Killer Analytics: Top 20 Metrics Missing from your Balance Sheet

Chapter 20

The Corporate Wellness Index

WHY AN ORGANIZATION MIGHT TRACK THIS

Questions Answered

• How healthy are our employees?
• Does our corporate wellness program really work?
• Are there health and wellness programs that we offer that are a waste of money?
• Do employees care about their health?
• Are we doing things that might encourage employees to be unhealthy?

Why Is This Information Important?

About every 10 years some new business fad emerges that promises to save millions, improve performance, and transform the culture of your company into one focused on excellence. Many will recall previous fads like TQM, Six Sigma, CRM, Lean, knowledge management, reengineering, learning organization, and others. Years later, it’s hard to believe we wasted so much time and money on consultants, meetings, and training programs that failed to produce the kind of sustained results promised by the salespeople.

Is corporate wellness yet another one of these fads? I don’t think so. As a purveyor of many of these business programs over the years, I’ve become a little cynical and jaded when something new comes along that promises anywhere from two to six dollars in return for every dollar invested. However, I think a healthy organization is increasingly important in today’s world of double-digit annual increases in employer health care costs. I also think that programs that encourage employees and partners to become healthier have few bad side effects and many corollary benefits.

I remember doing ...