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Wellness programs are an investment in both your employees’ well-being and your organization’s bottom line.

To be confident in your wellness program, you need to be able to measure its success.

Lifestyle modification wellness programs, such as Kickin’ Butts, support your company’s bottom line. There is a mountain of available evidence documenting the effects of smoking on health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking harms nearly every organ in the body and is responsible for roughly 1 out of every 5 deaths in the United States. Furthermore, smoking is responsible for roughly 90 percent of all lung cancer diagnoses in the United States and about 80 percent of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The costs of treating the health effects caused by a lifetime of smoking can be astronomical. In 2013, a study conducted by Ohio State University found that employing smokers costs organizations an average of $5,800 per year. In addition, the author of the study told Forbes magazine that based on his research and that of past studies, the cost per smoker can range anywhere from $2,885 to $10,125 per year. Aside from purely medical- and insurance-related costs, that estimate also factors in other costs like lost productivity.

Despite the well-documented negative effects of smoking, many smokers find it impossible to quit by themselves because of the addictive nature of nicotine. A small investment in a workplace wellness program like Kickin’ Butts has the potential to save your company considerable treatment costs for illnesses associated with smokers.

ADVANTAGES OF WELLNESS PROGRAMS:

• Reduced health care costs
• Decreased number of sick days
• Reduction in workers’ compensation and disability claims
• Better overall work atmosphere and health
• Increased productivity

Although previous studies show successful ROIs for other wellness programs, how do you calculate your own organization’s ROI?