Why wellness? It pays to help employees get fit and stay healthy.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Indiana employers, workforce wellness priority

From Dump Your Plump at NiSource Inc. to maternity management at First Indiana Bank and onsite massages at BP Products North American Inc., Indiana employers are making workforce wellness a top priority with company-sponsored programs. And it pays, they report-in better attendance, improved productivity, lower health-care costs and healthier, happier workers.

"We typically lose about a ton of weight every year," Mel Stasinski, NiSource's manager of benefits administration, says of the annual January program at its NIPSCO subsidiary. It's not done without fun. Employees participate on teams, and there's some competition among them. "And we give a prize for the best team name.'

"A little break from work and stress" is the idea behind the employee-paid, 20-minute massages offered at the BP refinery, says Pat Mistek, co-chair of the Whiting facility's wellness committee.

And First Indiana's focus on maternal health is just one of many programs at the Indianapolis' bank, says Linda Nordholt, human-resources assistant. "About 76 percent of our associates participate in wellness screenings, with technicians coming monthly to the bank." The employees' reward? A $ 10-a-month discount on medical premiums.

"Participation in wellness has boomed," Nordholt says. "We've been really excited about it."

These and other programs are a growing-and imperative-trend in the state, says John Davies, executive director of the Wellness Council of Indiana. "In today's global marketplace, companies must be competitive. One of the highest costs facing employers today is health care. They've cut benefits. They've increased premiums. They've tried everything," he says. "What's left is worksite wellness. And that includes helping people become responsible for poor lifestyle behaviors that lead to expensive health care and creating expectations in the workplace that healthy behaviors are desired."

Bottom-line results are the primary motivation behind screenings, weight management, massages and financial incentives-all examples of how Indiana employers are bringing comprehensive health programs to the workplace. Many Indiana companies are doing it with the help of experts, from the Wellness Council of Indiana, which provides information and resources, to wellness program providers, who offer everything from onsite employee health screenings to educational programs.

It's all about controlling the demand for health-care services by their employees, say the wellness...