MAXIS GBN unveils tool to calculate cost savings from lifestyle changes
MAXIS Global Benefits Network has launched MAXIS WIT (Wellness Intelligence Tool), a new digital service to help organisations calculate potential medical cost savings resulting from changes in employees’ behaviours and lifestyles.
MAXIS WIT provides evidence-based insights to help organisations quantify the impact that behaviour change could have on the health and productivity of employees. It integrates global data sets from relevant bodies such as the World Health Organisation and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, incorporating actuarial assumptions that have been benchmarked against Technical Actuarial Standards (TAS) 100.
It is not intended to evaluate the quality or success of a corporate wellness programme, stressed Matthias Helmbold, head of technical and services at MAXIS Global Benefits Network. Rather, it can highlight the potential savings that a change in employees’ lifestyles and behaviours will generate.
The tool, developed by MAXIS GBN in partnership with actuarial consultancy Habits at Work, is customisable, enabling organisations to insert their own company’s values, including medical claims data, employee turnover and identified medical cost trends.
At launch MAXIS WIT included data for 26 global markets, including the United Kingdom, Russia, China and the UAE. A pipeline is being established for the inclusion of additional countries.
Helmbold said: “Caring for employees’ health and wellbeing is becoming increasingly important for multinational employers as it can help improve retention rates, reduce sickness absence and boost productivity. Targeting negative health-related behaviours with specific wellness interventions can help companies improve their employees’ quality of life while reducing medical costs, which continue to rise at a rate faster than inflation across the world.”