In this month's HR Magazine, Susan J. Wells attempts to answer a question on the minds of many small business leaders today: What is the return on investment (ROI) of wellness programs?

Wells turns to the Institute for Health Productivity Studies at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta for one answer.  The institute has found that the ROI of wellness programs after three to five years normally falls into the range of 1.5:1 to 3:1.  This means that for every dollar invested in wellness, employers saved, or can expect to save, between $1.50 and $3.

The leaders of this year's Winning Workplaces/Wall Street Journal Top Small Workplaces applicants appear to understand this connection, both in terms of the direct savings in health care costs, and on workplace metrics that wellness programs have been shown to improve, such as absenteeism, presenteeism and retention.

Among the 2008 applicants, we see a trend of employers increasingly providing various wellness programs in their benefit perks (see the common initiatives that make up these programs).  These employer-sponsored programs may have been implemented as a result of leadership's personal conviction, as a means to attract high-quality employees, or a combination of both factors.

The benefits range from traditional ones like gym membership reimbursement, on-site health screenings and exercise classes to more unconventional ones such as nap rooms and incentives for healthy behaviors (for example, rewards for the employees who park the farthest from the front door).

What wellness initiatives are in place where you work?  If you're the owner or leader, what types of ROI have you noticed as a result of these initiatives?  And what opportunities for workplace team building or employee engagement exist as a result of researching, implementing, and maintaining these practices?