There's no doubt about it.

Health care reform is a hot topic these days.

It has stirred up passionate feelings about increasing access to care and providing affordable health insurance. With all the talk about health care reform, are we missing something? It seems like the debate is more about health insurance instead of health care. What about improving the health of Americans? What about the role that employers can play in improving public health? 

Editor Note: This article was updated in May 2026 to reflect the latest data and economic modeling.

Every year, as the leaves start to change, HR leaders begin preparing for another busy season of workforce planning. Open enrollment deadlines, holiday schedules, staffing coverage, year-end goals, and employee wellbeing initiatives all start competing for attention. Somewhere on that list is another important decision: whether to offer workplace flu shots.

If you are on the fence about funding flu shots for your team this year, you might be looking at it purely as an expense. It is easy to see the upfront price tag of corporate wellness initiatives and wonder if the math truly adds up.

But when it comes to the flu, skipped vaccines cost far more than the clinics themselves. The return on investment (ROI) on flu shots is not just a theoretical wellness metric. It is a tangible financial benefit that protects your bottom line and your company culture.

Here is a breakdown of why workplace flu shots are one of the smartest investments your business can make this season.

Let's say you're a workplace wellness or HR professional, and you've just finished gathering data
about the health status of your employee population. You've done biometric screenings, a health risk assessment, a medical claim analysis, and conducted an employee interest survey. 

But where do you go from here? How do you transform this data into a comprehensive wellness operating plan that drives engagement and delivers results?

In the past, flu shot efforts have mainly focused on seniors and people with chronic health conditions. Today, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommends that almost everyone over the age of six months receive a flu vaccination because anyone can get the flu and anyone can give the flu to somebody else. With this change, employers face a new challenge: to encourage all employees to get vaccinated.

Preventative maintenance is important to keep things such as home appliances, cars and tools in good working order. But what about the most important asset of all – health?

While many people think of the flu as just a "common cold" the flu is really a serious respiratory disease. Every year in the United States, on average:

In order to get the most benefit out of an on-site health screening, it is important to pick the type of health screening that will work best for your employees and provide the right data for your wellness program. When looking at a biometric screening program, companies can choose between a fingerstick or venous blood draw. For most companies, the fingerstick method is the preferred method.

This June marks the fourth annual National Employee Wellness Month, an initiative that provides business leaders with fresh ideas and proven strategies around corporate wellness. At TotalWelllness, we know a healthy workplace plays a key role in preventing and managing chronic disease. As a proud supporter of National Employee Wellness Month, TotalWellness believes that the workplace should be an environment that supports employees by providing resources to improve their health. Here are few of the things we’ve put in place:

• Improving employee morale
• Reducing health care costs
• Reducing sick days taken by employees
• Increasing employee productivity
• Decreasing workers’ compensation claim costs
• Enhancing the work environment and employee morale 
• Attracting new employees