South Carolina’s family-owned enterprise of golf course and campground establishments, the Jackson Companies, is the latest organization to join the growing roster of mid-sized companies that adopted the ADP Vitality wellness program to provide its employees a healthier and happier life.

For the companies, the investment means a fit and active staff and hence a reduced cost of healthcare coverage.

For today’s mid-sized organizations, rising healthcare costs pose a serious challenge. According to a recent study by ADP Research Institute, a research group focused on the issues of human capital management, employment trends and workforce strategy, the situation will only worsen in the coming days. The study found that more than two thirds of human resources decision makers in midsized companies believe the cost of healthcare coverage will increase faster over the next three years than it has in past.

The ADP Vitality (News - Alert) wellness program, designed for midsized employers with between 50 and 1,000 employees, has been devised to help these companies address this issue.

How does ADP Vitality wellness solution work? The program is based on an interactive wellness portal that supports such activities as health risk assessments and biometric screenings. It helps participating employees to chalk out personalized wellness plans, and complete with recommended goals and activities.

Integrating with social networking sites, mobile applications and fitness technologies, the program allows employees to stick to their wellness plan at home, at office and even on the go. 

The incentive-based program earns employees reward-points whenever they achieve their goals. The accomplishment of these goals at every level means an employee has come closer to lowering their health plan contributions. Thus, as a proactive approach on the part of the companies, this wellness program has high potential of curbing rising healthcare costs, by helping to reduce healthcare claims and employee absenteeism.

“We're taking a proactive approach to help our employees live healthier lives as healthcare costs continue to grow. Pairing the ADP Vitality wellness program with our existing wellness activities will help increase teammate participation by enabling them to access educational tools and resources at work, home or on the run,” said the CEO at The Jackson Companies, Dennis Wade.

“The ADP Vitality wellness solution empowers employers and their employees to take greater control over their health and medical costs. By adopting preventative strategies like health and wellness programs, midsized companies can work toward lowering health expenses as well as increasing employee morale and productivity,” commented the Division President of ADP.