The Impact of Employee Wellness Programs

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Health Behavior; Disease, Chronic
• Interventions: Behavioral: Workplace wellness program

• Registration Number: NCT03167658
• Lead Sponsor: Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

Brief Summary

There is great public and private interest in the use of workplace wellness programs to reduce health care spending, improve health outcomes, and enhance productivity for employees. However, there is little rigorous evidence on the effects of wellness programs. This study partners with a large multi-state U.S. employer (BJ's Wholesale Club) and an experienced wellness vendor (Wellness Workdays) to evaluate a multi-prong workplace wellness program, including components such as nutrition counseling, fitness challenges, and stress management workshops. The wellness program will be delivered by a team of experts including Registered Dieticians, and will include financial rewards for participation. The program will be available to employees in initially 20 of BJ's 200 worksites, and later expanded to 25 worksites. These worksites have been randomly selected, allowing a randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effects of the wellness program. Data will be collected on a wide array of outcomes from multiple sources, including on-site biometric screenings and surveys, employment records, and health insurance claims for employees at both treatment and control worksites.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2015-01
• Study First Submitted: 2017-05-23
• Study First Submitted QC: 2017-05-24
• Study First Posted: 2017-05-30
• Primary Completion: 2018-10
• Study Completion: 2021-06
• Status Verified: 2021-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-09-07
• Last Update Posted: 2021-09-09

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 48664

Inclusion Criteria

• Employed in one of BJ's clubs during the period of the intervention

Exclusion Criteria

• Not employed in one of BJ's clubs during the period of the intervention

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Treatment	Workplace wellness program	Employees at treatment worksites will be given access to workplace wellness programming. Participation by employees will be voluntary, but all employees at treatment sites will be considered as part of the treatment group. Employees will also be invited to complete on-site biometric assessments and questionnaires. Data from secondary data sources (including employment records and health insurance claims) will be collected for employees at all BJ's worksites.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Physical activity	Primary data collected at 18 months and 30 months after initiation of intervention	Regular exercise, number of hours sitting per day, and actively managing weight, as indicated in responses to survey questions
Obesity	Primary data collected at 18 months and 30 months after initiation of intervention	Body Mass Index\>=30, calculated from measured height and weight
Absenteeism	Administrative records from 3 years spanning intervention	Number of sick or personal days as a share of total days employed, from employment records
Health care spending	Administrative records from 3 years spanning intervention	Dollars spent on health care for employees covered by employer-sponsored insurance, from claims records