I was recently involved in a LinkedIn discussion about strategies employers have put in place to offset the rising costs of healthcare in the workplace.

The discussion mainly focussed on incentives, budget allocations, streamlining vendors, population health management, cost shifting, health data analytics and healthcare consumerism…you get the picture?!

The dialogue progressed to reveal that notwithstanding all these initiatives and accumulated data, companies are still looking for the ‘next frontier’ to manage employee health, noting a lack of engagement from employees.

Now this may be a simplistic view, but I believe that employers will get the most out of employees if they view them as ‘people’ rather than a cost burden to manage.

Surely, data, measurements and processes must serve, among other important outcomes, to help understand individuals’ needs and in the process, assist them in becoming more autonomous. Who doesn’t want to feel great?! Do we really need an incentive to aspire to this end?

‘It’s not unusual for companies to think about employee health narrowly. Exercise is exercise- but employees’ wellness needs vary tremendously. One of the aspects of wellbeing that is often overlooked is musculo- skeletal health (most employers only paying attention to injuries once the condition is chronic- hence it becomes a statistic to manage).

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