The Bottom Line

Onsite Biometric Screenings with a Positive ROI

Why should we offer bio-screenings on site?  What does this do for our employees?  How do we get the employees to participate? What screenings should we offer?  How do we choose a screening vendor?  How does it help our company?  How will we see a return on this investment?  These are questions I so often hear when talking to human resources professionals…  and that last question I hear a lot from CEO’s and CFO’s.  So let’s just take them one at a time, shall we?

1. Why should we offer our employees an opportunity to be screened at our workplace?

Well besides the warm fuzzy stuff like showing your team that their health is important to you, there are some concrete reasons as well; and it is important to point these out in order to get people to participate.  Research shows that the majority of people don’t know their numbers, (numbers such as cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, etc) and those that don’t know their numbers are less likely to be proactive about their health.  This is one reason why many people end up treating diseases and disorders after the fact instead of implementing life strategies to stay healthy or catching a potential problem before it becomes life threatening or costly… and the warm fuzzy stuff goes a long way too!

2. What does this do for our employees?

Providing an opportunity to have health screenings at the workplace breaks down the barriers (hours away from work, cost of tests, multiple doctors for different tests, follow-up, etc) to getting the tests done and jumpstarts the path to taking action.

3. How do we get our employees to participate?

Promote Promote Promote!  Begin by having your CEO or most influential person in your company communicate about it first – either in an email, an all company voicemail, or at a meeting.  Emphasize the importance and that the reason you are providing the screenings is because you care about their health and well-being and saving them money on their healthcare expenditures now and down the road.  Hang posters, send emails and get your ‘wellness ambassadors’ to talk it up, include wellness providers and advisors at your event, give away prizes and incentives for participation.

4. What screenings should we offer?

The screenings that you offer are actually less important than how you use the information.  Most of the time, companies are looking for health risks.  Then they single out the people with health risks and nag them to be less of a risk.  This will get some people to change out of fear, but you will have better luck shifting your culture to one of well-being if you focus on maximizing human potential as opposed to looking solely at the risks.  When you focus on human potential and provide the proper support, the health risks will mostly take care of themselves.  So while you will probably want to include blood tests for cholesterol and glucose and blood pressure screenings, or early detection cancer screenings, don’t forget to focus the majority of your testing on well-being measures such as fitness, proper nutrition, spinal health, stress and nervous system function.  And then use your test results to maximize human performance!

5. How do we choose a screening vendor?

Be sure to choose a screening vendor that has the same vision and purpose for the screenings as you do.  This means that you need to have a clear understanding of why you are doing the tests and a defined path of how you will use the results.  Is it important to you that your workers receive their results immediately?  Is it important to you that your workers have instant access to resources and health coaches to help them act on their results?  Do want a vendor that can help you understand the results and develop your wellness program? Whether you want help structuring your program or not, you will definitely want to receive an aggregate report of the information in order to tailor make your wellness initiative around your company’s unique results.  Otherwise, why measure?  Decide what is important for you to get out of the screenings, and tailor your questions to help you find the best fit.

6. How does this help our company?

The most immediate way that providing on-site bio-screenings helps your company is that your employees now know their numbers and you know where your company stands.  Now you are armed with important information that will help you define your organization’s path to well-being.  You can invest your hard-earned dollars with laser-like focus that will give you the best return on your investment by providing workshops and coaching around the interests and issues that your employees and your company find most important.

7. How will we see a return on this investment?

The only way your company will realize a return on this investment is if you use the information now that you have it!  Create a wellness initiative that not only focuses on managing sickness, but more importantly on maximizing wellness.  Healthy, happy employees are more productive, take fewer sick days, have lower health care costs, and perform at higher levels.  Creating a healthier workplace takes time and vigilance, but there is not longer any debate over whether or not investing in wellness will save your company money.

Commit to wellness and boost your bottom line.  Dabble in wellness and take your chances.  You decide.