In the near future, the federal government may offer help to employers looking to start a wellness program. The help would take the form of tax breaks to offset program costs.

A current U.S. Senate bill would give employers a substantial tax break for starting wellness programs. Dubbed the Healthy Workforce Act, it calls for an employer tax credit of up to $200 per employee enrolled in a newly created wellness program.

For larger firms, there is the $200 credit for the first 200 employees and up to $100 per employee thereafter. To qualify for the full credit, your wellness program would have to feature:

• health risk assessments
• employee education drives (e.g., targeted mailings, online tools)
• behavior change programs (e.g., smoking cessation, weight management, health coaches), and
• “meaningful” participation incentives (e.g., lower co-pays).

Qualified employers would be able to claim the tax credit for up to 10 years after starting a wellness program.

The bill has enjoyed bipartisan support, but like many things in Washington, the parties disagree over how to fund the cost of the tax credit. As a result, it has been bogged down in committee.

If and when the bill is ratified, employers could claim the federal tax credit the following year. In the meantime, whether or not your organization already has a formal wellness program, there are proven ways to make wellness part of the company culture. Best of all, they don’t have to cost an extra cent.

Wellness town meetings

It’s often said that successful wellness programs start at the top
of the organization. Reason: Employees pick up fast on whether management practices what it preaches when it comes to wellness.

If the people in management are smokers, obese or simply reluctant to talk about health issues, it’s a tough sell to get employees engaged in taking control of their health.

That’s the idea behind the wellness town meeting.

Once a week (or once a month), everyone in the company attends a short meeting to discuss their own recent efforts to get healthier.

Managers usually go first, in order to break the ice about discussing some potentially sensitive issues like dieting or quitting smoking. In most organizations, the meetings are arranged to encourage casual, free-flowing conversation.

One key: People speak from where they’re seated, rather than standing up front, with all eyes staring at them.

Some organizations take a more formal approach, which can also work.
For instance, at Old National Bank in Indiana, folks file into an auditorium to face their worst enemy, the scale.

Each week, everyone at the firm – from seasoned managers to the newest hires – comes in to get weighed. The only one who sees the number on the scale is the person getting weighed. Even so, the program has inspired a lot of folks to lose weight. For more on the firm’s program, click here.

Free tests and screenings

While there’s no substitute for having employees undergo comprehensive health risk assessments, it’s also wise to home in on screening for common conditions that aren’t necessarily lifestyle related.

Example: skin cancer. It’s not just sun worshippers who are at risk of the most common (and in its early stages, treatable) form of cancer. Heredity plays a part. So does luck.

Fortunately, employers can get their employees screened for free. Through the American Academy of Dermatology’s National Melanoma and Skin Cancer Screening program, volunteer doctors perform skin cancer screenings at no cost.

Likewise, other medical associations and public health agencies offer free or nominal-cost screenings for a variety of other common conditions.