Are you and your small company having a hard time justifying investing much (or any) money, time or resources into your employee wellness program?  If so, according to a timely article that ran yesterday on CNBC.com, it appears that many companies are now using something called “VOI” or “Value on Investment” in lieu of ROI (or Return on Investment) to justify some level of investment in these programs.  According to the article:

“Quantifying a return on investment for wellness programs with a small group of employees is virtually impossible,” Piantedosi said. “Research shows that unless you have 10,000 employees enrolled in a wellness program, it will be very challenging for you to figure out your return on investment. Even with that sized group, it will take three to five years.”

Instead, Piantedosi uses the term “VOI – value on investment,” when he talks to small business owners about wellness.  “It’s simply logical that if you try to make your employees healthier, the best outcome will be healthy employees with less absenteeism, disabilities or chronic conditions,” he said. “It’s one more tool that shows they care about their employees.”

Piantedosi said a baseline wellness program for small employers costs about $2.50 per employee per month. For that, each employee gets a health assessment of body weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and other factors. Then comes a web portal with password protection for each employee. Each can tap into online health assessments, monthly campaigns and goals and an online medical library. A tracking system measures progress for individual campaigns such as weight loss or smoking cessation. There’s an 800-number to call a health coach for advice.

There is lots of other great, informative stuff in there, so go read the whole article and weigh in here on whether this is something you feel is enough justification to make at least a cursory investment in your employee wellness program.  What say ye on the matter?