A new survey finds employers continue to implement and improve their health and productivity management practices. Experts say the findings suggest employers are incorporating wellness initiatives to their overall business strategy.

According to analysis from the Integrated Benefits Institute - a follow-up study to a previous report - HPM programs can help achieve business goals like cost management and a healthy workforce.

"That employers are sustaining and adding to their HPM programs despite a general lack of empirical data on the outcomes of these efforts suggests the increasing prominence of workforce health as a business strategy," said Thomas Parry, PhD, president of IBI. "Weight management efforts meet both the medical/pharmacy cost savings goal as well as reducing the lost-productivity costs of ill health, making adoption of weight management a best practice for many employers. Other such best practices help employers achieve multiple goals including savings in medical/pharmacy costs, health-related lost productivity and sick-day/disability absences."