workplace wellness programs News

More Large Employers Add Financial Wellness Tools to Benefits Menu

Study after study shows that money stress can be as bad for workplace productivity as back pain. The latest study, released by PwC on Tuesday, found that a quarter of U.S. workers said financial worries caused them health problems. Forty …

Workplace Wellness Programs Are an Exercise in Futility, Latest Research Finds

Workplace wellness programs have two main goals: improve employees’ health and lower their employers’ health-care costs. They’re not very good at either, new research finds. For the study, 3,300 employees of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were given a …

When Are Employee Wellness Programs No Longer Voluntary?

Dale Arnold, who worked for Wisconsin plastics maker Flambeau, chose not to take his work-sponsored health assessment and biometric screening. The company responded by pulling his insurance coverage. Like many employers, Flambeau uses a wellness program to cut insurance costs …

Wearable Device for Weight Loss Or Unbearable Loss of Privacy?

To fight rising medical costs, oil company BP Plc last year offered Cory Slagle — a 260-pound former football lineman — an unusual way to trim $1,200 from his annual insurance bill. One option was to wear a fitness-tracking bracelet …

Administration Issues Workplace Wellness Program Guidelines

Employees will be eligible for significantly lower premiums on the health insurance they buy through their employers if they participate in “workplace wellness programs,” even if they don’t improve their health, U.S. regulators said on Wednesday. The Affordable Care Act, …