2. Top Wellness Challenges for Employers
• Lack of employee engagement (i.e. low participation) is cited by 57%
of employers as the biggest obstacle to managing employee health1
• Motivating participants to change behavior that contributes to poor
health
• Creating a cultural shift and overcoming reluctance to change
• Understanding employee attitudes toward health and wellness
• Only 17% of employers significantly use focus groups or surveys to
gather feedback on their wellness programs2
• Only 8% of employers are using behavioral economic theory to drive
behaviors, and only 17% are using consumer marketing techniques 2
1 2012 - 17th Annual Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care
2 2012 – Aon Hewitt Health Care Survey
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3. Top Wellness Challenges for Employers
• Reducing the frequency and severity of chronic conditions to gain
control of health care costs
• Eight human behaviors significantly impact our health3
• Poor Diet • Poor Stress Management
• Physical Inactivity • Poor Standard of Care
• Smoking • Insufficient Sleep
• Lack of Health Screening • Excessive Alcohol Consumption
• Those eight behaviors directly lead to 15 costly chronic medical conditions3
• Diabetes • Allergies
• Coronary Artery Disease • Sinusitis
• Hypertension • Depression
• Back Pain • Congestive Heart Failure
• Obesity • Lung Disease (COPD)
• Cancer • Kidney Disease
• Asthma • High Cholesterol
• Arthritis
• These 15 conditions, exacerbated by the eight behaviors listed above, drive 80% of the cost
for all chronic disease worldwide
3 2010 World Economic Forum
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4. Top Wellness Challenges for Employers
• Lack of evidence of effectiveness of programs makes it difficult for
executive leadership to fund programs that are designed to increase
health behaviors
• Confusion about what wellness programs should achieve and what
specific steps are needed to implement effective programs
• Employers are focused on concepts, but struggling with execution
• Executive support for wellness programs is strong, but confidence in
their impact is lacking
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