{"id":228,"date":"2008-11-06T23:06:18","date_gmt":"2008-11-07T03:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthnews.nchealthplans.com\/?p=228"},"modified":"2010-06-24T11:16:14","modified_gmt":"2010-06-24T16:16:14","slug":"bcbsnc-work-place-wellness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/2008\/11\/bcbsnc-work-place-wellness\/","title":{"rendered":"Work Place Wellness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Healthy on the Job<\/a><\/h4>\n

As a follow-up to last year\u2019s research with employers, this year we went straight to the source. So we\"\"<\/a> surveyed employees about their attitudes and actions regarding workplace wellness programs. We found that many of the things that employees want are easy to do and don\u2019t cost a lot of money.<\/p>\n

Programs with the highest participation rates, when offered, are:
\nPaid time off for doctor\u2019s visits or health care needs: 78%, Purchasing healthy caf\u00e9 or vending options: 67%, Attending health fairs: 67%, Participating in physical activity during work hours: 67%, Completing a health risk assessment: 66%
\n\u2022 The following programs had a high participation rate but were among the less
\nfrequently offered by employers:Healthy caf\u00e9 or vending machine options, Participating in physical activity during work hours, Completing a health risk assessment
\n\u2022 The much-talked about onsite fitness facility is not among the top offerings, and when
\nit is offered \u2014 at 18 percent of respondents\u2019 employers \u2014 has a participation rate of
\nabout one-third of employees. In comparison, when opportunities are offered to
\nexercise during the day almost two-thirds of employees take advantage.
\nIncentives
\n\u2022 Cash, prize incentives or reductions in health insurance premiums are seen as the
\nmost effective motivating factors by employees when it relates to changing behaviors
\nand participating in programs such as taking a health risk assessment (HRA), getting
\npreventive care, and engaging in two health-improving activities: losing weight and
\ngetting more active.
\n\u2022 Top motivators for the following healthy behaviors include:, Losing weight, Discount on insurance premium: 71%, Cash for either weight loss program or losing weight: 64%, Rewards or prizes for weight loss programs or weight loss: 58%, Becoming more active, Discount on insurance premium: 77%, Cash: 72, Rewards or prizes: 61%
\nGetting preventive care: Discount on insurance premium: 82%, Paid time off for doctor\u2019s visits or health care needs: 78%, Cash: 71%
\n\u2022 Out of the 70 smokers surveyed, the following incentives were most appealing:
\nQuit smoking: including smoking cessation drugs in pharmacy benefit: 53%, Discount on non-smoker insurance premium: 47%, Cash: 47%, Discount on nicotine replacement therapy: 41%
\nLoyalty
\n\u2022 Employees who participated in at least one wellness program are more likely to say they
\nlike working for their employer and are more likely to recommend their company to
\nothers, compared with employees who don\u2019t participate or don\u2019t have them at their
\ncompanies.
\n\u2022 The following programs were all linked to higher loyalty scores as rated by employees:Paid time off for doctor\u2019s visits, Opportunities for physical activity at the workplace, and Onsite health workshops
\nBlue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina<\/a> offers several wellness initiatives to improve the collective health of its employees.\u00a0 They focus\u00a0their wellness programs on taking action, the environment in which our employees work and each employee\u2019s awareness of their health.\u00a0BCBSNC<\/a> offers everything from healthy vending machine options to financial incentives that encourage behavior change.<\/p>\n

The content of the post was reprinted from Blue Cross & Blue Sheild of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

For more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina<\/a>, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com<\/a> or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our qualified agents.\u00a0 Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina\u00a0(BCBSNC).\u00a0 <\/a>You may qualify for a 15% healthy lifestyle discount if you are in excellent health.\u00a0 Call us for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Healthy on the Job As a follow-up to last year\u2019s research with employers, this year we went straight to the source. So we surveyed employees about their attitudes and actions regarding workplace wellness programs. We found that many of the things that employees want are easy to do and don\u2019t cost a lot of money. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[23,136,77,78],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bcbsnc-insurance","tag-bcbsnc","tag-blue-cross-blue-shield-of-north-carolina","tag-wellness","tag-workplace-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3050,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions\/3050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}