Rethinking the Importance and Value of Employee Wellness

Early spring is benefit decision time for public sector employers. Budgets, plan choices, integrated or non-integrated medical and pharmacy, disease management programs, employee assistance—all topics that need to be decided on behind the scenes before rolling out the final choices to employees for open enrollment. For many employers, there is a vital component missing, which is your wellness goals and supporting programs to achieve them. Wellness planning is often put on the back burner until after open enrollment, or, “voluntold” to an overworked, understaffed department that even with the best intentions, has very little time to organize, implement, nurture and track wellness throughout the year.

Employers will often rely on the medical carrier to share their wellness offerings, such as biometric screenings (at a cost), health assessments, and various other options or promotions. While these can be helpful to some employees, they typically don’t apply to all, messaging is limited, and employers rarely obtain a true assessment of the population’s current state of health and readiness to change.

Valley Schools provides a complete solution to our members during renewal planning and is ready to inspire employees to improve health choices and discuss their wellness program in detail onsite at open enrollment events and benefit fairs. It’s always in the best interest of the employer to capture their employee’s interest several times throughout the year for engagement, and open enrollment is just one more opportunity to show your employees how much they are valued!

While selecting medical and ancillary benefits is primary for employees during open enrollment season, introducing or promoting your Wellness Plan and engaging your staff on the fantastic rewards available through the program, is important as well! Let the skilled team at Valley Schools help your governmental agency rollout a wellness program that can pay dividends in lower claims and healthier employees year after year.

Want to learn more? Click here or contact our Wellness Director Kendall Taylor at ktaylor@vsit.org today to learn how you can create a healthier and happier workforce.