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My company requires an annual health assessment be completed in order to avoid a higher insurance rate. There is no requirement that the data entered in the ass

My company requires an annual health assessment be completed in order to avoid a higher insurance rate. There is no requirement that the data entered in the assessment be truthful. It seems like applying such a requirement would be difficult as all the data are self reported, therefore difficult to verify much of it. I have little objection to this approach. On the other hand the "livewell" points scheme seems annoying. I wonder whether employers consider the added cost. Most employees will complete such extra work-imposed requirements while at work instead of actually working. Suppose this costs four hours per month, that could easily work out to 5k/yr in most tech jobs. That's probably an underestimate. How does that compare to the reduced cost of insurance coverage?

thesmallestcat 10y ago
Whatever the circumstances, I'm blown away by your dedication and persistence in completing an Ironman triathlon every day.
tdb7893 10y ago
I think healthy employees have benefits besides just insurance benefits. Being healthy has a lot of benefits in general (less sick days and in my experience better focus and mood) and people should be taking some short breaks during the day regardless. I think of these programs actually affect employee health then they are worth a cost
- jimmyswimmy 10y ago
  > I think of these programs actually affect employee health then they are worth a cost That may be so. But there are multiple costs: lost work due to completing these mandates, potential indignation over privacy concerns resulting in excess turnover, and other second order effects. My experience with the financial management teams at multiple companies leads me to believe that none of these, beyond the first order cost reduction ("ooh, lower insurance costs!") are being considered. It would not be that time consuming to complete an analysis of this. Depends strongly on your labour costs. But it should be considered. One could imagine this increasing the overhead of most large companies by a few percent, depending on how much the insurance reduction is.
tomjen3 10y ago
Agreed with the livewell points scheme. It seems a classic case of starting out with something simple and then make it overly complicated. I don't envy anyone who has to try to make people healthy, but looking at where we are heading it seems very necessary unless the government has to step in and impose calorie rations on overweight people.

thesmallestcat 10y ago

Whatever the circumstances, I'm blown away by your dedication and persistence in completing an Ironman triathlon every day.

tdb7893 10y ago

I think healthy employees have benefits besides just insurance benefits. Being healthy has a lot of benefits in general (less sick days and in my experience better focus and mood) and people should be taking some short breaks during the day regardless. I think of these programs actually affect employee health then they are worth a cost

jimmyswimmy 10y ago
> I think of these programs actually affect employee health then they are worth a cost That may be so. But there are multiple costs: lost work due to completing these mandates, potential indignation over privacy concerns resulting in excess turnover, and other second order effects. My experience with the financial management teams at multiple companies leads me to believe that none of these, beyond the first order cost reduction ("ooh, lower insurance costs!") are being considered. It would not be that time consuming to complete an analysis of this. Depends strongly on your labour costs. But it should be considered. One could imagine this increasing the overhead of most large companies by a few percent, depending on how much the insurance reduction is.

tomjen3 10y ago

Agreed with the livewell points scheme. It seems a classic case of starting out with something simple and then make it overly complicated. I don't envy anyone who has to try to make people healthy, but looking at where we are heading it seems very necessary unless the government has to step in and impose calorie rations on overweight people.