.
1. Corporate wellness programs
Corporate wellness programs are definitely becoming more popular in this region. As employers are understanding this can actually save them a lot of money. Prevention is the key to ensuring that you have healthy and happy employees. While it can be time-consuming to implement some health strategies it doesn’t have to be if you look for an outside provider that is knowledgeable in the field of corporate wellness.
If a corporate wellness program is not included as part of your insurance package, then it may be an additional company cost to onboard an outside wellness team, however the ROI on this is generally over $3 for every $1 spent. Have you ever asked how much absentees or presenteeism cost the company year or how much are your insurance preemies rising each year to unnecessary or preventable medical treatment? In most cases, not as much as it would hire a team of educated nurses and doctors to incorporate a fun and engaging corporate wellness program.
2. In-office health questionnaires
By having regular in-office health questionnaires you allow employees to voice different elements of their health. It is important to make the questionnaire anonymous to allow people to speak freely about how they really feel about their health and general wellbeing. The questionnaire can cover physical health asking questions such as how employees rate their overall physical health, how often employees exercise, barriers that stop employees from exercising, and what employees really enjoy physically. Mental health components of the questionnaire include do employees have family and friend support, what activities employees do for their mental health etc. This will provide a great insight into how healthy people think they are. If your medical insurance policy does include corporate wellness, it is worth seeing if a questionnaire like this is included with your program. If not and you would like us to conduct this on your behalf, please get in touch.
3. Biometric health screenings
Biometric health screenings are a great tool to help identify and prevent long-term employee illness before it occurs. Some insurance brokers are able to offer this as a complimentary service to their clients. While health results of individual staff members should always be kept confidential a company health screening can provide an average company health result, showing how “healthy” a company is on average, and can also help direct future wellness strategies.
An individual should receive a health screening report so they can simply see what areas of physical health need to be improved. This will give employees the “why” they should be looking after their health and if the health screening is performed 12 months later they have a real goal to make sure they improve these levels. A few simple and easy readings that can be taken during a biometric health screening in the office are blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation levels, BMI, glucose,e, and colostral. This will give you a great insight into how healthy people really are. If your corporate insurance doesn’t include this, then get in touch for an independent screening cost. Whilst some facilities may offer this free of charge, it’s important to know that in most cases, this will also be serving as a lead generation tool for referrals directly to the clinic or hospital, thus raising insurance claims. By having an independent medical professional look at the results and ask relevant questions eg have you eaten today before the tests were done, it can ensure non-biased independent results.
4. Workplace challenges
Creating a healthy competition in the workplace can not only be fun but beneficial to one’s mental and physical health. Creating workplace wellness challenges such as a steps challenge, healthy eating challenge, increase sleep challenge or gratitude challenge can naturally be out one competitive nature with a bit of fun.
It will encourage employees to talk about something else in the office other than work and if teams are created it will allow staff to meet people in different departments that they may not normally talk to. Prizes are always a great driver and encore people to join and participate. It really does create a new buzz in the office while making everyone healthier and happier. In many cases, your corporate wellness provider may be able to help facilitate these challenges.
5. Mental health awareness
Mental health on any level has become a huge hype word in wellness and all for good reason. This is one industry trend that we hope is here to stay. Holding regular mental health education sessions is important to bring awareness to mental health and to start an open and honest conversation around the office in case one is struggling and needs help. This way they will not feel ashamed but only supported and it is important we talk about it just like it is to talk and constantly improve our physical health. Many insurers brokers will include mental health webinars and other awareness sessions for their clients.
If you need any further assistance with the above please get in touch or speak to a reputable insurance broker such as Beneple who offer corporate wellness to their qualified clients.