Health promotion and workplace wellness strategies stretch across the globe.
Although the U.S. is home to most of the world's companies with corporate wellness programs, these initiatives continue to gain popularity among foreign businesses that are searching for ways to out-perform their competitors. The goals, implementation and communication of these programs vary widely from country to country.
By looking at the larger picture of global workplace wellness initiatives, we believe there is a lot we can learn from the strategies of our international neighbors. 
Buck Consultants, an ACS company, has conducted a Global Wellness Survey for several years now. The 2012 survey involved 1,356 employers from 45 different countries across the globe.
One of the most important aspects of running a wellness program is the company's objective. Businesses implement these initiatives for a variety of reasons: in the United States, the primary reason year after year is to reduce health care and insurance costs, according to the survey. No other region cites this as their main priority. In Asia, it's workplace safety; in Canada and Europe, it's improving workforce morale and engagement; in Africa/Middle East, they focus on improving productivity and reducing presenteeism.
The health issues that drive these programs also offering interesting insight into the cultural differences between these regions. In the United States, it's physical activity, followed by nutrition; not a surprise to most of us, because of the prevalence of obesity in our country. However, stress is the top health issue across much of the rest of the globe - Africa/Middle East, Australia, Canada, Europe and Latin America. Asia lists workplace safety as its top health concern.
The way we implement wellness programs also varies across the board. Health risk assessments and biometric screenings are becoming more popular, especially in the United States, Asia, and Africa/Middle East. In Europe, they tend to focus more on offering gym and fitness club member discounts. Other programs gaining popularity worldwide include healthy vending machines, cycle-to-work programs, personal health coaching, web portals, and workplace wellness competitions.
The one broad similarity between wellness programs worldwide is the fact that most companies don't gauge the ROI of the program. This makes perfect sense to us; we find that employers aren't willing to invest the time or finances necessary to collect the data, distribute the surveys or calculate the metrics necessary to calculate ROI. While ROI is traditionally a key component of measuring the success of any initiative, companies around the world are finding that it takes years to see the health and behavior changes as measurable savings. Instead, they focus on the intuitive value, tracking other indicators like engagement, satisfaction, or the image of the organization.
Consider your own wellness program, then be sure you have the answers to these questions:
1.) What is the strategic objective of our wellness program? Should it be reducing health care costs, or is improving productivity more valuable?
2.) What are the top health risks facing my employees? Are we focusing too much on physical activity and not enough on stress?
3.) What program elements are working in our wellness program? Do we need to add anything to stay current, like a healthy vending machine or a more flexible work schedule?
4.) If ROI isn't really measurable with our wellness program, how can we measure the success of our initiatives?
Need help with finding the right answers to these questions for your business? Contact TotalWellness today.
