Five years ago Neace Lukens, a Louisville-based regional insurance broker with 500 employees, was deriving about 10% of its revenues from employee benefits business. Today that percentage stands at around 25%. One of the drivers of that growth was an acquisition in 2007 of an Indianapolis employee benefits consulting firm headed by Mike Campbell.

Campbell brought to Neace Lukens not only his benefits consulting clients but an expertise in developing wellness programs. He has been a national speaker on wellness for 20 years and is currently serving as president of the Wellness Council of Indiana. As managing partner, health and productivity for Neace Lukens, he is able to promote wellness to both P-C and employee benefits clients.

“Way better than 70% of health care costs in this country are related to lifestyle issues,” says Campbell. A wellness program that addresses those lifestyle behaviors leads right to the client’s bottom line. But the insurance costs savings aren’t even the most exciting part of implementing a wellness program in the workplace, he believes. “It impacts health, productivity, absenteeism rates, the attraction and retention of employees, and the overall attitude of the organization.”

Bringing this evangelistic message to HR directors and risk managers is a major part of Campbell’s job, and it has a significant impact not only for his own book of business at Neace Lukens, but for the agency as a whole. His passion for wellness moves beyond the business-related benefits of wellness, as he speaks of it as “the right thing to do.”

For example, Campbell points out, “When you do biometric screenings of a workforce population, and you find 10 people who are diabetic who didn’t know they were diabetic, how many renal failures did you save? How many did you keep from becoming insulin dependent?”

Using these kinds of screenings that are part of wellness programs, says Campbell, “We start thinking about the ‘value’ of the investment as opposed to the ‘return’ on the investment.”

But the financial return on investment in wellness has been good too—both for the clients of Neace Lukens and for the agency itself.

Eight years ago while at his prior firm, Campbell started an annual wellness conference for clients and prospects in Indianapolis. The half-day event has continued ever since, the past three years under Neace Lukens’ sponsorship. Those attending—HR directors and risk managers and others in the health field—learn about how wellness programs can drive down health care and workers comp costs and improve employee morale.

“It’s been a huge prospecting tool for us,” says Campbell. “We’ve never had a conference that we didn’t gain new business. Two years ago we had two individuals at the conference representing employers who came to me separately as they were leaving to say they had decided to move their benefits business to Neace Lukens. One of them was a manufacturer with 3,000 employees. Our return on investment from that conference was about 30 to 1.”

Last April’s wellness conference in Indianapolis attracted about 150 people, including representa­tives from 55 employers who are Neace Lukens clients or prospects, about two-thirds of them from the benefits side and one-third property/casualty. Some participants earn continuing education credits for their attendance. Sponsors—primarily insurance companies and wellness services providers—help defray the cost for participants and Neace Lukens. The agency is now offering the conference in other cities where it has offices as well.

Wellness is a concept that is hard to oppose in theory. But any agency proposing a wellness program to an HR director or risk manager is bound to get questions about whether employees will buy in to the program. After all, you’re asking employees to change their behavior not just on the job, but in other areas of their lives. Will they follow recommendations about nutrition, exercise and medical monitoring if they haven’t already done so on their own?

And would the buy-in come from the right employees? Dr. Troy Adams, a California-based wellness consultant who spoke at the recent Neace Lukens conference, says, “One objection to wellness from CEOs is ‘It would only subsidize the well.’”

From Campbell comes this piece of evidence involving a firm where he implemented a wellness program at the beginning of 2004. Its workforce of approximately 700 employees included a substantial number of blue-collar workers.

“We conducted a health assessment and data analysis of the entire employee population and received 87% participation. By the spring of that year we had identified five major risk factors \for the group, all potentially lifestyle-related—items such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure and tobacco use. This group of employees averaged 2.3 risk factors per employee.

“Now six years later, this employ­er’s workforce is running just under one risk factor per employee. Their total employee benefits costs are just under $1 million below the benchmarked average for a group of this size. So it’s made a big financial difference. It’s also produced lots of intangible benefits involving the culture of the organization.”

Neace Lukens is investing more into its commitment to wellness. “We just hired someone who will be a full-time director of wellness for us,” says Campbell. “She will be assisted by an intern. We’ve also created our own brand called ‘Living Health’ that will identify our approach to wellness.

“While most of our wellness emphasis has been on the employee benefits side, we’re starting to use it more with workers comp and general overall risk management. And, having a wellness program in place at our own firm, that will enable us to ‘walk the talk’ with our clients and prospects.”