Walker Tracker Blog

Corporate HR Administrators often ask us about the Return on Investment (ROI) on walking programs. Here are a few great links that we send them. Calculating ROI can be challenging, since you’re measuring program participation and costs, absenteeism, improved productivity, fewer insurance claims, stress reduction and a variety of other factors, including many non-quantitative benefits to a walking program (less gas consumed!). We are happy to work with you to determine the ROI on your program over time.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has some great data:

Reducing the Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke

http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/library/toolkit/pdfs/sixstepguide.pdf

“worksite health programs focused on lifestyle behavior change have been shown to yield a $3 to $6 return on investment (ROI) for each dollar invested.”

CDC’s Leanworks ROI page: http://www.cdc.gov/leanworks/why/roi.html

“It is estimated that employers spend $13 billion annually on the total cost of obesity. Approximately 9.1% of all health care costs in the United States are related to obesity and overweight. Workplace obesity prevention and control programs can be an effective way for employers to reduce obesity. They can produce a direct financial return on investment (ROI) by lowering health care costs, lowering absenteeism, and increasing employee productivity.”

They also have an obesity cost calculator which is an excellent tool for determining how much obesity might be costing your company.

WalkBC is a fantastic website put together by Heart & Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon and the BC Recreation & Parks Association.
Business Case for Workplace Walking Programs
http://walkbc.ca/business-case-workplace-walking-programs

“Return on investment – Canada Life in Toronto showed a return of $6.85 for every $1 invested in its Workplace Wellness program; while the Canadian government realized $1.95-$3.75 per employee per $1 spent.”

Benefits of Physical Activity in the Workplace

http://walkbc.ca/benefits-physical-activity-workplace

Here’s a new feature for our corporate walking programs.

Facebook integration!

We’ve had this for a while in our community program and now custom walking programs for corporations, cities and educational institutions can take advantage of it. After a walker has posted his/her steps, a box will show up asking if they would like to post their steps to Facebook. The step blog entry will be posted right into their Facebook newsfeed.

We know that there are some of you who shudder at the thought of your employees posting their steps to Facebook. That’s why there are two controls on this.

Turn it on in your administrative panel under ‘Features’. It defaults to off. After that, each walker will have the option to turn it on/off in their own settings.

Get a second chance to edit your post before posting it into your Facebook feed

“As a result of many successful programs at businesses across the country, workers have become more engaged in their own health care, productivity is increasing, absenteeism is dropping, and employers are passing some of their health care savings to their workers,” the White House said in a fact sheet.

“Employers are discovering that improving quality of care can reduce health care costs. Small actions in the workplace can generate large benefits.”

Read the full article

We couldn’t agree more! We know some people who have a fantastic walking program program for corporate wellness.