Health and Productivity Efforts Enjoying Employer Boosts

September 14, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Fewer than 5% of employers polled planned a reduction or elimination of their health and productivity programs.

That was the bottom line of a poll by the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) conducted with Harris Interactive which found that for 18 of the 26 programs surveyed, only 1% or fewer said they had reduction or elimination plans. The poll covered more than 400 employers.

In fact, existing employer health and productivity programs are more likely to see increased support including participation incentives, nutritious meals/snacks, chronic disease management, weight management, nutrition education, fitness programs, value-based benefits, health risk assessments, stress reduction education, and more

“For health care reform to be successful we must focus on improving health and the importance of a healthy workforce or we will have a recipe for disaster that will cost the system more money than we can afford,” said Thomas Parry, president of IBI, in the announcement. “Employers understand this and are continuing, overall, to offer and improve their health and productivity management programs as is evidenced by our latest research.”

The San Francisco-based IBI said full poll results will be available later in 2009. More information is available at ibiweb.org .

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