Studies show a strong culture of health in the workplace results in a positive impact in business performance.
This fact is one of the reasons the Minnesota-based Health Enrichment Research Organization, with assistance from consulting firm Mercer, created a free, web-based survey known as the HERO Scorecard to help companies learn about the best practices for promoting health and well-being. It was also one of the reasons Nancy McCarrick, a partner at Mercer’s Boston practice, was a presenter at the Worksite Wellness Council of Massachusetts conference held Sept. 19 at Gillette Stadium.
McCarrick’s 30-minute presentation titled, “The HERO Scorecard; Not Just a Benchmarking Tool” attracted an audience of 150 organizational leaders, human resources professionals and health and wellness experts. The presentation focused on a number of factors pertaining to the HERO Scorecard, including what it is and why employers should be interested in using it at their business or organization. McCarrick also discussed different rewards employers can use to incent their staff.
“The HERO Scorecard is a very important tool for capturing employer health and well-being practices and outcomes,” McCarrick says. “It was designed to help organizations learn the best ways to promote workplace health.”
HERO created the scorecard in 2006, and three years later collaborated with Mercer to make it available online. Approximately 550 employers, including some internationally, used the scorecard in 2016. Employers are welcome to fill out the survey on an annual basis to gauge how their results have changed.
Initially designed to provide employers with guidance on employee health and well-being practices, the scorecard has been revised beyond its role as an educational tool to provide employers with strategic planning, benchmarking and research on the health and wellness practices associated with superior program participation rates, health improvement, health care cost trends and productivity outcomes.
Employers are asked more than 75 questions and given a score out of 200 based on the number of health and well-being programs offered, McCarrick says. Data on the HERO website shows less than 2 percent of those that took the survey last year scored more than 160 points. Most common was the 71 to 100 point range with 28 percent.
“It’s not easy to get a perfect score,” McCarrick says. “You really need to have your strategic planning in place as well as many health and well-being programs and have active support from the leadership level.”
Since a majority of employers who take the survey will want to improve their score, McCarrick offered suggestions and tips for companies to get their staff more involved in the wellness process. Financial incentives are often used to get employees to join a wellness program, but this method typically doesn’t have staying power.
“Cash works in getting employees to participate in a program initially but it doesn’t always get them to stay,” she says. “Companies really need engagement from leadership. It’s important for employees to see the company’s leaders actively participating in the program, too.”
Making a charitable donation based on a company’s success is another popular incentive,” McCarrick says. Organizing a friendly competition between employees or departments has also been found to keep people engaged.
Studies created by Mercer and the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine show companies with a “strong culture of health” are also strong in other important business areas, including high productivity and low absentee rate, lower turnover and lower disability costs. McCarrick also notes there is a correlation between companies with superior wellness outperforming the S&P Stock Market Index.
With the health of employees seemingly related to the health of a business, McCarrick has a final suggestion for employers.
“Remain in constant communication with your employees,” she says. “(These wellness programs) aren’t a one-time thing. You need to personalize programs to appeal to your employees.”
