the Employee Wellness Network Announces 2010's Top Ten Developments in Employee Wellness

Dec. 19, 2010 - PRLog -- the Employee Wellness Network, a social media website serving the needs of professionals in the employee wellness, benefits, and human resources industries, today announced its picks for 2010's top 10 developments in employee wellness.

The selections include events that garnered national headlines as well as lesser known developments not yet observed by most employers or employees but sure to have an impact in the future.

In making the announcement, tEWN founder Bob Merberg, writing on the tEWN blog, commented, "This year, long-held assumptions about employee wellness were challenged, bold approaches were advanced, and a new generation of thought leaders emerged."

The full list of the Employee Wellness Network's picks for 2010's Top 10 Developments in Employee Wellness, including links to detailed information about each item, can be found at http://www.employeewellnessnetwork.com/tewnblog/?p=78.

The following is an abbreviated overview (in no particular order) of the top 10:

--The Washington Post reports that "misleading claims about Safeway wellness incentives shape health-care bill." Safeway publishes a repudiation.

-- In the February issue of Health Affairs, a meta-analysis suggests that medical costs fall by $3.27 and absenteeism costs fall by $2.73 for every dollar spent on employee wellness programs.

-- A study by the National Institute for Health Care Reform casts doubt on ROI claims.

--  Wellness programs flock to social media. Social media companies specializing in employee wellness report explosive business growth.

-- Proponents of intrinsic motivation rally to counter prevailing assumptions about the efficacy of extrinsic "nudges" such as financial incentives.

-- Health care reform's impact on wellness programs remains as precarious as health care reform itself.

-- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issues final regulations for Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, clarifying restrictions on family medical history questions in employers' health risk assessment questionnaires.

-- Employers increasingly offer outcomes-based wellness programs, which link incentives to metrics like lower BMI, healthier cholesterol levels, and better self-care of chronic conditions.

-- A growing number of employers offer programs that promote happiness, drawing on the emerging field of positive psychology.

-- The White House turns its attention to work-life balance, hosting a Forum on Workplace Flexibility to explore how Americans can meet the demands of their jobs without sacrificing the needs of their families.

Noting that many of the top 10 developments were related to government intervention, the Employee Wellness Network founder Merberg said, "This represents a coming-of-age for employee wellness, demonstrating that the industry is a force to be reckoned with, and affording wellness the prominent position it deserves on the national stage."

The Employee Wellness Network, with the full list featured in its blog, is located on the web at http://www.employeewellnessnetwork.com.

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The Employee Wellness Network™ (tEWN) is a social media website where professionals committed to employee health and wellness can connect, create, search, learn, lead, network, collaborate, communicate and share.