Employee Health Screening

It is important to measure the effectiveness of all Employee Health and Wellness Programs. There are several very simple ways to measure Employee Health and Wellness Programs:

How many attended the corporate health and Employee Health and Wellness Program, and was there participation or a visible level of interest?

Use a short and simple pen and paper evaluation that people fill out at the end of the Employee Health and Wellness Program /seminar. Statements that are rated on a scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) will give valuable information. Ask about:
•    The value of the Employee Health and Wellness Programs to the individual
•    The style of the presenter
•    The presenter’s knowledge of the topic
•    The level of knowledge gained by the employee
•    Other areas that would be of interest for future Employee Health and Wellness Programs

Examples of Questions about Employee Health and Wellness Programs

•    This program provided me with information and/or skills I will use.
•    The presenter was knowledgeable about the subject matter.
•    There was adequate time for questions.
•    The methods used to present the information were effective.

Open-ended questions about Employee Health and Wellness Programs may include:

•    The best part of this Employee Health and Wellness Program was…
•    The part that needed improvement was….
•    I would attend another Employee Health and Wellness Program by this speaker…
•    Topics I would like to see included in other seminars or Wellness Programs…

This would be a process evaluation that examines how well the Employee Health and Wellness Programs were implemented. It is also important to look at health outcomes and cost outcomes of Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

More in-depth information about the cost-effectiveness of Employee Health and Wellness Programs can be found by analyzing data before and after Employee Health and Wellness Programs concerning healthcare claims, workers’ comp claims, sick time, productivity levels, etc. Health outcomes for Employee Health and Wellness Programs can be measured by looking at health claims and sick time.

It is also important to look at the impact of Employee Health and Wellness Programs on family members. For example, smoking by pregnant mothers may lead to the birth of a severely impaired child. This could cost an employer or health plan hundreds of thousands of dollars, an expense that could have been avoided with well-designed Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

You can also compare the cost per employee of running the Employee Health and Wellness Programs to the savings per employee. One evaluation of Employee Health and Wellness Programs involving 20,000 to 25,000 employees at New York City-based Citibank showed a return of $6.70 for every dollar the company invested in Employee Health and Wellness Programs. The findings were based on a study of medical costs and absenteeism.1

An ongoing evaluation of your Employee Health and Wellness Programs should be performed each year and additional periodic evaluations of Employee Health and Wellness Programs should be conducted on an ad hoc basis. An ad hoc evaluation of your Employee Health and Wellness Programs might be initiated by a variety of triggers. For example, at the end of flu season, a company might want to measure its flu shot program.