NEW YORK, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Workplace wellness
strategies are rapidly growing in popularity outside of North America --
almost doubling in the past year -- to a point where 40 percent of
employers surveyed in Europe, Asia and Africa now offer these programs, a
global survey released today indicates.
"WORKING WELL: A Global Survey of Health Promotion and Workplace
Wellness Strategies," conducted by Buck Consultants, an ACS company and one
of the world's leading human resource and benefits consulting firms, finds
that although there is strong global growth for wellness programs, they are
still most prevalent in North America, with 82 percent of responding
employers offering them.
The second annual survey analyzed responses from more than 600
organizations in 25 countries representing more than 10 million employees.
The research was conducted in association with vielife, a CIGNA company, as
well as Wolf Kirsten International Health Consulting, and WorldatWork.
The fastest-growing components of global wellness initiatives around
the world include technology-driven tools, such as Web portals, online
programs, and personal health records. Other rapidly growing program
elements are: health fairs, healthy vending machine food choices, and
workplace health competitions. Use of these program components will grow
dramatically over the next three years -- in some cases, by more than 100
percent outside of North America.
Business objectives for wellness programs also vary by international
location. In the U.S., health care cost reduction continues to be the top
goal. Canadian employers cite improving productivity as the primary
objective, while in Europe the top goal is improving workforce morale.
Respondents in both Asia and Africa cite reducing employee absence as their
main objective for wellness programs.
"This broad range of objectives is not surprising," said Barry Hall, a
Buck principal who directed the survey. "In fact, it shows how versatile
wellness initiatives can be in addressing a variety of employers'
challenges around the world."
The survey assessed how effectively today's wellness initiatives meet
employers' business objectives. Among U.S. respondents, only 16 percent
report a reduction in health care cost trend rate attributable to their
wellness initiatives, with an average reduction of two to five trend
percentage points per year.
"Large employers that are able to realize a two to five percent
reduction in health care cost trend are gaining significant savings in
total health expenditures," said Hall. "But equally significant is our
finding that two-thirds of U.S. employers have not measured the impact of
their wellness programs on health cost savings. Worldwide, where other
business objectives such as reducing absence and improving productivity are
valued more highly, 40 to 60 percent of organizations are not measuring the
impact of their wellness programs and therefore don't know the extent of
the benefits."
Incentive rewards have increased 45 percent since Buck's prior survey
in 2007. U.S. respondents spend an average of $145 per employee per year on
wellness incentive rewards, up from an average of $100 last year. Twelve
percent of U.S. respondents spend more than $500 per employee per year.
Such incentives, designed to improve employee participation and engagement
in wellness program activities, are more prevalent in the U.S., but are
offered by employers in all parts of the world.
Only 19 percent of respondents rated their incentive rewards "extremely
effective" or "significantly effective" at changing employees' behaviors,
although this is up from 16 percent last year. However, employers'
continued expansion of incentive rewards indicates a strong belief in their
effectiveness at changing behaviors.
Additional wellness issues covered by Buck's global survey include
program ownership, global design components, employee feedback, and
communications.
Buck Consultants is hosting a complimentary one-hour webcast on the
survey results on October 15, 2008 at 1:00 pm eastern time. To register
visit http://www.buckconsultants.com or
http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=51626
Buck Consultants, an ACS company, is a leader in human resource and
benefits consulting with more than 1,500 professionals worldwide. Founded
in 1916 to advise clients in establishing and funding some of the nation's
first public and private retirement programs, Buck is an innovator in the
areas of retirement benefits, health and wellness programs, human capital
management, and employee communication. News and other information about
Buck Consultants are available at http://www.buckconsultants.com. Buck is an
independent subsidiary of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with 65,000 people supporting client
operations reaching more than 100 countries, provides business process
outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial
and government clients. The company's Class A common stock trades on the
New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." Learn more about ACS at
http://www.acs-inc.com.
vielife has been in operation since 1988 to help improve individual and
organizational performance and health. vielife's mission is to be a global
leader in the critical task of transforming the way individuals, employers,
health plans and governments manage physical and emotional well-being. In
2005, vielife was awarded the Institute for Health & Productivity
Management (IHPM) President's Award. For more information, please visit
http://www.vielife.com..
Wolf Kirsten International Health Consulting helps international
corporations, organizations, and governments improve the quality of life of
their respective population through innovative, culturally appropriate, and
cost-effective health promotion programs. International Health Consulting
is based in Berlin, Germany, and calls upon a global network of health
promotion experts. More information is available at http://www.wolfkirsten.com.
WorldatWork (http://www.worldatwork.org) is a global human resources
association focused on compensation, benefits, work-life and integrated
total rewards to attract, motivate and retain a talented workforce. Founded
in 1955, WorldatWork provides a network of more than 30,000 members and
professionals in 75 countries with training, certification, research,
conferences and community. It has offices in Scottsdale, Arizona, and
Washington, D.C.
The survey report, "WORKING WELL: A Global Survey of Health Promotion
and Workplace Wellness Strategies," is available to the media by contacting
Ed Gadowski at 201-902-2825. It is available to other interested parties
for $150 from Buck's Global Survey Resources, 500 Plaza Drive, Secaucus,
NJ, 07096-1533. Telephone 1-800-887-0509. It also can be ordered online at
http://www.bucksurveys.com.
SOURCE Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.acs-inc.com
http://www.buckconsultants.com
http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=51626
http://www.vielife.com. http://www.wolfkirsten.com
http://www.worldatwork.org
CONTACT:
Ed Gadowski, Manager, Media Relations of Buck
Consultants, LLC, +1-201-902-2825,
edward.gadowski@buckconsultants.com; or Carol DeMatteo, Director,
Corporate Communications of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.,
+1-214-841-8110, carol.dematteo@acs-inc.com
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