- Introduction
- Managing well-being
- Workplace safety
- Promoting health & well-being
- Work/life balance
- Prevention pays off for employees and IBM
A key component of IBM's investment in employee health is prevention. To encourage employees to maintain healthy lifestyles, IBM provides incentives for doing so. Investing in prevention and well-being makes sense for our employees and our business. Why? Healthy employees tend to experience better quality of life in their personal lives as well as in the workplace. And those who discover health problems early tend to get well faster and spend less on medical care. That's why IBM has increased its investment in preventive care and wellness, even as healthcare costs continue to rise.
IBM was among the first companies to offer "healthy living" incentives to employees in the U.S. and to use technology to deliver and support the program. Now in its second year, IBM's rebate for physical activity has had high levels of participation even as it helps reduce health risks.
For example, more than 100,000 employees enrolled in the physical activity rebate program for 2005. Between January and October, almost 60,000 of them had taken part in the program, recorded their results online, and been awarded their rebates. These results represent 10,000 more employees than during the same period last year.
IBM is tracking impressive results on their smoke-free rebate. Of the IBMers in the U.S. enrolled in a smoking cessation program, nearly one quarter quit smoking in the first year with 80 percent of those remaining smoke-free by year two. These results are much higher than other programs of its type.
IBM Offers Enhanced Preventive Services Health Benefit
To encourage preventive medical care, in 2006, most IBM medical options cover routine preventive services received in-network at 100%, and deductible-free for out-of-network care. This means members will not need to meet an annual deductible or pay coinsurance when they receive these services from a network provider; the plan will pay 100% of the discounted or negotiated rate. Services covered at 100% in-network include commonly accepted preventive medical tests and screenings, such as those recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, as well as routine physical examinations and wellness checkups. Further, IBM continues to provide deductible-free coverage for routine office visits under all of the self-insured medical options. In 2007, impact metrics will include identifying the percent of our employees receiving recommended clinical preventive services and the cost of unnecessary clinical services.
Examples from Europe
The European Health Promotion initiative Faktor Fit/Focus on Fitness was launched by the German and UK Well-being Teams and then extended to 16 more countries. The objective was to raise employees' awareness and incentive to engage in physical activity as well as healthy lifestyles. Rewarding healthy lifestyles, not just physical activity, was a new feature in an IBM health promotion initiative in Europe.
Participants set their own goals and collect points as they make progress towards them in both categories. Every physical activity is given a basic score, depending on caloric consumption and other effects connected with it. Various healthy lifestyle choices, e.g., stress management, cessation of smoking and targeted weight loss, are also allocated a score. To enhance motivation, users who surpass a target score are entered into a lottery with attractive prizes, all associated with well-being or physical activity, e.g., wellness weekends or memberships in fitness clubs. In some cases, small incentives for signing up, e.g., pedometers or T-shirts, were included.
At the heart of the program is a tool which allows users to set their goals by selecting the physical activities and healthy lifestyles they want to follow on a regular basis. Assistance is provided through a number of Web sites supplying detailed information on all possible goals, accessible directly from the application. Activity is logged on a separate sheet, and additional reminders can be sent to the users.
Participating countries got a tailor-made version adapted to their individual focal areas. So, for example, information about state programs can be included, local languages can be used, and the target score, the duration of the initiative or the included sports can be customized.
In other countries where IBM has a sizable number of employees, similar programs are being designed to encourage healthy behaviors, with attention to local health issues and culture.