Wellness Dollars for Your Employees: What They Are and How to Use Them
One of the best ways to show your employees you care is to invest in wellness programs. And that investment is especially easy if you know about a benefit called Wellness Dollars. Simply put, Wellness Dollars are funds that an insurance provider sets aside for your company to use specifically for qualifying wellness programs for your employees.
By offering more options for workers to improve their health, your company can have employees that are not only healthier and happier, but also as a result, submit fewer insurance claims.
What Are Wellness Dollars?
Wellness Dollars are sometimes considered a hidden benefit, as your company may be unaware that you have these funds available from your insurance provider. But they’re worth uncovering, as they provide many rewards.
The ultimate goal of Wellness Dollars is to help improve the overall health and wellbeing of your employees. The main reason for insurers to offer them is simple: the healthier your employees are, the less insurers must pay in claims for your policy. So both sides (and of course your employees!) benefit.
In addition, offering free wellness programs to your employees can also be a sought-after company perk that can help with your employee recruitment and retention.
Check Your Eligibility for Wellness Dollars
To see if you are eligible for Wellness Dollars, contact your insurance provider representative and ask if Wellness Dollars are included in your plan. If they are, ask what types of health programs qualify for the Wellness Dollars.
If Wellness Dollars are not included in your plan, consider negotiating them into your contract for the next plan year.
How Many Wellness Dollars Can Your Company Get?
The amount of Wellness Dollars you are eligible for is up to your insurance carrier. The amount usually depends on your company size, number of employees, profitability, and employee health. The terms should also be laid out in your contract with the carrier.
You can choose to spend your company’s Wellness Dollars in a number of ways. To maximize how you spend your Wellness Dollars, first consider what options would make sense for your organization and employees.
Try sending out employee surveys to gauge interest in what types of wellness programs they would participate in and offer plenty of diverse options. Also, you can analyze the types of insurance claims processed at your company and based on that data, choose wellness programs that may help address the most prevalent health needs of your workforce.
Spending Your Wellness Dollars
After you’ve gathered all the information on your available Wellness Dollars, the important part begins–spending the funds (wisely!). A good wellness program should address an employee’s health holistically on multiple levels, including physical and mental health. And think about options for mindfulness and stress management and easy tools to help employees develop healthy daily habits for the big three: nutrition, physical activity, and sleep.
Wellness Dollars can be put to work in so many ways, including perks such as gym memberships, massages, and acupuncture.
Another option is to offer your employees new Fitbit devices and Fitbit Premium* memberships, which provide layers of engaging wellness guidance, including:
- Stress management and mindfulness with Fitbit’s guided breathing sessions and meditation.
- Personalized workouts, such as Run Training, a three-week program that helps runners pick up the pace and includes a structured workout plan and daily tips and tricks to make the runner’s high an achievable reality.
- Better sleep with advanced sleep features.
And much more!
What to Do with Unused Wellness Dollars
Finally, Wellness Dollars do expire, so make sure you use them up on time. If you have Wellness Dollars to use but don’t want to implement a new program right away, consider pre-paying for your new wellness program to start in the new benefit year.
Contact us today to see if you can get preferred pricing on Fitbit devices through your health plan.
*Premium content and features may change.
