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More Than Half of CFOs Make Health Benefits Strategy Decisions

"[T]hree-quarters consider time-off or wellbeing programs as part of the benefits strategy.... CFOs recognize the non-financial impacts of illness ... Less than half of CFOs are very confident that their health benefits strategy supports employees' ability to function well on the job.... [T]he biggest confidence boosts come from data linking employees' health to operation outcomes, followed by health care utilization and employees' mental health conditions."

Poor Health Costs U.S. Employers $530 Billion

"US employers paid nearly $880 billion in health care benefits for employees and dependents. However, illness-related lost productivity costs them another $530 billion per year ... That amounts to 60 cents for every dollar employers spend on health care benefits. Employees covered for sick time, workers' compensation, disability, and family and medical leave benefits are absent about 893 million days due to illness and incur an estimated 527 million lost work days due to impaired performance. This totals almost 1.4 billion days annually of employees absent -- greater than every nurse in the US missing a year of work."

Poor Health Costs Employers $575 Billion and 1.5 Billion Days of Lost Productivity

"For every dollar of the almost $950 billion spent on health care benefits, another $0.61 of productivity is lost to illness and injury. Employees covered for sick time, workers' compensation, disability, and family and medical leave benefits are absent about 978 million days due to illness and incur an estimated 540 million lost work days due to presenteeism (underperformance on the job by employees with chronic health conditions). This totals almost 1.5 billion days annually of illness-related absence."

8 Tips to Gain the CFO's Buy-In for Wellness Programs

"CFOs who understand the link between employee health and productivity are more likely to embrace a wellness initiative as a financial priority for the company, a new study reveals. In fact, in a survey of CFOs by the Integrated Benefits Institute ..., three-quarters said they believe providing health benefits is important for the company's financial strategy. Even so, most CFOs still regard employee health as less of a driver of productivity than other benefits like training, the survey shows."

How CFOs View Investments in Health and Productivity

Excerpt: IBI's research on the CFO's view of health, health benefits, productivity and the bottom line demonstrates that senior financial executives are open to approving changes in the way employee benefits are delivered if they are shown modest productivity results.

COVID-19 Costs Employers Nearly $1 Billion Per Week Due to Lost Time from Work

"The cost to employers for absent workers due to COVID-19 is estimated to total over $78.4 billion over the past 22 months ... This is over a $25 billion increase since a previous analysis conducted ... in April 2021 and consistent with average losses approaching $1 billion per week. [The] assessment includes potential sick leave wages, short-term disability payments and spending on employee benefits."

COVID-19 Lost Time from Work Could Cost Employers More Than $50 Billion

"[S]pending for absent workers due to the coronavirus is estimated to total $50.5 billion. This is a 117% increase from a previous analysis conducted this time last year that used a high-range scenario of 15 million cases, whereas the number of cases across the nation has now more than doubled. [This] assessment includes potential sick leave wages, short-term disability payments and spending on employee benefits."

Coronavirus-Related Sick Leave and Short-Term Disability Payments Could Exceed $23 Billion for Employers

"[P]otential sick leave wages, short-term disability (STD) payments and spending on employee benefits for absent workers could total more than $23 billion. Up to 5.6 million employees could be impacted, with almost 3 million workers at firms with fewer than 500 employees entitled to paid leave per the [FFCRA] that went into effect on April 1, 2020."

Migraine Impacts Employers in Both Health Care Spend and Lost Productivity

"[F]rom 2011 to 2015, employees treated for migraine had higher health care costs on average than employees without migraine treatments -- a difference of about $2,000 per year. Employees treated for migraine also had an average of 2.2 more sick days per year, at a cost of almost $600 in wages and benefits.... Employees who take short-term disability leave for migraine miss an average of 38 work days per episode--an economic loss to their employer of about $10,400."

Health Insurers Expand Preventive Offerings

Excerpt: In response to employer demand that health insurers improve diabetes care management, health plans are adopting benefit design approaches that encourage patients to take better care of this condition, according to a report released Wednesday, February 11. In addition, the report, co-sponsored by the National Business Coalition on Health and the Integrated Benefits Institute, found that health plans are embracing health promotion services.