Success Story 2

1. Success Story
The Well Employee Solution Health and Wellness Program Demonstrates
Superior Employee Engagement
INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES AT A MANUFACTURING FACILITY
Companies are increasingly implementing employee wellness programs today as more employers recognize that
helping people adopt healthy behaviors is critical to reducing long-term health care expenses and increasing
productivity. Additionally, corporate-sponsored wellness programs that proactively encourage employee
engagement can boost employee morale.
The success of any employee wellness program depends on:
• the level of employee engagement
• the effectiveness of the program in facilitating behavior change
To help employers create workforce wellness, Wellness Corporate Solutions has developed the Well Employee
Solution model or W.E.S. W.E.S. is a comprehensive nutrition-based health and wellness program that engages
and empowers employees to make simple dietary and lifestyle changes that can significantly improve their health.
The success of the W.E.S. program in engaging employees in health-promoting behaviors is demonstrated by a
Wellness Corporate Solutions client located in the South. This client has approximately 1100 employees, most of
whom are hourly employees working 12-hour shifts in a manufacturing facility. Health challenges in this population
include overweight/obesity (60%) and high rates of metabolic syndrome (54%) and diabetes (60%). In addition,
the long workday could be an impediment to participating in ―extracurricular‖ activities, and the lack of continuous
access to a telephone could hamper use of the telephone coaching feature. Despite these obstacles, engagement
in the program is extraordinary.
Did you know…?
• Obesity has surpassed smoking as the leading cause of preventable disease in the US.
• Reduction in obesity could prevent as much as 80% of type 2 diabetes, heart disease
and stroke – 3 of the costliest heath conditions to employers.

2. Intermediate variables can predict outcomes
The W.E.S. program features both long-term and short-term components. The program is structured so that even
before long-term results are available, intermediate results can be used as proxy variables to predict outcomes,
based on the premise that if performance on intermediate measures is good, then end-result outcomes should be
good as well.
Reported here are intermediate outcomes that demonstrate the program’s success in engaging employees in three
phases: recruitment engagement, process engagement, and behavioral engagement. Despite the special
challenges in this population noted previously, W.E.S. surpasses or matches industry norms on all three counts,
predicting a high likelihood of sustained success.
RECRUITMENT ENGAGEMENT
Recruitment engagement refers to the program rollout, in this case a company-wide Health Fair where employees
were invited to have a biometric screening including measurements of blood pressure, BMI, blood glucose and
blood cholesterol. Employee participation at this event reflects how well the company has promoted the program
and, to some extent, its broader efforts to foster a wellness environment.
RESULTS:
Fully 80% of employees completed the biometric screening at the Health Fair – twice the
rate of participation predicted by industry experts for a comparable setting.1
―I found out I had high blood pressure…
―It showed real commitment by
I went to the doctor and got on blood pressure meds.
Company X to making us healthier.‖
[The screening] probably prevented me from having a stroke.‖
—W.E.S. employee participants
PROCESS ENGAGEMENT
Process engagement is the extent to which participants who were engaged during recruitment continue to
participate in other components of the program.
RESULTS:
W.E.S. program participation not only matched that of the opening event, but actually increased: 87%
of employees completed personal health assessments, far exceeding the industry-wide average
health assessment utilization of about 18%.2 The fact that participation rose in the weeks following the
Health Fair suggests positive word-of-mouth about the W.E.S. program among employees.
Another measure of process engagement is the percent of employees enrolling in telephone coaching. Even in this
population of hourly production workers, where use of telephone coaching would be expected to be minimal, use
of the W.E.S. personal health coaching feature matched the industry standard.3
W.E.S. Engagement Compared to Industry Standards I
100%
80% Industry Standard
Because I had high blood pressure at the screening, I
60% W.E.S.
went to my doctor and he got me on blood pressure
40% medication. But since I stayed in the program, I have
20% now been given a choice to get off the meds and treat it
0% through diet and exercise.‖
Health Coach
Assessment —W.E.S. Employee Participant
1
Wellness Corporate Solutions
2
American Institute of Preventive Medicine
3
UnitedHealthcare press release June 25, 2008, Onsite wellness coaching for employers now available to Pennsylvania businesses.

3. BEHAVIORAL ENGAGEMENT
Behavioral engagement measures the extent to which individuals have actually changed health behaviors
and/or outcomes by using the wellness program. W.E.S. results are available for two short-term team events
called ―challenges.‖
Challenge 1: ―Maintain Don’t Gain‖
A challenge called ―Maintain Don’t Gain‖ within the W.E.S. program is focused specifically on preventing weight
gain during the period of vulnerability from Thanksgiving to New Years Day. Holiday weight gain – even as little as
one pound a year – is important, especially for those who are already overweight, because studies find it is not
reversed after the holidays and ―the cumulative effects of yearly weight gain during the fall and winter are likely to
contribute to the substantial increase in body weight that frequently occurs during adulthood.‖ 4
Measurements of behavioral engagement used in the “maintain don’t gain” challenge include:
• Engagement rate = percent of those who enrolled in the challenge who completed the challenge
• Success rate = percent of participants who maintained their weight or lost weight
• Per person weight loss averaged over the entire group
• Average per person weight loss only among those who lost weight
RESULTS:
Outcomes for employees in the W.E.S. ―Maintain Don’t Gain‖ weight control challenge
Engagement rate Success rate Group average weight loss Weight losers’ average weight loss
81% 79% 2.6 lbs 4.4 lbs
The success rate in this ―Maintain Don’t Gain‖ challenge – almost 4 out of 5 individuals – is quite impressive given
the normal tendency to gain weight during the holidays. More impressive still is the fact that 75% actually lost
weight (an average 4 ½ pounds per person), while 4% maintained their weight.
―I watched what I ate ―I see a whole bunch of people
―People are feeling
because I knew we had ―I did not want to let walking after lunch and they
better and have
a weigh-in when we got my team down.‖ say, ―Come on and walk with
more energy.‖
back.‖ us - get your steps in!‖
—W.E.S. employee participants
Challenge 2: ―Win With Wellness‖
The second challenge, ―Win With Wellness,‖ focused both on increasing physical activity and promoting weight
loss. Metrics used to evaluate this program were similar to the ―Maintain Don’t Gain‖ challenge, with the addition
of physical activity measured as steps taken (all teams wore pedometers for the duration of the challenge).
RESULTS:
Outcomes for employees in the ―Win With Wellness‖ challenge
Engagement Success Total miles walked Average per person miles Average per
rate rate (all teams) walked/week person weight loss
100% 100 % 28,328.5 mi 22 mi 4.9 lbs
4
Yanovski JA, et al. A prospective study of holiday weight gain. N Engl J Med. 2000;342:861-67.

4. Everyone who signed up for this eight-week challenge completed it – a 100% engagement rate. This is critical
because a wide percentage range of attrition is normally seen in comparable worksite wellness events.5 Attrition
rates in industry-sponsored weight loss programs range from 30% to as high as 80% -- in other words, as many
as 70% to as few as 20% of those who sign up actually go on to complete the program. In contrast, retention in
both of these two W.E.S. challenges beats the industry standards, proving the superiority of W.E.S. in engaging
employees.
The second outcome measurement – 100% success rate -- is also highly unusual because all the participants lost
weight! Further, the average amount of weight that they lost -- nearly 5 pounds – is significantly more than the
average amount (2.8 pounds) seen in other workplace programs that have combined changes in nutrition and
physical activity.6 The challenge was highly effective in motivating participants to increase their physical activity.
In fact, the total miles walked – more than 28,000 – is equal to walking between New York City and Los Angeles
11 ½ times!
Additional Results
Focus group findings from the participants in the challenges tell us that team spirit, morale and camaraderie were
very high and suggest a positive impact of the entire W.E.S. program on productivity and employee morale.
FOCUS GROUP SUMMARY FINDINGS
• Multiple participants had changed their diet and increased their activity so that their health had improved
enough for the participant to be taken off prescription medication.
• Multiple participants discovered an early stage health issue and went to see their physician.
• Multiple hourly participants noted that their co-workers were eating better, exercising more, and
losing weight.
• Most participants indicated that they felt better at work and were more productive.
Put W.E.S. to Work for You!
These results confirm that the W.E.S. program has superior ability to recruit, engage and change the behavior of
participants. Superior program engagement predicts higher success rates for your employees in improving their
health, which can ultimately translate into reduced health care costs and higher productivity for your company.
Wellness Corporate Solutions specialists work with you to tailor the program for your employee population and
needs, providing a turnkey solution and proactively supporting your program implementation from launch through
all phases.
Take your first step on the road to a healthier workforce and a healthier bottom line. To learn more about the W.E.S.
program, visit us at www.wellnesscorporatesolutions.com.
5
Stunkard AJ et al. Weight loss competitions at the worksite: how they work and how well. Prev Med. 1989;18:460-74.
6
Anderson LM et al. The effectiveness of worksite nutrition and physical activity interventions for controlling employee overweight and obesity: a systematic review.
Am J Prev Med. 2009;37(4):340-57.