Well-designed long term wellness programs have a dramatic positive impact on the health of employees. They have been shown to improve frequency and duration of exercise, consumption of fruits and vegetables and smoking cessation over a 2 year period^[1]. A randomized clinical trial designed to help people improve their nutrition and physical activity noted a reduction in health risk factors such as elevated blood glucose, high blood cholesterol, and high blood pressure in as little as six weeks^[2].

^{[1]https://www.wellsteps.com/images/stories/manuscripts/WC_two_year_results.pdf}

^{[2]https://www.wellsteps.com/images/stories/manuscripts/BSD%20biometric%20article.pdf}

Comprehensive worksite wellness programs that improve employee behaviors will see a bending of the healthcare cost trend. Most often they will discover that the savings from program participation will be greater than the actual cost of the program. Researchers from Harvard University demonstrated that medical costs fall about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs, and absentee costs fall by about $2.37 for every dollar spent^[1]. The ability of a wellness program to reduce healthcare costs depends on the nature of the wellness program, with comprehensive long-term programs providing a higher return on investment.

^{[1]https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626}

There are a lot of reasons why employees have low productivity. One of the main causes of presenteeism is poor health.Smokers are 28% more likely to have high presenteeism than non-smokers. Employees with an unhealthy diet are 66% more likely to have high presenteeism than those who regularly eat whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Employees who don’t exercise very much were 50% more likely to have high presenteeism than employees who were regular exercisers. These findings demonstrate that poor health behaviors are strongly associated with high levels of presenteeism^[1]. In short, unhealthy individual lifestyle choices may result in substantially higher levels of lost productive work time.Wellness programs that focus on helping employees have good health behaviors will have an impact on productivity.

^{[1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22856386}

Worksites with comprehensive wellness programs can experience reduced absenteeism for a variety of reasons; employees with good health behaviors, less stress and lower health risk indicators have lower absenteeism. Employees who have high morale are also significantly less likely to be absent from work. As previously highlighted there are also cost savings related to wellness programs and absenteeism, absentee costs fall by about $2.37 for every dollar spent on wellness programs.

Wellness programs have a strong impact on retention. Rich benefits also have a powerful influence on retention, but a good wellness program goes a long way in keeping employees loyal.Human resources are the most important asset in every organization. When employers offer wellness programs to their employees they make it evident that they care about them and show them that they want to do everything they can to keep them in good health and optimal performance. Employees know when they are appreciated and valued as important parts of the organization. That knowledge is paramount in convincing employees to stick around.