Healthcare Programs & Benefits

Healthymagination is GE’s commitment to provide better health to more people around the world. That same commitment is experienced by GE employees through HealthAhead, an initiative to create a culture of health at GE. It goes well beyond traditional healthcare programs and benefits. Our goals for HealthAhead are to help GE employees and their families around the world live and work in the healthiest way possible, to decrease health-related absences globally, and to limit the annual increase of healthcare costs in the U.S.

HealthAhead comes to life in many ways, one of which is a unique certification program that measures GE sites on eight critical elements—site leadership and wellness teams, education and prevention, nutrition, physical activity, tobacco cessation, stress management, health-related absences and health-risk questionnaires. In 2010, 87 GE sites around the world became HealthAhead certified, with more than 360 sites scheduled to be certified in 2011. As a result of certification, nearly 200 employees in India and China benefited from a pilot program that connected a health assessment with lifestyle coaching from on-site medical staff. Almost 7,000 employees in more than 26 countries participated in a Company-wide Health by Numbers challenge that encouraged employees to live healthy by focusing on zero tobacco use, eating five fruits and vegetables a day, walking at least 10,000 steps daily and maintaining a body mass index of 25 or less. And in the U.S. we saw a one percent reduction in disability days.

Through site certification, employees also find subsidized healthy food in cafeterias, lower-cost fitness options and opportunities to learn about different aspects of health, such as stress reduction or smoking cessation. To further promote health and wellness, GE has set a goal to have tobacco-free campuses worldwide by November 1, 2011. Each GE site will work toward the new tobacco-free standard based on local needs, in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and labor agreements and with input from employees, managers, unions and works councils. To support this, we give employees access through either on-site programs or referrals to tobacco-cessation programs. We have also put in place a global nicotine replacement therapy program to complement our existing U.S. programs.

In the United States, our benefits are an important part of HealthAhead. GE offers a comprehensive and innovative benefit program to help employees get the most value from their healthcare benefits. These programs are also targeted at helping the Company manage healthcare costs, which have increased at about two times the rate of inflation. GE benefits have the added resource of a personalized health scorecard, modules to help employees meet their personal health goals, and even a free Lifestyle Coach to guide employees to improve their health. Health Coaches are available to help employees find quality and cost-effective doctors and hospitals, better understand diagnosis and treatment options and, more recently, provide after-hour care options for urgent medical situations.

While we have made great strides, there is still more to do. For GE, HealthAhead is about progress, not perfection, and is a partnership that will result in stronger individuals and a stronger GE.