Johnson & Johnson's Health and Wellness Program

The Health and Wellness Program

Since its inception, J&J had laid special emphasis on providing proper care to its employees (Refer Exhibit III). The company had mentioned its responsibilities towards employees in its credo (Refer Exhibit IV). J&J hired medical professionals who provided health services to employees, their spouses and children. The company established medical clinics at their plants and offices, where experts performed medical evaluations and offered vaccination facilities. They also offered advice on subjects like nutrition, family planning, dysentery prevention and smoking cessation. J&J's medical staff also maintained a cafeteria at some of the company's plants to ensure safe and nutritious meals for its employees.

As a part of its HWP, J&J conducted a health-risk assessment of its employees. The assessment carried out by J&J revealed that its employees were prone to risks in three areas, namely, high cholesterol, hypertension and other problems related to a sedentary work life. As a first step in its HWP, the company started offering regular counseling and exercise programs for its employees.

This helped the employees to keep their cholesterol levels and hypertension under check and also control their weight. The final data obtained from the health-risk assessment enabled the health care group to tailor the HWP according to the needs of its employees. In the first year of its introduction, only 26% of J&J's employees opted for health-risk assessment.

Explaining the reason for the poor response, Patricia Flynn (Flynn), Vice-President, J&J's Health Care System, said²³, "People think they are fit and might not want to bother with an assessment." To encourage more employees to opt for health appraisal, J&J offered $500 discount on their medical insurance costs. This plan worked well and by 1999, employee participation increased to 93%. Elaborating on it, Jennifer Bruno (Bruno), Director, Health and Wellness Business Planning, J&J said²⁴, "A large part of how we've been able to achieve this success is by giving incentives to employees on the completion of a health risk profile.

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23] In an article titled "Risk assessment pays off at Johnson & Johnson," in Workforce Magazine dated December 2002.
24] In an article titled "Understanding the value of health promotion for health plans," posted on www.bcbs.com.

Case Details

Case Code : HROB025
Themes: HR Practices and Policies
Case Length : 14 Pages
Period : 1998-2001
Organization : Johnson and Johnson's
Pub Date : 2001
Teaching Note : Not Available
Countries : USA
Industry : Consumer Goods

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