Applied Materials is the world’s leading semiconductor equipment company with 14,000 employees in more than 80 locations around the world. Most employees are young, highly educated, professional workers. Favorable demographics, aggressive workers compensation case management, and migration of 75% of the eligible population to managed care have helped keep Applied’s total health care costs below norms.
Program Description
Applied Materials is the world’s leading semiconductor equipment company with 14,000 employees in more than 80 locations around the world. Most employees are young, highly educated, professional workers. Favorable demographics, aggressive workers compensation case management, and migration of 75% of the eligible population to managed care have helped keep Applied’s total health care costs below norms.
The Applied Wellness program was started in 1988 to enhance worker performance and productivity. The program’s mission is to improve employee and company health, well-being, and productivity to support Applied Materials’ profit and competitive advantage. The strategy is to provide the tools necessary for participants to develop their own personal wellness program. The wide array of programs offered are directed at either heightening awareness of basic health practices, facilitating behavior change and supporting a healthy culture, or are programs driven by specific business needs.
Core programs include:
Health Appraisals: On-site screenings for vision, cholesterol, body composition, blood pressure and glucose, Health Risk Assessments
Nutrition and Weight Control: Educational classes, weight control program subsidy, daily café healthy food options
Physical Activity and Fitness: On-site fitness centers, fitness testing, exercise prescription, group activity classes, outdoor sport facilities, fitness subsidy for employees with no on-site facilities, sport/recreation league subsidy, sports injury prevention clinics
Stress Management and WorkLife: Skill development classes, Employee Assistance Program, LifeWorks Resource Referral program, manager’s tool kits, incentive programs, community event support
Special Population Programs: Prenatal education programs, parenting seminars, shiftwork education classes, smoking cessation programs
On-line Services: Wellness lending library, educational and activity class registration, social club/recreation activity network, Intranet site: hrweb/wellness
A highly educated, trained, and motivated staff of 8 support the global program. The team prides itself on customer satisfaction, with a current rating of 4.25 out of 5.00. Program Awards include:
- Well Workplace Gold Award (WELCOA, 1996)
- Best Practice Partner, Corporate Employee Health Promotion and Demand Management (International Benchmarking Clearinghouse, American Productivity & Quality Center, 1996)
- Business & Industry Award (1000+ employees, (Association of Worksite Health Promotion, 1995)
- CA Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sport Corporate Wellness Program Award (1995)
Contact Summary
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Program Name | Applied Wellness Program |
| Company Name and Address | Applied Materials3050 Bowers Ave.Santa Clara, CA 95054 |
| Contact Person | Fran Scully, ManagerCorporate Wellness Program |
| Program Information | |
| Program Category | Worksite |
| Year begun | 1988 |
| Total number of individual participants | 14,000 |
| Number of currently actively enrolled | 14,000* |
| Access to Program | Employees, spouses, high-risk |
| Estimated cost savings per participant per year | Varies |
| Program targeted at Healthy People 2000 goals |
Yes |
| Program goals (in priority order) | (1) Support and improve long-term workforce health and productivity(2) Enable employee to take responsibility for their own personal wellness program(3) Provide strategic programs directed at reducing costs and improving human capability
(4) Promote and support work/life balance among employees and within the organization |
*Program is integrated in company culture, all employees participate and are included in some manner
Evaluation Summary
The Applied Materials Wellness program seeks to improve employee health and productivity by reducing employee health risks, managing medical care expenditures, and improving worker productivity. A quasi experimental research design was employed to assess the economic impact of the program. Participants and non-participant medical, absenteeism, and disability costs were compared over a multi-year period. Multivariate methods were used to estimate the impact of program participation on medical-, short-term disability (STD), and absenteeism-related expenditures, controlling for demographic and other relevant differences between program participants and non-participants. The program produced savings which were calculated as the differences in overall expenditures (medical, STD, absence) between participants and non-participants over the two-year study period (1995 and 1996).
Participants were classified as either high- and low-level based on their length of participation, with the high-level group participating in both study years and the low-level group in only one year. High-level participants experienced lower overall expenditures compared to non-participants, which accounted for savings estimated at $74,599 after adjusting for relevant group differences. The greatest contributions to the savings were from lower inpatient medical and reduced disability costs.
A longitudinal analysis was conducted that compared the rate of expenditure change for participants and non-participants. The rate of change for the high- and low-level participants was represented as 1996 expenditures less 1995 expenditures and is compared to the non-participant group. In general, high-level participants showed favorable expenditure trends compared to non-participants, with total medical expenditures for high-level participants decreasing $38 per year more than non-participants.
Additional descriptive findings also showed that high-level participants had better expenditure and utilization results compared to both low-level participants and non-participants. In 1996, high-level participants had much lower inpatient days per 1,000 employees (8), admissions per 1,000 employees (5.3), and average length of stay (1.5 days) than either low-level participants (77, 17.7, and 4.4, respectively) or non-participants (91, 26.3, and 3.4, respectively). Also in 1996, high-level participants had lower inpatient cost per case ($4,721) and outpatient cost per service ($53) than either the low-level participants ($13,057 and $64, respectively) or the non-participants ($7,345 and $62, respectively). High-level participants displayed a lower STD duration rate and a lower attrition rate than non-participants.
These finding suggest that increasing the number of high-level participants would yield greater financial benefit to Applied Materials. Continued tailoring of the program structure (i.e. incentives, communications) to keep high-risk employees engaged in wellness activities has the potential to improve their overall health and reduce their financial risk to Applied Materials.
Evaluation Documentation
Critique
The Applied Wellness Program was started in 1988 to enhance worker performance and productivity by improvement in health. The strategy is to provide the tools necessary for participants to develop their own personal wellness program. The wide array of programs offered are either directed at heightening awareness of basic health practices, facilitating behavior change and supporting a healthy culture, or are programs driven by specific business needs. Core programs include health appraisals, nutrition/weight control, physical fitness, stress management, and programs for special populations including pre-natal and smoking cessation. The program has high customer satisfaction and has won awards including the Welcoa Workplace Gold award, The Business and Industry award, and others.
Specific Comments Included: The program has a “take responsibility” focus, and includes spouses and targets high-risk individuals. The program is broad in terms of offerings. It has a good track record over ten years. There is a wide variety of programs provided at different sites. Policy and environmental supports for health behavior are included. The program integrates health plans, sick leave, disability management, and EAP use. There is a good break out of data showing somewhat of a dose response effect. There is strong institutional commitment. This is a solid, “broad-brush” program which includes essentially all listed interventions.
Reservations Included: The participant/non-participant design is not strong and more confounders could have been adjusted for. Data do not make the results directly attributable to health promotion efforts. Response based on the employee satisfaction survey were on only 35% of individuals. Some of the intervention programs appear to be of a pilot nature. No pre-program based baselines were evaluated. The strongest data comes from the last two years of the program.