he start of November means open enrollment is just around the corner. If your organization doesn’t offer live health coaching to employees and you are still on the fence about your offerings, now is the time to reconsider. Employee health is seriously suffering across the country and employers need to show up differently to support a healthier, happier and more productive workforce. Almost half U.S. employees report they don’t feel their employer-offered wellness programs support their health.
Health coaching has been scientifically proven to support an overall healthier workforce and it’s never too late to introduce live health coaching to your employees. Here at YourCoach, we’ve kicked off partnerships that have introduced health coaching to employees at all points of the year—from open enrollment to the middle of the summer. It’s never too late to improve the health & wellbeing of your employees and in today’s blog we’re sharing more about Open Enrollment, why health coaching should be a part of every employee health program, and how we can help!
What is Open Enrollment?
For those reading who are not benefits leaders, open Enrollment only happens once a year, usually in the fall, and is a period of time where employees can elect to enroll in a variety of health insurance plans. In most US states, the Open Enrollment period kicked off on November 1 and will run through either January 15 or 16. Job-based plans might have their own Open Enrollment schedule, but typically this will still happen around the same time. Outside of Open Enrollment, however, it’s possible for individuals to enroll or change their healthcare plans if they encounter a qualified life event—which ranges from starting a new job to getting married or divorced. Typically, benefit plans start in January and end in November.
Why should health coaching be available to all employees?
According to the latest data, most companies are simply not doing enough to support a healthy, happy and productive workplace. Studies show 77% of employees experience burnout; 76% of workers report at least one mental health condition; 3 out of 5 employees suffer from chronic conditions; and 61% are dissatisfied with their employer-offered wellness programs. What’s more, chronic health conditions cost employers up to billions of dollars in lost productivity (heart disease and stroke, alone, cost the US an estimated $147 billion in lost productivity on the job), absenteeism and healthcare costs. Depression, alone, is estimated to cost employers about $187.8 billion a year.
Health coaches have scientifically proven to help support an all-around better workforce. A Mayo Clinic study on wellness coaching for 100 employees found that 12 weeks of wellness coaching led to improvements in overall quality of life, the five domains of QOL, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress levels. Similarly, a recent study focused on mental health coaching showed work absenteeism hours were reduced by 88%, productivity levels were increased by 32%, and severity of depression symptoms were reduced by 66%.
Live health coaching, when introduced on its own or in complement to existing health and care offerings provides personalized assistance to each and every participating employee, helping them assess the need for change in their lives, align on goals, and actually achieve better health outcomes. This individualized experience is exactly what employees need and are asking for. A whopping 75% of employees say a “personal touch” is the most critical quality of a corporate wellness program for achieving health results.
For more of the latest data and the many, many reasons employers should include live health coaching as part of their employee health & wellness offerings, check out our Deep Dive.
It’s not too late to introduce health coaching to employees! Here’s how we can help.
Here at YourCoach, we’re the leading organization helping companies bring best-in-class health coaching services for their talent. We’ve already partnered with several companies, our Industry Partners, reaching thousands of consumers (including those that work at one of the world’s largest employers) and hope to share firsthand results on our impact in the coming months.
What does it mean to provide best-in-class health coaching services? This means that we’re serving individuals by providing them with live verified and validated coaches—not AI bots trained to check in on demand. These individuals are trained and experienced in the science-backed methodologies behind REAL health coaching and they’re the catalyst for better employee health outcomes. Our team checks in regularly to ensure the highest quality services are provided and our proprietary APIs and widgets provide a seamless connection between employee and coach, whether that’s over chat or a voice/video call. Plus, we’re entirely HIPAA-compliant and committed to protecting every user’s privacy.
It’s never too late to inspire a better workforce. Although Open Enrollment has already begun, many employees don’t start thinking about their health goals until January (and beyond!). We’ve nailed down a seamless and efficient process for introducing health coaching within any organization, working diligently with every company to understand how to best address employee needs through health coaching.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we can partner together to create a happier, healthier and more productive workforce, send us an email at team@yourcoach.health.