How Much Should a Small Business in Dallas Fort Worth Texas Spend on an Employee Wellness Plan?

For starters, we suggest that a small business try to look at something we call the employee contribution factor. That is a fancy way of asking how much will each employee produce in terms of revenue, sales production, etc.  From there, an employer can usually determine how much they can afford to spend in overall employee benefits such as group health insurance or a employee wellness.

Our experience is that among anything that a small business could spend cash on to attract and retain employees, an employee wellness plan has one of the greatest possible returns on investment.  Each dollar spent by an employer for employee wellness will return about four dollars in reduced health insurance premiums, lower absenteeism and higher productivity.  And employees save money as well, since they lower their health insurance premiums, and have fewer health care claims and less lost wages due to illess. 

Since in a small business, the health insurance premiums are much higher per employee and the cost and risk to the business of the loss of a key employee is much greater than in a big business, the value of a workplace wellness program is actually much greater for a small businesses.

In spite of this, Employee Wellness Plans   are very new to small businesses in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas.  While there is usually a natural reluctance for a small business to try anything new that costs money, we find that employee wellness plans for small businesses in Texas make great economic sense, and are a great employee relations tool.

The reason that small businesses are still not familiar with employee wellness is that most wellness plans are geared for the needs of big self-funded large employers in the area.  These wellness plans offer a virtual smorgasboard of different employee wellness benefits options that an employer can choose from, and require the kind of administrative support and budget that does not exist in small businesses. 

Many of the employee wellness plans in Dallas Fort Worth are offered by health care providers like hospital networks or upscale fitness centers in the area who want to extend their services to the big employers in the area, and are not geared to the needs of small businesses.

Group Benefits Advisors offers a small business employee wellness program that is very affordable, easy to understand, and simple to administer.  Rather than demanding that a small business choose from a huge menu of wellness benefits, as is the approach taken with big company wellness plans, Group Benefits Advisors’ employee wellness plan focuses solely on programs that solve the three most critical lifestyle-related problems facing Texans today: tobacco cessation, weight loss, and exercise. 

The health issues of obesity, tobacco and lack of exercise cause the majority of preventable diseases.  It is very easy for business owners and employees to accept that employees who don’t use tobacco, are not overweight, and are fit are going to be healthier, and more productive employees than those that don’t. 

Healthy employees also cost a small business less than unhealthy employees.  They have fewer medical claims, they show up for work more often and are more productive at work than unhealthy employees.  Group Benefits Advisors small business employee wellness plan rewards the  employees that choose to live a healthier life, and penalizes employees who choose not to live a healthier life. 

Over time, any small business workforce on Group Benefits Advisors’ wellness plan will get healthier. And over time, employees and the employer won’t get dragged down with higher health insurance premiums, health claims, and lost productivity because those employees who choose not to lower their weight, who continue to use tobacco, or who do not exercise will pay more for their medical benefits or leave the company.  But the peer pressure that builds within the company and the rewards system will cause many “unhealthy” employees to reexamine their lifestyle and take action to improve their health.

When implementing Group Benefits Advisors’ small business wellness plan, we design a group health insurance plan with a deductible increase for employees and dependents. The wellness plan then “rewards” employees who stop smoking, lose weight, and exercise with an additional HRA contribution that covers the increased deductible to employees.  That way those employees who take action to improve their health pay no more than they did before or possibly less, and those employees who do not improve their health pay more or leave the company.  Over a fairly short period of time, the workforce is healthier, and employees and the small business owner saves money.

After explaining this to our prospective clients, in a follow-up meeting we show them how any cost for the Group Benefits Advisors’ small business employee wellness plan is more than covered by the reduction in group health insurance premiums from the higher deductible plan. 

So the monetary and morale benefits derived from a healthier workforce, the lower future health insurance rate increases, and a more productive workforce with lower absenteeism that is derived from Group Benefits Advisors’ employee wellness program in fact costs the employer nothing, requires no additional cash outlay on the part of the business, and which is about as close to a legal “infinite return on investment” as small businesses can achieve.

**********

For more information about Group Benefits Advisors and to request a no-obligation consultation, contact Mike Chapman at (214) 764-6315, or (888) 398-6246