Written by Sarah Szul

By Sarah Szul, Health Solutions Manager at Kapnick Insurance Group

At first thought, "work" and "workouts" may seem like entirely separate spheres of life. However, thanks to employers who recognize the importance of wellness and physical fitness in their staff members, it's not uncommon to find office buildings with fitness centers and employee fitness classes.

Features: You can participate in workplace yoga through formal classes, informal sessions or just by doing exercises at your desk every day. Dozens of yoga studios across the nation contract with companies and corporations to offer regular classes at lunchtime or before and after normal work hours. In such a class, an instructor will come to your company and lead instruction for a period that typically ranges from 30 minutes to an hour. If your workplace has a yoga instructor on staff or an employee with sufficient yoga experience, that person may wish to lead informal classes on site with the company's blessing.

According to a newly published report, 86% of employees don’t participate in wellness initiatives because they just don’t have the time. The report published this past week by the corporate health initiative Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), is based on a survey of 378 organizations across all continents and a broad spectrum of industries including government, banking, accounting, manufacturing, mining and others.

Being Flexible
When one considers all of the changes affecting workplace wellness programs today, it makes sense that the best program will be a flexible one. They will need to be built to allow for modifications so you can continue to engage employees over the long run.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 will, as of January 1, 2014, expand employers' ability to reward employees who meet health goals by participating in wellness programs--and, in effect, to require employees who don't meet these goals to pay more for their employer-sponsored health coverage. Some consumer advocates argue that this ability to differentiate in health coverage costs among employees is unfair and will amount to employers' policing workers' health.Under health care reform, the potential incentive for employer wellness programs increases to 30 percent of the premium for employee participation in the program or meeting certain health standards. Employers must offer an alternative standard for those employees whom it is unreasonably difficult or inadvisable to meet the standard. Following a governmental study on wellness programs, the incentive may be increased to as much as 50 percent.

This Workplace Wellness issue provides an overview of potential legal issues related to employer-sponsored wellness plans. The list of issues presented in this article is not exclusive. Wellness programs must be carefully structured to comply with both state and federal laws. To avoid noncompliance, employers should have their legal counsel review their wellness programs before they are rolled out to employees.

Trends in nearly every aspect of life are changing the way wellness programs can engage your employees and bring greater value to your organization.

Do you want to implement a fun, team-building, fitness-promoting wellness event for your employees and co-workers?