Gov. Scott Walker
Press Release

Governor Scott Walker Announces Workplace Wellness Program Grants Available to Small Businesses

Governor Scott Walker announced today that Workplace Wellness Program grants of up to $15,000 are now available to Wisconsin businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

By - Oct 2nd, 2015 03:04 pm

Governor Scott Walker announced today that Workplace Wellness Program grants of up to $15,000 are now available to Wisconsin businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Businesses that started their employee wellness program after March 15, 2014 are eligible for the grants, which are funded by Wisconsin Act 137, the Workplace Wellness Grant Program.

“Wellness in the workplace is vital to maintaining and improving employee morale while increasing productivity,” Governor Walker said. “Workplace wellness grants help employees make positive changes that may improve their health, potentially reducing healthcare costs, making them a win-win idea for Wisconsin’s small businesses and their employees.

Governor Walker signed Act 137 into law in March, 2014. The one-time grants pay for 30 percent of wellness program costs incurred over a 12-month period.  To qualify for a grant, programs should include a health risk assessment for one or more of these programs or services:

  • Chronic disease prevention
  • Weight management
  • Stress management
  • Worker injury prevention programs
  • Health screenings
  • Nutrition education
  • Health or fitness incentive programs
  • Vaccinations
  • Employee physical examinations

Workplace wellness programs can offer many benefits. For employees, these benefits include improved health and coping skills with stress or other factors that affect health, lower out-of-pocket costs for health care services, and improved job satisfaction. For employers, benefits include lower health care and disability costs, enhanced productivity, and decreased injury and illness rates. The Center for Disease Control also estimates that for every $1 invested in wellness programs, a business saves between $3 and $7 in costs.

To apply for a grant, businesses are asked to fill out a Workplace Wellness Program Grant application.  For more information about the benefits of workplace wellness programs for employees and small businesses, click here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

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