The corporate mission of Steelcase Inc., the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of office furniture, Grand Rapids, Michigan, is: “To help people work more effectively – no matter when, where or how they work. ” This holistic vision is shared internally by the Steelcase Wellness Program.
Program Description
Narrative Description of Program
The corporate mission of Steelcase Inc., the world's leading designer and manufacturer of office furniture, Grand Rapids, Michigan, is: "To help people work more effectively - no matter when, where or how they work. " This holistic vision is shared internally by the Steelcase Wellness Program.
Steelcase believes that by providing the finest wellness education and service -- focusing on disease/injury prevention, early detection and rehabilitation -- employees, families and retirees are more likely to make healthier lifestyle choices. Steelcase Wellness targets services, specifically to moderate or high risk individuals, identified through health risk appraisals and other screenings.
The program utilizes various interventions to improve the health of individuals (through risk reduction) who, with their risk factor profile, form the basis of the Steelcase Wellness Research Project. The program also measures each individual's behavioral changes. This Project has shown that as the population reduces risk factors, medical care costs for Steelcase decline.
Steelcase Wellness staff includes: an exercise physiologist, a program coordinator, a registered dietitian, an athletic trainer, two physical therapists, two occupational therapists and two fitness specialists. The fully equipped Steelcase Wellness Center provides various classes and child care.
The Wellness Program is funded through membership revenue and company subsidy.
Contact Summary
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Program Name | Steelcase Wellness Program |
| Company Name and Address | Steelcase, Inc.P.O. Box 1967 CS-1S-12
Grand Rapids, MI 49501 |
| Contact Person | Pamela E. WittingManager, Wellness & Disability Services
(616) 246-4005 |
| Program Information | |
| Program Category | Worksite |
| Year begun | 1985 |
| Total number of individual participants | 6,750 |
| Number of currently actively enrolled | 3,000+ (75% of total population) |
| Number of companies/groups involved | 1 |
| Access to Program | Marketed broadly, replicated |
| Cost per participant per year | $51.85 |
| Estimated cost savings per participants | $245 (net = $158) |
| Data available to external reviewers or investigators | Yes |
| Program targeted at Healthy People 2000 goals |
Yes |
| Program goals (in priority order) | (1) Risk factor reduction(2) Health outcome improvement
(3) Cost-effectiveness (4) Cost-benefit |
Evaluation Summary
Narrative Description of Evaluation Results
The strategic plan for wellness, adopted by Steelcase in early 1983, recommended a 10-year study of the results of the program. Risk reduction and health improvements were to be the direct outcome measures. Absenteeism and health care costs were also tracked and evaluated. An integrated Wellness Management System was established to track the data, determine risk-cost relationships, track change in-cost related to change-in-risk, and calculate an Employee Medical Cost Index. Health risk data, including clinical screening and high risk follow-up, are collected every three years. Personnel, medical plan selection, and absenteeism data are provided by Steelcase; health care utilization and costs are obtained from the indemnity carrier and program participation data are provided by the Wellness and Disability Department at Steelcase.
The results of phase one (1985- 1987) and phase two (1988 - 1991) established the high-risk, high-cost relationship for 14 risk factors (AHP, 1991), established the high-risk, high-absenteeism relationship (JOM, 1992), and described the high-cost employees (JOM, 1994). The results of this study, as described in the January 1994 press release answers positively the most important question facing the wellness (health promotion) movement, "Will cost reduction follow risk reduction?"
Evaluation Documentation
Critique
The following assessment of program strengths and weaknesses has been abstracted from reviews by the Task Force on Program Selection of The Health Project. Where weaknesses are postulated, it must be taken into account that the review Task Force is very critical, that no programs are perfect, that the Award Winning programs have been selected from over 300 candidate programs and represent the very best, that the materials reviewed may have been incomplete, that suggested deficiencies may have resulted from incomplete understanding of the program by the reviewers or that any problems may have been corrected since the time of review.
The Steelcase Wellness Program, Well, Well, Well! believes that education and services for disease/injury prevention, early detection and rehabilitation helps families and retirees make healthier lifestyle choices, especially those at high risk. Their plan, adopted in 1983, tracks risk-cost relationships with claims of high risk workers going from $1,155 in 1985-87 to $537 in 1988-90. Projected savings from the program over ten years are roughly $20 million for nearly 9,000 employees and families.
Good relationship with an academic research organization. The University of Michigan evaluation is ongoing. The study presents the best new cost-savings data of the year. There is a thorough commitment to good quality study and excellent quasi-experimental designs. There are multiple peer-reviewed publications. This strong research evaluation contribution even made it to House and Senate deliberations. There is an important longitudinal study designed differentiating higher risk and lower risk employees and costs. The cost per participant is low. The evaluation program which tracks medical care costs and absenteeism for ten years is highly commendable. The program reaches 75 percent of the employee population. This program represents a gold standard for corporate programs.
There is an absence of primary prevention strategies. Self-selection may be built into some of the models. Medical self-care programs appear under-emphasized. The specifics of the programs utilized by Steelcase are imperfectly described. There is no data on non-participants.