Letter Regarding Wellness Program
Dear valued employees,
During these uncertain times, we cannot stress how important we think it is to help you protect your health. You are all essential members of our team, who represent the company through your hard work and dedication. Please know that your health and wellbeing are of the utmost importance to the company and that we want to take every opportunity to help you protect your health. As such, we would like to announce that, as of January 1, 2021, we will be launching a financial incentive program that provides cash incentives for making health decisions.
What is a financial incentive program?
Financial incentive programs, often referred to as Workplace Wellness Programs, are based on a healthcare risk assessment that helps you to understand what your risk factors and related behaviors are. The United States Congress House Committee on Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee (2012) wrote: “It then incentivizes taking steps that would minimize the risks that your lifestyle and health decisions are making on your overall wellness” (p. 144). Perhaps the most commonly known in intervention is incentivizing weight loss. Most people are aware of the health risks that company obesity, and yet the overall number of employees who are overweight or obese is growing. The Wellness program seeks to address these kinds of factors in the population in positive ways that improve the health of employees’ long term.
The financial incentive programs will incentivize financial incentives, in the form of cash rewards, for those who elect to participate in the opportunities provided. This includes educational materials and sessions, engaging with counseling, taking classes, or engaging in activity programs, like exercise classes, and signing up for and engaging with other health-related alternatives. The primary health behaviors that are, or will be addressed include weight loss and fitness, including regular exercise as well as weight loss, smoking cessation programs, and education related to risk factors, and how they are interrelated (Baicker, Cutler, & Song, 2009).
Why Now
The cost of healthcare is rapidly rising (Baicker, cutler, & Song, 2009). This is at least in part because the level of wellness is reducing over time. People are becoming less healthy. This has been highlighted by the Covid-19 epidemic and the fact that individuals who already suffered from health complications have been disproportionately diagnosed and hospitalized with a virus, which is, in healthy members of the population, thought to be relatively mild. This is evidence that having a healthy lifestyle and promoting wellness is essential to a variety of aspects of personal health.
As a company that is dedicated to all of its employees, there has never been a better time to begin helping employees to think about their health, and how best to protect it. Implementing a financial incentive program, like the workplace wellness program should be carried out now, because the longer the company waits to take action, the more likely it is that their employees will become unhealthy. The company hopes to significantly improve the quality of life and overall lifestyle of all employees through the process of getting healthy.
Additionally, the company can no longer afford to provide top-tier insurance to all employees without asking the workers to cover the cost of processing. By starting and program, the company can not only support you, the employee, in their best possible life but also help to reduce your risk factors and related cost of healthcare for your family. The sooner we begin working toward the goal of better health together, the sooner we will start leading healthier lives and actively having better health outcomes.
Why is it important?
First and foremost, this program and your involvement in the program is important because it benefits your health and wellness. Sometimes it can be hard to prioritize yourself and your health goals, and hard to get and stay motivated to change unhealthy habits. However, we hope that by providing you with financial incentives that we can change that. The financial incentive is going to prove a measurable reward for reaching your personal health goals. While participation is not mandatory, and you would enroll in these opportunities voluntarily, we hope that most of you will see this as an opportunity to better both your health and your family budget, and will take advantage of the program.
It is also essential because it will allow the company to provide the employees with a better level of health insurance and related medical care. As the cost of medical care rises, so does the cost of insurance. The company is facing a decision where it must decide if it can afford to continue to pay for employees insurance, at the same coverage level that it has in the past, or if we will have to start asking employees to pay a share of their premiums or shift to a plan with a higher co-pay.
As a company, we do not want to make these kinds of changes that undermine the level of healthcare you have access to. None the less, we must find ways of minimizing the cost. We believe that cost minimization will enable us to work within our planned budget and avoid stretching already limited resources.
The insurance company encourages the use of wellness programs like the financial incentive program that has been recommended because it provides real savings in care. Early studies suggest that for about every dollar that is invested in a wellness program, $3.27 is saved on future medical expenses, and $2,73 is saved in loss of productivity related to employee illness and absenteeism (Baicker, Cutler & Song, 2010). Thus, providing this wellness program will reduce cost as it relates to our insurance program, and allow us to continue providing you with your current coverage at no additional charge.
What we are going to do
We are very only going to offer a program to you, which you may voluntarily participate in. All those who volunteer to participate will take a health assessment survey, through the company, while on the clock. This will be the basis of what interventions are deemed appropriate for you. All employees will be provided suggested educational courses, and related incentives, based on their assessment.
Educational programs will be completed, via the online-learning system, at your convenience, and in your own home. The system will track your participation and incentive you accordingly. For example, if your target is related to weight loss and increased physical activity, the program might first reward you for online learning with a pedometer, that reports back to the system. You would then be financially incentivized based on whether or not yet you get in your recommended steps each day. The program is fully customizable and designed to help you reach your personal health goals, while also providing the insurance company an overview of the changing, and improving the health of the company’s employees.
Best,
_____________________
CEO
Self-Reflection
Before this assignment, I was very enthusiastic about how to write standard formal letters with all components included and particularly the use of statistical figures to affirm my arguments. The practice that worked against me was the use of other people’s information without giving appropriate recognition for the sources where I obtained my information. Although I knew that I have to acknowledge the sources, the problem was on how to cite properly using quotations. The practice that worked for me was the arrangement of work into paragraphs, each with specific information that i intended to pass to my readers. This worked because my sentences were readable, and the message became clear. Importantly, I conceive writing as to require constant practice, reading other people’s works to see their arrangement of information, citation, and transitioning from one sentence to another. I will ensure that whenever I use other people’s works, then I cite properly.
Reference
Baicker, K., Cutler, D., & Song, Z. (2010). Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Health Affairs, 29(2), 304-311.
United States Congress House Committee on Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee (2012). Hearing on National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 and Oversight of Previously Authorized Programs Before the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office.