To: Joanne Lawler, Human Resources Manager From: Lisa Vanderheiden, Date: March 30, 2014 Subject: Information

Report on Wellness Programs FedCo is noticing a 15% increase in employee absenteeism. We are looking at positive ways to turn this trend around. In order to run a successful wellness program, we first must overcome challenges including adequate resources, buy-in from senior management, and matching programs to the company culture and needs. We want a program that is open to everyone and can be what helps with the work-life balance our employees face daily. This report will focus on the options of wellness programs and whether these would be beneficial for our company to initiate will our end goal, better attendance, being the focus.

What are our options?

Our first option is the Employee Assistance Program. It is geared to help employees address emotional, financial, personal, and professional problems before they affect job performance. Concerns and issues, from divorce, support with an aging parent, substance abuse, to helping locate day care options, stress on the job or with a co-worker, are only some topics that EAP providers can help with. An EAP program will provide our employees with 24/7 access to confidential support and resources they need to effectively balance work-life, manage personal and professional challenges, and maintain stress levels.( Employee Assistance ProgramWork-Life Programs/ Ceridian Canada, Boucher, printed 2010.) All these issues and concerns directly affect an employees attendance. Adrienne Sutton, Director of Operations with Tri Fit Inc. states when someone actually has a problem, they have no idea of the support that is available. There is huge opportunity to educate people for the right care at the right time and accessing the right service for the right issue. All of this can be accomplished through an excellent EAP provider. Our second option would be to incorporate a Wellness Program. These wellness based programs seem to be the most popular. According to a survey conducted by The Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health, 95% of companies offered some kind of health improvement program to their employees. They seem to be committee based, heavily dependent on employee participation and employee driven. Committees are formed and incentive programs are included to encourage and motive employees. Incentives can include random raffles of gift cards, discounts to gym memberships, or paying for personal trainers. Lunch meetings are promoted to discuss continuous improvement. ( ) The variety of options open to a company that goes with having a wellness committee or division is vast. In Table 1, there are a number of success ideas from top corporations, including Supers Drug Mart, Medavie Blue Cross, and Sun Life Financial.

Committee Formed Disease/Care Management

Examples of What is Offered*

Diabetes Clinics Blood Pressure Checks On-Site Nurse Lifestyle Management Services Weight-Loss Advice Gym Membership Discounts Personal Trainers Offered Health Risk Management Services On-site Flu Shots Blood Donor Drives One Paid Day Off for Annual Physicals Environmental Enhancements Bike Rakes Walking Paths Extended Lunch Hours for a Run Club *Please Note: Information take from Dayton Business Journal, How to Implement the Right Employee Assistance Program, October 2011, p 64-65

Advantages to Both
When looking for advantages to both options the best way to see is to look at the trend that is happening in the way companies are looking to keep, encourage and entice employees. Boston Wire printed statistics from the Benefits Canada Roundtable, 2014. Companies can save from three to fifteen dollars for every dollar spent on health and wellness programs within the first 18 months of its start up. 93% of companies surveyed indicated they plan to expand or maintain funding for their programs over the next three to five years. There was an increase of 17% spent on Wellness programs from 2009 to 2014 and 37% of those companies are now including spouses and domestic partners as able participants. The Health and Welfare practice leader with Fidelity states companies are constantly looking for new and creative ways to expand their programs and motivate their workforce, potential new employees and the ones they already have. It was also stated from the Benefits Canada Roundtable,2014, that there is higher morale, people are less stressed and miss less work, all drive health care down. Although statistics show a huge increase in companies trending to employee assistance programs, Diadvantages to Both