Corporate Wellness Programs

Corporate wellness programs are becoming a strategy to reduce employer health care costs without driving away employees, but experts say other benefits of these programs are more valuable in the long run.

Company health initiatives have been around for more than 30 years, but until recently they were focused on worksite safety in blue-collar environments, such as heavy-lifting techniques, said David Atkinson, vice president of corporate wellness at the Dallas-based Cooper Institute.

“The value of a wellness program to corporations has changed, but its popularity hasn’t,” Atkinson said.He added that spiraling health care costs nationwide, driven by obesity, hypertension ...