Employee Health and Wellness

Employee Health and Wellness: A Long-Term Committment

“Corporate Health and Wellness” – what does that phrase mean to you? To many of us, it evokes an array of ambivalent thoughts — the fitness center membership we barely used, the nagging ankle injury from last year’s company picnic, the backaches, the bratwurst we had for lunch, the love handles and of course, the fad diets that failed us or that we failed. Usually, Employee Health and Wellness is a guilt trigger that causes us to feel remorse about our bodies and the health management we know we should be doing for them.

The sad fact is that we live in a society where our survival is dependent on sitting at a desk, not hunting game, picking berries and sprinting away from wolves. We also live in such luxury, nutritionally, that we can gain weight steadily without being wealthy. Cardiovascular disease, obesity and poor dietary habits cause most of the Employee Health and Wellness issues that weigh down staff member attendance and erode a corporation’s productivity.

It’s ironic that the poorest societies in the world – the ones furthest from the conveniences of modern life – often boast the fittest, most physically hardy members. And as for the animal kingdom — don’t look there for Employee Health and Wellness commiseration. In the wild, it is extremely rare to find an animal that suffers from our kind of wellness issues.

Prescription Medication dependency degrades Employee Health and Wellness

It doesn’t help that Americans are descending into a deadly love affair with drugs — and drug testing won’t help you with these drugs.

For example, Greg Critser’s book Generation RX details how Americans spend about $180 billion dollars on Prescription Medications each year, with the estimated 2011 tally at a whopping $414 billion. The average number of Prescription Medications per United State citizens in 2004 stood at twelve.

Twelve! That means that your average staff member is taking 14, 18, or even more than 20 medications in an attempt to improve their Health and Wellness.

Is this effective, though? Critser is not convinced that the prescription medications help United States Employee Health and Wellness. In fact, he points out a bevy of negative Employee Health and Wellness consequences for America’s legal drug addition, which include drug interactions, liver damage, and the legions of people who now depend on prescription medications to deal with ordinary trials and stresses.

An employer has the potential to improve Employee Health and Wellness

It’s not all bad news, though. Occupational health screenings and well-designed corporate Health Promotion Programs can help you fight the downward Employee Health and Wellness spiral for you and your workforce. In fact, good Employee Health and Wellness efforts – like a strong walking health promotion programs initiative – can literally save lives and reduce the symptoms that cause employees to turn to prescription medications in the first place.

Good Employee Health and Wellness Starts with Employee Health and Wellness

Employee Health and Wellness might be the fatal flaw in your Employee Health and Wellness Initiative. Is Employee Health and Wellness part of your strategy? Does worksite wellness stop when your employees leave the office?

Give Your Employees Health and Wellness Continuity

If employees don’t have the tools to pursue health and wellness on a individual level, then it becomes easy for them to “fall off the wagon” and slide back into a unealthy lifestyles. If you have a walking program, for example, it should encourage employees to build walking routes near their homes, perhaps with the cooperation of the neighborhood association or coworkers who live in the neighborhood.

Employee Health and Wellness Means Never Being “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”

Your Corporate Employee Health and Wellness Initiative coordinators should have “vacation wellbeing” as part of their job scope. In other words, you don’t want corporate health promotion to stop at the boundaries of the worksite campus. Instead, integrate individual health and wellness with your Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

This benefits your Employee Health and Wellness Programs in two ways:

it reduces the chance that the staff member will come back to the office feeling unfit, overwhelmed and unable to resume their Employee Health and Wellness Programs; and
it shows that their employer is just as invested in their individual health and wellness as they are

Like a marathon, individual health and wellness is a long-term commitment and it’s difficult for anyone to do in isolation. Simply put, it’s easier to maintain your health when you know others are depending on you and watching your individual performance. It’s easier to stick to an exercise program when you have a jogging partner who wakes you up when you oversleep, or spots you when you’re lifting weights.

Similarly, it’s easier to stick to your Employee Health and Wellness Initiative when you know your employer is supporting you and wishing you the best.

Don’t Dictate Individual Health

Just as Employee Health and Wellness surveys serve a vital function in building a Employee Health and Wellness Initiative, it’s critical that you involve employees in designing an off-site wellness strategy. No one enjoys being told what to do, but everyone enjoys having assistance in tacking tough problems. Make it clear that employees are in charge of their own health and wellness. Your role as their health management partner is to support, advise, counsel, provide resources and information.

Of course, don’t forget that part of individual health and wellness responsibility is to provide good health risk assessment baselines so employees can proceed safely on the road to better fitness.

What is a Employee Health and Wellness Initiative Proposal?

You probably have seen this term many times and wondered what exactly it means. A Employee Health and Wellness Initiative Proposal is a proposal put together by a wellness consultant that makes suggestions for what type of Employee Health and Wellness Programs you should choose, what tools you will need to accomplish your corporation’s wellness goals, and costs associated with it.

Employee Health and Wellness Initiative Proposals Assist Human Resource Departments

A Employee Health and Wellness Initiative Proposal is a great thing to have in hand when HR Departments go to upper management to request funding for a Employee Health and Wellness Initiative. It will provide necessary stats and trends, background information, and costs that will enable the HR Department to fully present their case. Upper management will appreciate the preparedness and the research that has gone into your wellness request.

Employee Health and Wellness Initiative Proposals Lead to Better Employee Health and Wellness Programs

A well thought out Employee Health and Wellness Initiative Proposal can lead to a better Employee Health and Wellness Initiative, because the building blocks will already be in place. Employee Health and Wellness Initiative Proposals will guarantee that your corporation gets the proper Employee Health and Wellness Initiative established. Employee Health and Wellness Programs can vary greatly, but when your employees ask, you can tell them that they generally include the following:

Walking programs which provides employees with incentives to take their walking breaks at their worksite.
Company teams, worksite yoga classes and massage therapists at the worksite.
Nutrition advice, weight-loss and healthy cooking classes, stress management sessions, and either an Employee Health Promotion resources column in the staff member newsletter or a wellness newsletter.
Stairwell initiatives to show how stair-walking can improve health.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs and Health Care Costs

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are important now more than ever. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, with the troubles in the economy it seems that the costs of employer provided medical care keep continuing to grow and it doesn’t seem like it is going to change. The article states that during the year 2008, United States businesses can expect to see an increase of 10% in medical care costs.

This increase in medical care costs is causing some small businesses to reduce their staff member health benefits or get rid of them altogether.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs for Healthier Lifestyles

Employee Health and Wellness Programs do provide an option for small businesses. The corporations can provide discounted co-pays and deductibles to those employees that fully participate in the provided Employee Health and Wellness Initiative. Full participation means getting health screens, receiving a health risk assessment, and then working with their wellness coordinator to work towards a healthier lifestyle.

The healthier the employees, the lower the overall medical care costs for the corporation. Just one lengthy hospital stay can almost deplete a small business’ medical care budget.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs and Your Bottom Line

Employee Health and Wellness Programs provide many advantages to a corporation’s bottom-line. Health Promotion Statistics from Prudential Insurance show a benefit expense of $312 per individual enrolled in a Employee Health and Wellness Initiative compared to an expense of $574 per staff member that wasn’t enrolled. Coors Brewing Company showed a positive side-effect of participant absenteeism dropping by 18%, thus greater production and less medical care costs overall.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Bring Healthier Bottom-lines

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are a healthy investment, at least according to Lincoln industries in Nebraska. CNN reported on this 565 staff member company located in Lincoln, Nebraska and their serious and committed investment in their staff member’s wellness.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are part of company Culture

The Employee Health and Wellness Programs, according the story, has been in place for 16 years at Lincoln industries, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The company has three full-time employees dedicated to the Employee Health and Wellness Initiative and the wellness of the employees, who receive on-site massages and a round of instructor-led stretching before they start their shifts.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Assessed

According to CNN, one of the stipulations of the Employee Health and Wellness Initiative, which employees are not required to participate in, is that they receive quarterly checkups where assessments are completed on their weight, amount of body fat and flexibility. Based on these health assessments, the employees are then ranked from platinum all the way down to “non-medal”. To become platinum level, where you receive a company-paid climbing trip, you must achieve certain fitness levels and be a non-smoker. Smoking cessation classes are part of the Employee Health and Wellness Initiative.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Bring Big Savings

The Employee Health and Wellness Initiative has been a wise investment for Lincoln Industries. By having healthier employees, they have seen an average of $2 million in savings in medical care costs per year. The savings don’t stop there, since instituting a Employee Health and Wellness Initiative, workers’ compensation claims have gone from $500,000 per year down to less than $10,000 per year.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Becoming Popular

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are becoming popular outside the worksite, showing the ever-increasing importance of disease prevention and health risk management. Private insurance corporations, as well as state Medicaid and Medicare offices are working on ways to improve the health of the people they insure in hopes to save money in the long run. They are finding that mini-Employee Health and Wellness Programs are definitely the way to go.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Help with Early Intervention

According to an article that appeared in The Indianapolis Star, businesses, insurers and government agencies are turning to “early intervention to change the behavior of those struggling with common but dangerous health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, heart failure and coronary heart disease.”

The tactics that they incorporate to improve their beneficiaries’ wellness postcard reminders for different lab tests or check-ups; and possibly even phone calls from nurses to work with the patients to make sure that they are taking their medicines properly and following the lifestyle changes that were suggested by their medical care provider.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Offer Quality Benefits

There are more benefits to a Employee Health and Wellness Initiative than just the cost savings that an employer or a state agency will see; there is the benefit to the actually patient. The patient is going to get the motivation and the incentive to get better or to manage their health and their health risks by having to answer to someone, whether that someone is a full-time wellness staff member at their company or a nurse affiliated with their insurance company.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs provide Long-Term Savings

Employee Health and Wellness Programs, according to an article in Crain’s Detroit Business, come in two varieties:  Employee Health and Wellness Programs or Health Insurance products that aim to lower costs if healthy habits are followed.  Both options are a good choice, but only one will really provide long-term health benefits for your employees and lower costs over the years.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs provide Help

Insurance-based products provide employees the opportunity, according to the article by Jay Green, to save money on their premiums if they follow certain steps, including performing an internet-based health assessment, visiting their doctor, and agree to adopt a healthy lifestyle.  These plans usually involve one coach call to the staff member during the first 90 days.  We wonder if these brief wellness encounters will actually change a individual’s lifestyle.

It is the overall change in a individual’s lifestyle, as well as disease prevention that will lead to lower health costs in the future.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs provide convenient health risk assessments and screening tests for things like diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.  As the article states, these have initial start-up costs, but the savings accrue over time and employees are more likely to stay active in an worksite staff member Wellness Program.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Get Results

Finally, the article states that corporations with an effective Employee Health and Wellness Initiative can expect to see “500 percent lower absenteeism, 400 percent fewer disability claims, and 350 percent lower medical care costs.”  These are numbers that are very hard to argue with.