Noted employee wellness expert Michael Kelly of Health360 will present a free webcast at 11 am to noon CST, Friday, April 30th.   The webinar is sponsored by the Illinois State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (ISC-SHRM) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL).

HR and employee wellness professionals interested in participating in the free webcast can register by clicking the "registration" link in the left-hand navigation bar.  Free continuing education credit will be given to those who participate.  Kelly will present new information on the effectiveness of employee wellness programs and take written questions after the 45-minute presentation.

Many executives and business owners are gradually realizing that employee wellness programs that help workers lose weight or quit smoking, for instance, also create robust return-on-investments. 

Experts have pointed out that successful employee wellness programs receive an average ROI of $3.48 to 1 due to reduced health care costs and $5.82 to 1 due to reduced absenteeism, making them worth considering.

Kelly, director of Health and Wellness Services, HealthCheck360, recommends companies incorporate health risk assessments into their employee health and wellness programs.

“Health risk assessment can help predict future health care costs beyond mere health claims,” Kelly said. Employee productivity can decrease due to emergent medical needs from chronic illnesses or missed work from longer hospital stays, both of which aren’t reflected in direct medical claims, he said.  Kelly will explore the use of wellness programming to be more proactive to prevent these indirect health care costs.

“The data shows that wellness programs can have an impact on health care costs,” said Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois senior vice president Dieter Freer.  “Our experience at Blue Cross is that wellness programs targeting lifestyle factors that contribute to diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a host of other conditions can have an impact, especially on prescription drug costs.”

ISC-SHRM also runs a workplace wellness website that provides resources to HR executives and business owners--http://wellness.illinoisshrm.org/.  ISC-SHRM worked with BCBSIL to develop the website. 

Additionally, ISC-SHRM recently announced the winners of the first annual WOWIE awards to recognize the best Illinois employee wellness programs.

For more information on ISC-SHRM, visit ISC-SHRM on the web at www.illinoisshrm.org.