Cost effectiveness of workplace wellness initiatives vary widely because so many different methods for calculating costs are used. This limits comparability and generalization. As a result, wellness and health promotion programs are difficult to produce uniform financial results.

Cost benefit analysis should be only one of many inputs for decision about resource allocations.  Although the picture is incomplete over the past 15 years, all the evidence form increasingly vigorous studies supports rather than refutes the economic benefits of workplace health. Unfortunately, no consensus exists on the best indicators to measure the health of an organization.

The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans conducted a 2006 survey of wellness programs in Canada and US companies. Findings indicated that:

• 87% of respondents did not know the return on investment amount for dollars spent by their organization on wellness promotion.
• Among those that did know, they amount derived in cost savings for every $1.00 spent was $2.01 to $3.50.

According to a study undertaken by Atlantic Blue Cross Care, Aventis Pharma and Atlantic Health & Wellness Institute :

• Overall cost-benefit analysis demonstrated a return of up to $1.64 for every $1.00 spent on improving the health of employees through comprehensive workplace wellness programs
• Participants with 3-5 risk factors offer a return of $2.04; smokers offer a return of $3.35 and blue collar workers offer a return of $3.98 for every $1.00 spent

Watson Wyatt Worldwide recently released the findings of their 2005/2006 Staying@Work survey. The survey found that among the 275 employers rolled :

• 75% have health promotion programs in place but 59% don’t integrate those programs into their overall health care planning.
• 32% of organizations surveyed were planning to integrate their programs within a year.
• Organizations that implement more than 20 best practices aimed at health and productivity have a 45% rate of satisfaction with benefits versus 22% for organizations with fewer than 10 practices.

Canadian organizations do not typically address the underlying factors that contribute to a healthy workplace :

• Only 17% offer onsite wellness programs and facilities. 
• 64% offer some types of wellness initiatives such as smoking cessation, stress and ergonomics. (According to Buffet Taylor's 1999 National Survey, of 422 employers in Canada).

Health Canada is encouraging employers to adopt a more comprehensive approach to creating a healthy workplace. (2006)

• A healthy work organization is defined as one whose culture, climate and practices create an environment that promotes both employee health and safety as well as organizational effectiveness. ( Lim and Murphy, 1999)
• Business decisions-makers are starting to recognize that a healthy organization is a place where employees are satisfied, committed, and healthy and that unhealthy organizations have reduced profits and increased absenteeism. (Lyden and Klengle 2000 study)

While research contains useful insights about what contributes to making organizations healthy, or unhealthy, there is no handy “best practices” that can guarantee results. However, we can draw some firm conclusions :

• There is a need for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach that integrates a focus on work environments with individual health outcomes and organizational performance.
• They include strong management practices and work organization on firm performance and employee well-being.
• Payoffs from a strategic approach to comprehensive workplace wellness may take years to quantify.