Why More Employers Are Investing in Well-Being in 2016

“Employers pay for half of the health care costs in this country,” says Cathy Kenworthy, the president and CEO of Interactive Health, the nation’s largest provider of employer-sponsored wellness programs. “There’s a huge interest employers have in being able to marshal effective, proactive strategies around managing health care costs.”

Proactive programs

According to the RAND Wellness Programs study of 6,000 employees from seven employers, companies screening employees for health risks see a $1.50 return on investment (ROI) for every dollar they put into the program.

The wellness programs effectively address chronic health issues, such as management of diabetes or high blood pressure, as well as lifestyle management—including smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise. The RAND study found the ROI for disease management is $3.80 while the ROI for lifestyle management is 50 cents.

Value of care

Companies make investments in preventive care hoping to reduce health risks and save on future costs. Since many people are unaware of their health risks, these types of screenings help employees learn about their general health—their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. If any of the results are abnormal, the employees are encouraged to follow up with their doctor.

“We want to be a catalyst to help people understand a little more about where they are, help them be empowered and informed for that conversation with their physician,” says Kenworthy, explaining that wellness programs don’t diagnose or treat.

Culture of wellness

Employers across the country are embracing wellness programs as a way to reduce costs and invest in the health and happiness of their employees.

“We want to develop a culture of wellness, a culture of care,” says Ann Leyva Gratz, vice president of human resources for David’s Bridal, a retailer with over 330 locations in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Currently half of David’s Bridal employees are involved in the wellness program, which started in 2010.

“It has been extremely well received and has resulted in about a million dollars in savings in medical claims costs year over year,” says Leyva Gratz, explaining the screenings have led to preventive care, which has lowered the incidence of emergency room visits.

While the wellness program is voluntary, the company offers incentives. David’s Bridal rewards each employee $300 a year for achieving a health goal like losing weight. Employee spouses are also eligible for $300 for meeting a health goal.

“Our goal was to offer substantial savings to our associates as well as to decrease employee turnover, sick days and presenteeism, which is when people come to work sick,” says Leyva Gratz. “We want to send a clear message to current and prospective employees that we care about you and your health.”

Saving more than money

Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) has had a wellness program since 2012. Over 80 percent of their employees participate. COTA’s wellness program provider does a 34-panel blood screening for conditions, such as nicotine, LDL cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides.

“A lot of health factors are choice-driven and if people are aware of these items and change their behaviors, they can potentially overall lower costs on their health insurance,” says Kristen Treadway, COTA’s vice president of human resources and labor relations, explaining employees who meet their yearly health goals get reduced insurance rates. COTA’s insurance rates went down 8 percent, resulting in a nearly $1 million in savings.

“If we can save one life with this program, it’s positive,” says Treadway, noting wellness plans also boost employee morale. “We know we’ve done that.”

COTA has wellness initiatives for employees including an on-site dietitian, yoga classes and Weight Watchers.

Future programs

Employees are getting more familiar with wellness programs and are starting to expect it as part of their compensation. That’s according to a survey report from the Society for Human Resource Management, which found over two-thirds of survey respondents saying wellness initiatives were “somewhat effective” or “very effective” in reducing health care costs.

Furthermore, three-quarters of respondents said the initiatives were “somewhat” or “very effective” in improving employees’ physical health.

Huawei focused on IoT and VR in 2016

Communications giant Huawei has revealed its vision for 2016 at its annual analyst summit (HAS), with a focus on the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, and 5G internet.

The Chinese firm was one of the first to begin 5G tests, working with Japanese wireless carrier NTT Docomo last year on field tests. It expects to see a rollout in the next five years, but in the meantime Huawei plans to upgrade its LTE Advanced service.

See Also: Google is Readying its Own Internet of Things OS

The two other areas hinge on faster internet speeds and more bandwidth, according to Huawei. It claims that LTE Advanced might be enough for artificial and virtual reality, though an IoT system in every home might require much faster Wi-Fi and cellular speeds.

Huawei didn’t announce any individual devices for the IoT market at the summit, but wants to become a provider of entire systems for consumers. This is being attempted by Nest and Apple, through Works with Nest and HomeKit, but without a strong consumer platform like the Nest thermostat or iPhone it might be hard for Huawei to get off the ground.

It already has its own IoT ecosystem, Lite OS, but only a few IoT applications and services utilize the ecosystem. Indian Express points to one app for smart parking, which allocates a parking space for a car before it enters the facility, lowering the amount of time searching for a space.

That’s not exactly the most innovative app in the IoT world, but Huawei seems committed to building its ecosystem and partnering with more developers in the future.

Huawei also working hard on VR

On the virtual reality front, Huawei recently released a VR headset to compete with Samsung’s Gear VR. It works with the P9 and P9 Plus devices, similar to Samsung’s VR, but uses its own ecosystem that offers 4,000 movies and 30 video games for free.

That might be enough in the short-term for customers, but it will need to constantly update its store to keep users interested. That is why Samsung’s partnership with Oculus made sense, so that developers weren’t forced to develop for yet another VR platform.

All in all, the real excitement here is the onset of 5G in the next five years. We’ve heard data speeds reaching up to 800Gbps in UK research labs, though we expect 2-10Gbps when it initially arrives in 2020, enough to hopefully power an IoT home without any hiccups.