Employees aren’t healthy: 5 things you can do before it gets worse

Your employees aren’t healthy — and it’s likely costing your organization more than you’d like.

Despite your best efforts to help employees improve their physical and mental well-being, they aren’t heeding the advice or tapping the resources.

Here’s the ugly truth: Nearly 15% are diabetic. Thirty-eight percent are obese, up 6% from 2019. Eating habits have worsened, and exercise habits haven’t improved. That’s all according to Gallup research.

On the mental wellness side of things, it’s a mixed bag. Not surprisingly, mental health symptoms spiked in the COVID-19 years. Then there was a 20% drop last year, according to Mind Share Partners findings. But people rate their general mental well-being lower today than in 2019, saying finances and stress have the biggest negative impact on them.

Problems when employees aren’t healthy

When employees aren’t healthy, businesses hurt. This isn’t just about a few sick days and getting behind on a project or two. Healthcare costs rise for everyone — employer and employee — when people aren’t healthy.

More importantly, “healthy employees are engaged, effective employees,” says Ronald Seifert, Korn Ferry’s leader of the North America Workforce Reward and Benefits practice. “Productivity and cost are handcuffed together.”

But you can help employees get better this year — better physically and mentally. The key is knowing the trends that will shape health care. And then adapting your well-being benefits to fit.

Here are five focal points.

1. Motivate change

You just can’t separate health and wealth.

And that’s why you might want to use money incentives help employees transform unhealthy behaviors into healthier ones.

“You want to incentivize employees to care for themselves and know their numbers,” says Seifert. “They’ll be most driven to do things that put money back in their pockets.”

By numbers, he means the physical health ones that set the baseline and matter most — cholesterol, blood pressure, weight and more.

In practice: Try cash incentives, such as lowering the cost of health insurance premiums for employees who complete annual wellness exams. You might encourage physical activity in soft ways, such as offering low-cost gym memberships or hosting groups that are training for events like local charity walks.

2. Move toward nontraditional care

Cigna Health’s 2024 Top Health Care Trends Report found that the healthcare landscape is changing drastically. For instance, a third of Americans don’t have a primary care physician and 80% of physicians are overextended. In many areas, there aren’t enough medical resources to help the people there.

That’s why many healthcare systems are moving toward nontraditional care models that include more digital tools, virtual care and virtual health monitoring. Then, patients can use these for minor conditions, and be seen in-person for chronic and specialty conditions. That also allows healthcare providers to focus on higher-risk patients and conditions.

In practice: Encourage employees through communication and your health benefits to take a hybrid approach to their care. Build up use of mobile notifications to proactively address their health. Add digital tools that support healthy lifestyle changes and improve medication adherence and online health coaching. Provide more patient navigation and services that connect employees with guides – who specialize in finding healthcare providers who best meet their needs and can schedule in-person appointments and answer questions about preventive services, health improvement programs and financial rewards for healthy living.

3. Push through SDOHs

Many things beyond the employer’s health benefit offerings can get in the way of employees’ health. In fact, the physical, environmental, and social and economic factors – aka Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) – usually have a more negative impact on health outcomes than employers.

Naturally, these will vary by industry, location and demographics of your workforce. And the Cigna report suggests employers review their company demographics to find out the benefits employees use — and need — based on gender identity, age, race/ethnicity, job role and geography. The hope is, with that, you can personalize benefits so employees can do more to keep themselves healthy based on who they are.

In practice: You might add more virtual care, digital care, onsite health clinics and home delivery pharmacies to give employees what they need, when and where they need it.

4. Target behavioral health care

The Cigna report said 22% of people have a diagnosed behavioral condition, and that accounts for 41% of healthcare spend. How can that be? Probably because as many as 50% of adults with a diagnosed behavioral health condition don’t get treatment. And that drives up costs — in both their physical and mental health care — in the long run.

One of the big issues contributing to this disparity is that employees often aren’t fully aware of the available behavioral health treatment and support in their organizations. Others don’t want to be bothered with the limited access, long wait times and social stigmas that sometimes come with mental well-being issues.

In practice: Again, digital and virtual tools can help employees access behavioral health care. And the researchers also recommend that employers help people connect with providers who have a particular specialty, language, or ethnicity, ensuring people get the help they need in a way that is most impactful for them.  Beyond that, they suggest a more holistic approach to health care so physical and mental well-being is addressed in one healthcare setting.

5. Target vitality

“Our research shows that nationwide, vitality — or the ability to pursue life with health, strength and energy — is plateauing,” says Heather Dlugolenksi, senior VP, U.S. commercial strategy officer at Cigna Healthcare. “Higher vitality is linked to a more motivated, connected, and productive workforce. Yet many employed adults are operating with low levels of vitality, jeopardizing their ability to engage and contribute and increasing the likelihood of poor work quality, employee absenteeism, and turnover.”

To target vitality, many organizations are moving toward value-based care. In it, employers and employees are incentivized to coordinate preventative care to achieve quality outcomes and cost efficiency. Of course, it comes in many shapes and sizes.

In practice: It might start with a designated insurance guru/liaison for employees who can answer healthcare benefits questions at any time. Just knowing what’s covered and what’s possible is the first step in employees taking better care of themselves. From there, you might go full throttle into a care coordinator for employees.