How do company culture and employer health and well-beingpractices affect employee engagement and turnover? Doemployees feel supported by the culture in the workplace?

Those are some of the questions the Health Enhancement ResearchOrganization seeks to answer in the HERO Scorecard Engagement andRetention Study, launched in collaboration with Mercer. The studywill review data collected from the HERO Health and Well-BeingBest Practices Scorecard for HERO scorecard completers between2014 and 2017. Six domain scores serve as predictors of outcomesrelated to retention rates and perceived organizationalsupport.

According to Jessica Grossmeier, Ph.D., vice president ofresearch for HERO, past studies have demonstrated a correlationbetween companies that perform well on the scorecard and those thatdemonstrate strong financial performance, as well as aconnection between best practices and health care costs.More recent analyses conducted by Mercer identified arelationship between HERO scorecard scores and employer-reportedturnover rates.

Some of the best practice areas defined in the scorecard, theimpact of which may be measured in the study, include a companymission/vision statement that supports a healthy workplace culture;senior leaders who emphasize the value and importance of health;policies that support employee health and well-being; a builtenvironment that supports well-being; senior leaders who supportwell-being; employee involvement in decisions about well-beingprogram content; use of wellness champion networks to supportwell-being programs; and support for middle managers andsupervisors in attempts to improve well-being.

“For several years now, employers have been chasing what we call'Big E' engagement because of the positive influence it can have onan organization,” Paul Terry, Ph.D., president and CEO of HERO,says in a statement. Terry adds, “This study will get us closer tounderstanding this relationship and how employers can influence thesituation by looking specifically at the impact workplacewell-being programs and best practices have on engagement. This istangible information employers can use to increase the value oftheir well-being initiatives.”

The online HERO Scorecard allows employers of all sizes toassess their wellness program initiatives, based on a defined setof industry best practices for improving employee well-being.Companies that complete the HERO Scorecard receive a score for eachbest practice area, as well as a cumulative score. They also canaccess national benchmarking data to see how their program comparesto other organizations completing the scorecard.

According to Grossmeier, the study will be completed this June,with findings to be released shortly after that.