WORKPLACE HEALTHSCAN. springbuk.com HEALTHIEST EMPLOYER, LLC springbuk.com WORKPLACE HEALTHSCAN

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1 WORKPLACE HEALTHSCAN Employers: The Unsung Superheroes of Population Health? springbuk.com 1

2 WORKPLACE HEALTHSCAN EMPLOYERS: THE UNSUNG SUPERHEROES OF POPULATION HEALTH? health insurance co. doctor When employees are well, they TRUST EMPLOYERS to help them stay healthy and believe that both they and their employer benefit financially. hospital employer T NO TRUST THE EFFECT OF 57 COMPLETE TRUST ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE T ON WELLNESS EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING Many workplace factors that affect wellness have nothing to do with worker lifestyles and everything to do with organizational culture. EMPLOYER EXPECTATIONS nutrition sleep fitness WHY DOES TRUST MATTER? MEDICALIZING WELLNESS WON T WIN EMPLOYEES 2

3 FINDINGS EMPLOYERS: THE UNSUNG SUPERHEROES OF POPULATION HEALTH? WHO DO EMPLOYEES TRUST TO HELP KEEP THEM HEALTHY? SURPRISE! IT MAY NOT BE WHO YOU THINK. Employees trust their employers most, according to the Healthiest Employers 2015 Workplace HealthScan survey of 417 employers across the U.S. When employees are well, they trust employers to help them stay healthy (TI: 57/100) and believe that both they and their employer benefit financially. Conversely, they see little role for doctors or hospitals in helping them stay well, and believe those entities financially benefit most TRUST INDEX when they have health issues. It s hard to argue with their conclusion. While recent value-based compensation initiatives may eventually reward physicians for keeping patients truly healthy, today these initiatives emphasize medical treatment, not the preservation of wellness, vitality and optimal health. And few would argue that most physicians are experts in the minutiae of a healthy lifestyle. This powerful alignment of interests has important implications for workforce wellness and indeed, population health. THE SURVEY The survey s composite Healthiest Employers Trust Index (TI) captures trust in both wellness and healthcare subject-matter expertise and alignment of health-related values, based on: Not surprisingly, when they have health concerns, the balance of trust shifts to their physician (TI: 61/100), and they see almost no role for their employer. TRUST INDEX - Employees ratings of the extent to which doctors, hospitals, employers and insurance companies each have their best health interests at heart AND - Their assessment of the financial benefit to these stakeholders when employees are in good health, and when they have health issues Respondents also generally believe that insurance companies are not particularly concerned about their health status regardless of whether they re well or sick, and that their individual health status offers neither financial benefits or rewards for insurers. 3

4 POWER = OPPORTUNITY + RESPONSIBILITY Our findings reveal that employers have far more power to shape workforce wellness than they ve previously realized. Tremendous opportunities and big responsibilities accompany this power. A CEO who attends wellness committee meetings and runs with employees in charity events but fails to address excessive work hours undermines the organization s credibility and risks cynicism and employee disengagement. ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTEREST The Trust Index (TI) clearly reveals that workers see employer interest in their health as both natural and helpful. They understand that their interest in wellbeing is shared, even though the underlying motivations aren t identical. Yes, some employees worry about how employers will use their private healthcare information -- but many more recognize a strong mutual interest in employee wellbeing. Employees get it. They don t believe employers offer wellness programs purely for altruistic reasons, and they re okay with that. For example, a recent university study found that while lunchtime walks improved worker productivity, many stopped participating because their managers expected them to work through lunch. Similarly, workplace stress often translates into poor food choices and couch potato recovery strategies at home. DOES BRANDING MATTER? Trust is context-dependent. Employees feel strong alignment with employers when it comes to prevention and wellness. On the other hand, they naturally reach out to physicians and hospitals when illness or health concerns arise. Program branding and delivery decisions should capitalize on these findings to make the most of employee engagement. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Retaining employee trust in shared goals requires employers to align words and actions much more comprehensively than they do today. Many workplace factors that affect wellness have nothing to do with worker lifestyles and everything to do with organizational culture. For example, Company ABC Wellness 360 seems likelier to resonate with employees than equivalent programs branded and delivered by health systems or insurers. Disease management programs may be most credible when they have a clinical brand and delivery strategy ABC Health System Diabetes Management. Yet today, many programs are branded and delivered by insurers, even though employees see them as the least trusted and least aligned resource in their own health and wellness. MIND THE (CARE) GAP The Trust Index (TI) highlights a new and important care gap between healthcare and wellness. Everyone knows 4

5 that wellness is more than the absence of illness. Anyone who s ever faced a serious health concern knows that restoring full health and vitality takes more than prescriptions, procedures and office visits. Yet health interventions typically end once clinical signs and symptoms resolve leaving the opportunity to return to complete wellbeing and full productivity unmeasured. Today this care transition from provider to employer happens only for disability claims, where workers are released to light duty. Yet expanding coordination of care beyond disability claims offers a real opportunity for employers whose wellness organizations are often well-positioned to methodically close this gap with attention to nutrition, fitness, sleep quality, emotional resilience and other wellness elements. CONCLUSION Our findings underscore the powerful role of employers in sustaining a healthy, vital workforce and population. Understanding who employees trust to help them stay healthy opens the door to targeted engagement and intervention at every step of the health lifecycle. Supported by metrics and analytics that integrate both wellness and clinical insights, employers can identify leading indicators of future health declines long before they become clinical risk factors or disease states, and ensure a return to complete wellness and full productivity following health challenges. Beyond the individual benefits, the ripple effect of good health is nearer the employer than any other constituent in the discussion. WANT ANALYTICS? SPRINGBUK.COM PRODUCT DEMO INFO@SPRINGBUK.COM WHAT S NEXT: LIFETIME HEALTH METRICS The Trust Survey makes it clear that medicalizing wellness won t win employee hearts and minds. Yet most efforts to manage wellness still fall back on the quantification of illness and risk. As the only organization for whom wellness and primary prevention are top of mind, employers must demand analytics that integrate an entire lifetime of employee health and wellness: - Biometrics that capture the positive signs of good health - Environmental factors affecting behavior and disease - Psychosocial measures and stressors - Clinical early warning biometrics like cholesterol levels - Productivity metrics driven by mhealth data 5