Exploring Employee Well-being and Its Impact in the Workplace

The first guest on this week's program will be Jessica Grossmeier, vice president of research, HERO. The concept that good health is good business has been validated over the years by research linking health risk factors to higher employee health care costs, reduced on-the-job productivity and higher absenteeism. More recently, research has expanded its focus to overall well-being, with some studies showing a correlation between low employee well-being, higher turnover, lower employee engagement and lower employee performance. Now, the latest emerging body of research, including a new study from HERO, demonstrates that improved stock performance may be yet another reason to invest in a healthy workforce. In this interview, Jessica will share the findings and discuss the applications of this new research. 

For the second segment, we'll continue the wellness theme as we welcome Jeff Brizzolara, PhD, MPH, chief clinical officer, Viverae, to the show. Analyzing the true impact of a corporate wellness program can be tricky, as companies have learned that compiling individual health improvements across an entire population to form one standard of measurement is difficult. To formulate program effectiveness, more employers are embracing value of investment or return on investment, but oftentimes they can’t make the direct connection from seeing a significant difference in their health care costs. The traditional framework for health care ROI needs to change in order to portray a more accurate figure, which includes critical factors that sustain a healthy lifestyle or contribute to improvements in productivity.