Every company arguably has employees confronting chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.

Certainly, enticing such individuals to improve their health by signing up for the services offered by an in-house wellness program pays off in greater worker productivity, less absenteeism reduced health care costs and healthier, happier employees.

But what about everyone else in the company? Lately, experts in health care and human resources are pushing the idea of wellness programs that target all employees—not just those in urgent need.

“Just because someone by virtue of their young age and genetics has not reached the level of a chronic health condition does not mean they won't find themselves on that path someday,” said Steven Noeldner, a partner with Mercer L.L.C. in Newport Beach, Calif., and a member of the leadership team for its total health management specialty practice.

“Promoting the health of such individuals on a preventive basis may actually have more value than merely focusing on those who have accumulated significant health risk factors and chronic conditions.”

Mr. Noeldner and wellness plan experts break down workforce populations from a health standpoint into three groups: those with chronic conditions; those who already show signs of future chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and depression; and those who are healthy, at the moment. The goal of corporate wellness programs is to incentivize individuals in these groups to submit to an overall health assessment by a physician and biometric screening.

The former is akin to an annual exam by a doctor, and is considered a valuable way to evaluate such lifestyle habits as alcohol intake, drug use, diet and smoking; personal and family medical history; physiological data like weight, height, cholesterol and blood-pressure metrics; and the employee's willingness to modify his or her behaviors to reduce health risks. The latter is a measurement of individual physical characteristics like height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose, among other health indices.

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“Right now roughly 20% of employees account for 80% of health care costs, but that other 80% percent of the population is in waiting to become that 20% in the future, unless something is done now to maintain their good health,” Mr. Noeldner said.

Several organizations, such as Cardinal Health Inc., Bryant University and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, are taking the whole population approach to improving their employees' health and well-being.

“To truly realize the benefits for employees and corporations alike, a well-designed wellness program must address the needs of all employees,” said Jeff Henderson, chief financial officer of Cardinal Health, a Columbus, Ohio-based health care services provider, whose wellness program is called “Healthy Lifestyles.”

At most of the company's offices across the country, employees can utilize an on-site fitness center, pharmacy and medical clinic. Where such facilities are not available, AstraZeneca provides free health club memberships and access to nearby pharmacies and clinics. Lately, it has renewed its efforts to get younger employees to take advantage of these opportunities.

“Effective health habits often begin at the early stages of employee lifecycles, before signs of `high risk' ever materialize,” Mr. Henderson said.

He is not alone in this view.

“The over-arching goal of a wellness program should be a tiered approach to the employee population, first and foremost getting to the `ticking bombs,' so to speak, those who have diabetes or cardio problems or are closely on their way to such problems,” said Lenny Sanicola, senior benefits practice leader at WorldatWork, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based professional membership organization of human resources professionals focused on work-life initiatives. “At the same token, you also should identify employees that have risk factors that may eventually lead them in this direction. They're healthy now and the objective is to keep them that way.”

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Jay Merenda is such a person. The procurement technology leader at Wilmington, Del.-based AstraZeneca is 37 years old, and used to be the picture of health, exercising regularly and sticking to a healthy diet. Then, he got married, had children and experienced more stress at work as his career blossomed. “It's probably six or seven years since I took my health seriously,” Mr. Merenda said. “I just let it all go.”

Three months ago, he went to the company's wellness center and underwent a health assessment and biometric screening, learning that his once-commendable health had deteriorated. “My body composition was in the high percentile on the body-mass index, I was 30 pounds overweight and close to the obese level, and my blood glucose was at a level of high concern, indicating possible diabetes,” Mr. Merenda said. “It was certainly an eye-opener.”

Since learning the results, he now attends the company's gym three times a week to improve his cardiovascular system and has changed his diet, trimming 11 pounds.

“My pants fit again,” he said. “Had the company not added the biometric screening, I would have been too busy to learn any of this.”

“We had been doing an overall health assessment for the past six years, and as an incentive for taking the assessment provided employees a premium discount on their part of our overall health care (insurance) coverages,” said Kristine Freind, AstraZeneca senior director of employee performance and engagement. “This year, we added a biometric screening, as we felt it would be important for employees to know their real risks and real numbers to determine the right actions. We had hoped for 60% percent of our employees to take the test, as the industry rate is below 50%, and got an 82% response rate, which was incredible.”

She added, “We are really reaching all employees, not just those concerned over their health.”

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Once an employee like Mr. Merenda submits to the health assessment and biometric screening, the findings are printed out in a report card that is then provided to a wellness coach. AstraZeneca contracts with Wellness Coaches USA to administer its program.

“We assign wellness coaches directly to the workplace to coach employees, face to face, one on one, personally, privately and continuously,” said Matthew R. Pearson, operations manager at the Philadelphia-based company, who works closely with Ms. Freind on wellness strategy. “Nothing we do is cookie-cutter. We understand the company's goals and then work with employees on what their health findings indicate and what they themselves want to work on. Some may know what they need to do, but need an extra kick in the pants to do it.”

Doing this kicking at AstraZeneca, among other companies, is Tom German, senior wellness coach at Wellness Coaches USA. Asked about wellness programs aimed at the entire workforce, Mr. German confided the story of a recent AstraZeneca employee.

“She used to train for the Ironman triathlon, but then had a child and a different work role creating more stress, and the training just got away from her,” he said. “She recognized that she was slipping away, and wanted help getting back on track. Just today, she came in to talk about her nutritional needs. This weekend she is running a 22-mile race.”

Smithfield, R.I.-based Bryant University also recognizes the importance of targeting the entire workforce. Bryant offers the typical range of nutrition, smoking cessation, chronic diabetes and asthma management and exercise classes; free blood pressure and other biometric screenings at an on-site wellness clinic; and sponsored walkathons. Recently, it altered its wellness program to focus not just on the physical health of employees, but their mental health, too.

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“We've learned that employees are confronted with emotional and psychological challenges brought about by aging parents they care for, financial problems because of the economy, retirement concerns, and just the usual stressors of life, all of which have an impact on their health and productivity,” said Linda S. Lulli, the university's associate vice president of human resources. “We now have what we call a `whole person' strategy, which we see as having more long-term, meaningful impact on our medical expenses and employee productivity.”

The school's wellness program now offers counseling on how to become retirement-ready or handle one's finances, in addition to stress management classes, she said. “So far, we have found that our absenteeism rates are down 8% year over year,” Ms. Lulli said.

Metrics at the other companies also are positive. Ms. Freind estimated that employee productivity increases at AstraZeneca should account for $9 million to $10 million in additional revenues this year. “We also expect to lower our health care costs trends by 1% to 2%,” she said.

Of course, no wellness program can succeed, if employees fail to show up for their health assessment and biometric screening appointments. The incentives to boost the turnout run the gamut from lowering the portion of health insurance premiums paid by employees to an idea of Mr. Sanicola's—a fitness competition, which has proven merit for those young, currently healthy workers who find no need to take the tests. “The winner gets cash, always a good incentive for anyone,” he said.

Cardinal Health's Mr. Henderson said that a wellness program aimed at the entire workforce is beneficial for another reason.

“A corporate focus on the wellness of younger people is often a key recruiting tool,” he said. “In turn, this leads to the recruitment of like-minded individuals who have a focus on healthy lifestyles.”

He added, “It's a virtuous circle.”