Scorecard Commentary

HERO EHM Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer

Understanding the importance of organizational support

Although supporting the health and well-being of employees might seem to be a given within organizations that provide employee health management programs, we are learning that organizational support is a key factor in program effectiveness. Experts have been working to define the elements of organizational support and demonstrate how the degree of support (type, quantity and quality) correlates with program outcomes.

As it relates to Employee Health Management, organizational support can be defined as the degree to which an organization commits to the health and well-being of its employees. Furthermore, the formal and informal programs, policies and procedures within an organization that “make the healthy choice, the easy choice” are recognized as the deliberate steps that define organizational support. Recognized as an important dimension of an organization’s culture, companies have begun to focus on organizational support within their overall strategy and programming in an effort to create a “culture of health.” 

The HERO Employee Health Management Best Practice Scorecard in collaboration with Mercer assesses many of the foundational elements of organizational support. And, while these elements may not be found in all companies, based on data from companies that completed the Scorecard we can see some trends, including:

·         34 percent report that their corporate mission statement supports a healthy workplace culture

·         52 percent say senior leaders participate in program initiatives

·         50 percent recognize employees for healthy behaviors

·         60 percent offer fitness facilities or walking trails

While no single best practice will make or break a health management program, analysis of the Scorecard database suggests programs that incorporate the most organizational support best practices are the most likely to report overall program success.

Organizational Support linked to greater overall use of best practices

Using the HERO Scorecard database, an analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis that companies that provide a greater degree of organizational support reap the benefits of better outcomes. Three degrees of organizational support were created (low, medium, high), based on the use of best practices in the areas of leadership support, employee involvement, supportive environment, health policies, programs/resources, strategy and rewards. We learned that, on average, those companies that report a higher level of organizational support not only have higher overall scores on the HERO Scorecard, but also have higher scores within each section of the Scorecard. In other words, the companies that provide a greater degree of organizational support tend to be stronger in all best practice areas. 

Greater organizational support, better outcomes

Many companies judge the success of their programs based on employee participation and engagement, positive health trends, and improvement in healthcare spending. When we reviewed these outcomes for companies with high organizational support compared to those with a low degree of support, we found that the average participation in health assessments, biometrics screenings, disease management programs and lifestyle change programs increased as the degree of organizational support increased. (See Table 1).

	Table 1
	Program Component	Average Participation Rates Based on Organizational Support
		Low	Moderate	High
	Health Assessment	30%	46%	59%
	Biometric Screenings	33%	45%	53%
	Disease Management Programs	15%	24%	27%
	Lifestyle Change Programs	13%	21%	28%

In addition to participation, we also found that companies with higher degrees of organizational support reported greater success in managing health risks and costs. More specifically, 71 percent of companies with a high score in organizational support reported a slight or significant improvement in health risk, as compared to 23 percent for those companies with a low score in organizational support. In addition, 27 percent of companies with a high organizational support score reported that the program has had a substantial positive impact on medical trend in comparison to 9 percent of companies with a low organizational support score. In addition, high-scoring companies collected more data for the management of their programs, and reported program performance more frequently to key stakeholders.

The role of organizational support in creating a culture of health is drawing a great deal of attention among those working in employee health management today. This analysis helps to emphasize the value of organizational support and its importance in achieving positive outcomes. 

About the Author - Jennifer Flynn, MS

Strategy Consultant, Mayo Clinic

Jennifer serves as a Health Management Strategy Consultant for Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions. She advises clients in the areas of strategic planning, program design, implementation, engagement strategies, incentive design, and evaluation of their population health management programs.