Workplace Wellness Programs: Right Or Wrong?

Ryan Storc
AEDECON 3160
10/1/15

Writing Exercise #1

For this first writing exercise, I decided to do research about wellness programs in the workplace. While doing some searching on the online library, I found an article which talks about the positives and negatives of workplace wellness programs. Titled Workplace Wellness Programs: Right or Wrong?, the article points out exactly that. It brings to light the good wellness programs have on both employees and employers and also the bad wellness programs have on each.

In this article, it starts by pointing out all the good that wellness programs have on the workplace. Most employers now are asking their employees to participate in wellness programs. For the employee, it has all sorts of

While most employees are all for workforce wellness programs, there are also employees who are against it. American employers have embraced the workplace wellness programs, going from 75 percent of employers embracing it to 93 percent (Bottles, 34). The one major thing employers are looking to do is to lower their costs. Safeway is one company that has totally embraced a workplace wellness program. The article points out that Safeway has had their wellness program in place since 2005 and it has helped to keep their healthcare costs steady for four years (Bottles, 34). With the cost of healthcare constantly increasing, this is a huge benefit for such a large company. Another positive comes from the community care of North Carolina, where a Medicaid program that firms have claimed has saved the state over $1 billion over three to four years (Bottles, 34). Since they have stated all the positives, then the negatives come in. For example, CVS is being sued by an employee because she refuses to pay $600 more for health insurance because she refuses to be screened,

I personally feel that it is a positive for everyone because most everyone wants to live a healthier life and having an employer who is willing and wanting you to live a healthier life and has a program in place to do so is only a good thing, not a bad thing. But after reading this article, I do see how other people could be against it. Invasion into someone’s private life is something nobody wants to do, and this could do just that. Some people like to have their own eating habits and workout lifestyles, and making and employee pay extra money for healthcare benefits because they do not want to participate in the program seems wrong to me. Employers shouldn’t make their employees feel left out or mistreated because they do not want to