Research proves that wellness delivers results, from increased productivity and reduced absenteeism to early detection of costly chronic diseases. But for some employers, the impact on the bottom line seems less tangible and immediate than what other investments produce. That means HR professionals need to make the case to include wellness in the budget.

When you're asked for justification, how can you boost your chance of success? The two keys to ensuring a sustainable wellness program are getting management buy-in and identifying hidden funding sources to help offset expenses.

Top-down support

In the early days of wellness, lifestyle programs were considered a nice perk for employees. But today, implementing wellness is increasingly viewed as sound business strategy. Why? Because the workplace provides a captive audience to implement effective interventions, and wellness has the potential to boost productivity, driving a likely 3:1 return on investment over time. Employers that offer wellness benefits may win the war for talent.

Sure, all this sounds good, but convincing senior management to support wellness programs requires a well-planned approach that includes the following steps:

» Position wellness as a solution to mitigate the health care crisis. With no end in sight to rising health care costs, it's time for employers to get creative. Since 50% to 70% of illnesses can be prevented with healthy behavior change, giving employees the tools to adopt healthier lifestyles makes business sense. Make sure your wellness program can provide short-term and long-term results by planning interventions that produce results at different intervals, so you'll always have some data to report to management.

» Approach a wellness program systematically, rather than piecemeal. Between 30% and 50% of employers offer just one or two components of a wellness program - often only the health risk assessment. While this piece provides a useful baseline, its value is minimized if interventions don't follow. Consequently, the program never gets completely off the ground, interest drops, participation wanes and everyone agrees that wellness failed. A better approach is to follow a best-practice model with proven success, such as the one offered by the Wellness Council of America, which includes a comprehensive blueprint for planning and documenting results.

» Integrate wellness with health benefits. Since higher participation means greater results, employers are increasingly using incentives to drive participation. One popular incentive is the award of premium credits to employees who meet required compliance criteria. Conversely, anyone who doesn't participate and/or comply pays a greater share of their health premiums. This approach supports the shift to individual responsibility by rewarding employees who are actively engaged in their health care.

» Establish a budget with justification, review and measurement built in. Before you plan your budget, take the time to understand your company's vision, financial position, and short- and long-term strategic priorities so you can explain how wellness can advance the company's goals. To demonstrate its value, explain how you'll document ROI and share data frequently. Justify current expenses and future budget growth by showing the companywide impact of wellness in areas like retention, morale and health care cost containment.

» The key is to get as many employees to participate as possible. But this won't happen overnight. Determine realistic participation levels for activities and set increasing goals to sustain involvement as your program matures. Show senior management the costs for projected levels of participation - now and in the future - since the budget ultimately needs to support all employees.

» Build wellness into business unit responsibilities. Senior management can make wellness part of the corporate culture by encouraging leadership to discuss it at departmental meetings and by integrating health promotion with other departments or major company initiatives.

Hidden funding sources

It's true that wellness initiatives require resources, but often not as many as senior management expects. Help avoid resistance to wellness by revealing unexpected sources for partial funding. As your program evolves, continue to look for opportunities to offset internal costs and ensure sustainability. Here are some ways to help you share the fiscal responsibility for your program:

» Fund wellness with premium contributions from noncompliers. While the goal of any wellness program is 100% participation, some employees will inevitably opt out of offerings or fail to meet the predetermined standards. Require these individuals to pay a higher amount of the health care premium for noncompliance and add this money to the wellness budget.

» Consider converting to a consumer-driven health plan to cut premiums by as much as 30%. While employers may choose to use the savings to contribute to their employees' accounts, a portion of the money could be used to fund wellness programs.

» Establish a wellness committee before launching a program to gauge interest in various interventions and what employees would be willing to contribute. Employees may be willing to share the costs of healthy lifestyle programs in exchange for the convenience of having a class onsite, whether before, during or after work hours.

» To help defray costs, ask what's included in your health plan and use these programs to supplement your more comprehensive wellness offerings. Many insurance carriers offer health risk assessments, program discounts, screenings and other wellness activities. Often these products are incorporated in the health care premium and don't require additional cash outlays.

» Participate in clinical studies. Universities and medical centers around the country often run research programs focused on health prevention. Find out how your organization can take part and whether the study fits with your overall wellness goals and expectations.

Brown University in Providence, R.I., is offering up to 24 companies in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut the chance to take part in a two-year study called the WOW Project, which will examine whether offering wellness programs onsite improves employees' health. Participating companies sign an agreement to abide by the rules of the study and receive two years of free wellness programming that includes incentives, program management and evaluation.

Case study

Jay Packaging, a packaging supplier in Warwick, R.I., has successfully integrated wellness into a corporate culture that encourages individual responsibility at every level through a series of companywide initiatives. The firm mentions health and wellness in its corporate vision and value statements, which are showcased throughout the organization.

Jay's wellness program is supported by two safety and wellness committees, one of which is headed by the company president. The firm employs a full-time wellness coordinator, who is responsible for employee communication and education, as well as implementing wellness programming for employees. Quarterly employee meetings always include a review of wellness program results and goals achieved.

Dick Kelly, president of Jay Packaging, says, "We all take responsibility for wellness at Jay, and we seek to continually improve our approach by incorporating employee feedback and experiences into our wellness initiatives."

Wellness program adoption can be slow among employers who fear that the ROI won't be as high or as soon as expected. Research can help your case, but what's more important is a comprehensive plan that anticipates management's concerns, addresses them with timely, relevant information and includes creative ways to augment the wellness budget. As confidence in the program's potential grows, so too will your budget and results.

Amy Gallagher is a senior consultant at Cornerstone Group, a benefits advisory firm in West Warwick, R.I.