What Do Workplace Wellness Programs Do? Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study

Workplace wellness programs cover over 50 million U.S. workers and are widely touted as a way to improve employee well-being, reduce health care costs, and increase productivity. Yet, limited evidence exists to support these claims. We designed and implemented a comprehensive workplace wellness program for a large employer with over 12,000 employees, and randomly assigned program eligibility and financial incentives at the individual level. Over 56 percent of eligible (treatment group) employees participated in the program. Program participants have healthier pre-existing behaviors and lower pre-existing medical expenditures than non-participants. However, we do not find significant causal effects of treatment on total medical expenditures, employee productivity, health behaviors, or self-reported health in the first year. We do find that the program significantly increased health screening rates and one measure of job satisfaction. Our results suggest these programs may act as a screening mechanism: even in the absence of any direct savings, our intervention would pay for itself if it reduced the share of non-participating (high-spending) employees at the firm by 4.5 percent.