Linda K. Riddell
Updated: October 19, 2023
How to improve your employees' health without blood, sweat or tears
By Linda K. Riddell
Wellness programs have nudged, cajoled and bribed people into “healthy behaviors” for a long time but their jig is up. Research shows that they do not improve people’s health nor do they lower medical costs. What is a health-conscious employer to do?
A company’s most effective means of improving employee health is hidden in plain sight — it is the work environment itself. This is widely known for on-the-job accidents, but largely ignored for its health-giving or health-hazardous effect on the people who work there.
Everyone’s health is shaped by life circumstances. For working people, the workplace is a major part of life circumstances and an important contributor or detractor of health. In fact, a person's work environment has just as much and, for many people, more impact on health than their after-hours diet or exercise regimen.
In some cases, a workplace factor is itself a health hazard. Consider, for example, a call center that publicizes the person who handles the most customers each day. To do well in the highly visible contest, employees skip bathroom breaks or not drink water during their shift. Over time, they get chronic sore throats or worse, urinary stones.
In other cases, the workplace factors are more subtle. A productivity-based pay scheme motivates managers to take a command-and-control style. The problem is that employees who face high demand/ low control work all day every day tend to have more depression.
These examples show how typical wellness programs miss the mark. An “8 glasses of water a day” campaign would fall flat if the incentive were to stay at your desk all day. Likewise, a mental health program could have only limited results if the job situation does not change. There is a better, more effective way.
An employer can improve every employees' health by focusing on workplace factors known to shape health. While a typical heart health wellness program, for example, would attract a limited number of people for a limited time, a company-level intervention would reach everyone working there. Employees who have little say over how they accomplish their work have higher blood pressure. Allowing employees more autonomy will lower their blood pressure, even if they do not change their diet or exercise habits.
The good news is that when workplace factors are tweaked, employees’ health improves. No begging, bribing, or prodding is needed. It’s like putting fluoride in the water; one intervention has an impact on everyone.
Companies that believe health happens only after work hours are missing their best opportunity to improve health.
Changing the company’s own behaviors is under the company’s direct control, unlike the behaviors that classic wellness programs try to change.
Instead of asking, "What are employees doing about their health?," employers could start with, “What are we doing in 2,080 hours a year that hurts employees’ health?” and “What can we do better?”
Employee wellness is often viewed in a similar way as poverty — poor outcomes are the result of poor choices, placing the onus on the individual and ignoring factors outside their control. If employers truly desire to improve their employees’ health, they do well to evaluate their role in it.
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