Employee Wellness Programs

Abstract

Employers often offer employee wellness initiatives to their employees because of the benefits of these programs on the organization/business's bottom line. Many employees participate in these programs because they benefit from them in terms of having better health and receiving other financial benefits (e.g., reduced health insurance premiums). However, these programs are critiqued for the ways in which they can intrude into employee health privacy; thus, many employees choose not to participate because of privacy concerns. Health communication scholars have examined how employees make sense of employee wellness programs in the workplace and how these programs influence both employee health and organizational outcomes.