Many companies have evaluated their programs and can add to the growing number of companies with a bottom-line proof that wellness works:

- The health promotion program at the Quaker Oats Company, introduced in 1983, has produced a documented cost savings of at least $1.4 million annually by shifting employees into lower health risk categories. By using Health Risk Assessment, employees are showing a decrease in 12 out of 13 health risks.

- Johnson & Johnson LIVE FOR LIFE program saved $378 per employee by lowering absenteeism and by slowing the rise in the company's health care expenses. The cost of the program, which offers checkups and encourages healthier eating and exercise, is $200.00 per employee.

- The Travelers Corporation claims a $3.40 return for every $1.00 invested in health promotion. Besides improving the overall health of the Travelers' employees by reducing poor health habits and increasing good ones, the Travelers Corporation realized cost savings by decreasing the amount of unnecessary visits to a doctor and emergency rooms. Smoking rates decreased, as did drinking rates, and employee participants increased their level of physical activity.

- A 4-year study at General Motors demonstrated the value of counseling and follow-up, compared to screenings only. In a blood pressure program, medical costs for hypertension were reduced $1.89 to $2.72 for every dollar spent on the program.

- An employee health promotion at AT&T has helped employees change unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, thus lowering their health risks. If these healthy trends were to continue over the next ten years, AT&T projects savings of $72 million from reduced heart attacks and an additional $15 million from reduced cancers.

- General Mills showed a cost/benefit ratio of $3.10 in their first year and $3.90 in the second with an average of 2 fewer absence days in the first year and 1.7 fewer in the second year.

- As a result of wellness programs, MESA Inc. of Dallas, one of the largest independent producers of oil and gas in the United States, estimated yearly savings of $1.6 million annually in health care cost for its 650 employees.