Posts from — July 2009

Corporate Wellness Programs first became popular during the economic boom of the late 1980s and early 90s. Programs featured on-Site health clubs and massages, and were used as recruitment tools for young staff members searching for nontraditional work environments. Nonetheless, when the tech bubble burst, so too did the willingness to spend money on perceived perks, and corporations returned to a more antiquated benefit structure focused on managed medical care.

In recent years, as Healthcare costs have spiraled out of control, organizations have explored the potential of Company Health Promotion Programs as a cost-saving strategy. Businesses such as Johnson and Johnson, General Motors, Motorola and Union Pacifi c Railroad have all seen a signifi cant return on investments in employee health (See Case Studies, p.20). Company Health Promotion Programs can help decrease the costs associated with:

Health Care premiums – The cost a corporation pays for medical insurance: According to a 2005 study by Hewitt, the Health Care cost per employee in the United States in 2006 will average $8,046, with businesses absorbing nearly two-thirds of that cost.

Prescription Drug costs – The price of a drug plan: According to a 2005 study by Mercer, the average annual drug costs for large businesses grew 11.5 percent, making it nearly a decade straight of double-digit increases in cost.

Short-term disability (STD) – The cost of offering short-term disability insurance to staff members: According to a 2004 study by insurance provider Cigna, the average short-term disability claim results in $13,094 in direct disability payments and medical costs. The report also found that 26 percent of claims related to medical events were a result of chronic conditions that could likely be mediated through Workplace Wellness Programs, and that these cases amount for 56 percent of the STD-related medical costs.

Rates of Absenteeism – The cost of missed work: Rates of Absenteeism cost corporations $660 per employee in 2004, with nearly one-third of corporations characterizing the trend as a weighty issue.

Presenteeism – The cost associated with staff members who work at decreased productivity levels: Sixty percent of the total cost of employee illnesses come from presenteeism, according to a 2004 study by the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies at Cornell University.

The evidence is clear that strategically designed Workplace Health Promotion Programs can reduce both direct and indirect Healthcare costs. A 2004 review of Workplace Health Promotion Programs revealed that, in total, an investment of $1 by a company in Wellness Programming returned a median cost savings of $2.05 to $4.64.

Employee Engagement is the level at which employees are aligned with and working toward business objectives and goals. Employee Engagement is altered by a wide range of factors that include internal discussions, business structure, benefits and recognition.

Corporations that have high levels of employee program engagement advance from better productivity, retention and achievement than peers with disengaged employees.  Levels of engagement among employees in the U.S. have been declining over the past decade as individuals have become disillusioned with the treatment of employees by businesses. The inability to engage employees is one of the reasons why, despite steady rises in hours worked, America lags behind several other nations in terms of employee productivity per hours worked.

Workplace Health Promotion Programs may increase employee engagement in several ways. First, when communicated properly, they confirm to workers that the organization cares about their wellbeing. This can improve retention and turnover as well as provide more of a discretionary effort from workers. During a period of significant downsizing, Motorola found increased interest in its Workplace Health Promotion Programs as managers recognized the value of providing for the health and wellbeing of workers.

In addition, the health improvements will lower presenteeism and absenteeism (when workers continue to work despite decreased productiveness), allowing for more time spent at full productiveness. Lastly, healthier workers are more likely to have increased morale, which translates into a more enjoyable and more effective work environment.

The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports interprets wellness as “a multidimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of wellness.” Wellness looks beyond the current model of treating disease and focuses on preventive conduct and healthier lifestyles. Corporate Health Promotion Programs, also frequently referred to as Corporate Health Promotion Programs, serve as a complement to existing insurance-based health benefit programs and can take many forms and address a myriad different potential health conditions. They are a powerful strategy to promote positive lifestyle changes that can result in significant cost savings for businesses.

Examples of potential components of a Company Wellness Program comprise of:

Health Risk Assessments / Employee Health Screenings – Health Risk Assessments (aka Health Risk Appraisals), evaluate the most prevalent lifestyle-related risks of an individual. HRAs often include screenings for Blood Pressure (BP), cholesterol, glucose levels and other health indicators. These analyses provide significant benchmarking measures that ideally will allow staff members to prevent or cut their risk of illnesses. Finding Wealth Through Wellness, As noted by Kathryn Krivy, director of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Wellness Institute in Chicago, “Medically based Health Risk Assessments are a necessity because in order to affect change in your company, you need to know what the problems are, and you just don’t know until you get the data.”

Physical Activity and Weight Management – One of the most popular Workplace Wellness Programs is for corporations to support access to a exercise facility, often onsite. Other potential measures include offering healthier snack machines and cafeteria options, weight management support groups and fitness challenge programs. Some corporations, like hospital group Baptist Health South Florida, will even pay for staff members to go to weight-loss classes such as Weight Watchers.

Awareness and Education Programs – Many  businesses hold events addressing the benefits of nutrition, safety or physical fitness, among other issues. Other options are to host a health and wellbeing fair or lead a disease-awareness campaign.

Behavior Modification – This covers issues like smoking, wearing seat belts, and alcohol use. While many organizations will supply assistance for staff members looking to change behavior, some organizations, like healthcare benefits administrator Weyco, Inc., mandate changes, such as stopping smoking, as a condition of employment.

Alternative Treatments – Other Corporate Wellness Programs can comprise of absorbing some or all of the costs for massages, stress-reduction activities like yoga or even herbal medicines.

A more modern and systemic solution may include businesses implementing Worksite Wellness Programs, which allow businesses to be proactive in preventing disease and promoting healthier lifestyles for employees. When implemented effectively, this approach can drive to reduced direct costs from claims, a reduction in Healthcare premiums and increased employee work rate.

Yet while Employee Health Promotion Programs potentially offer companies large cost savings, the success is dependent upon the ability to involve staff members in them. Additionally, companies must navigate the legal and cultural challenges posed by Employee Health Promotion Programs: Organizations have to be careful that initiatives respect protected classes and the privacy of staff members. Additionally, companies must battle resistance from staff members wary of their employer regulating off-the-clock actions.

Over the next 6-12 posts we’ll layout the case for Worksite Health Promotion Programs in today’s employment environment, arguing that the cost savings and raised employee program engagement outweigh potential restrictions. We will examine the considerations a organization must make before launching a Worksite Health Promotion Program and the communication necessary to create successful engagement from workers. Finally, we will discuss several successful Worksite Health Promotion Programs and provide a list of resources that corporations can use for guidance.

During the past several years healthcare insurance premiums have climbed at a steady pace. This is taking a toll on the bottom-line of businesses, cutting into profits, limiting growth and forcing a reevaluation of a once sacred employee benefit system. According to a projection by McKinsey & Co., at the present rate, by 2008 health benefits will eclipse profits at the average Fortune 500 organization.

Businesses, through private healthcare insurance employers, are the leading provider of healthcare services in the U.S.. In 2004, 59.8 percent of Americans were covered by a corporation-based healthcare insurance program, accounting for 88 percent of all private healthcare insurance. Yet the growing costs of Healthcare, ever-rising drug prices and a steady rise in chronic diseases have brought the corporate society to a breaking point.

For many employers the growing burden has become too difficult to bear. Over the past five years health care insurance premiums have grown an average of 11.6% annually, more than four times the average rate of inflation and employee earnings over that time.3 Not surprisingly, this exponential growth in premiums has caused the number of employers offering Medical Care services during that time to drop from 69% to 60%.4 In addition, in 2005,  health care insurance premiums jumped 9.2%, more than three times the rate of inflation – and that was the lowest increase in the past five years.

In this environment employers need to discover progressive ways to mitigate the rising costs of Health Care coverage. Seemingly, the easiest strategies to accomplish this goal would be to lower benefits coverage or pass on agrowing burden to staff members and retirees. Greater than 80% of employers have chosen one or both of these cost saving measures in the past several years and almost half of all sizable employers are likely to increase the amount staff members pay in 2007.5

Still, these methods do nothing to address the primary causes of increasing premiums, one of which is a population that requires increased healthcare. To make a long-term and substantial effect on premiums and central health, employers need to look beyond a old-school reactive-based approach.

Coordinating corporation fitness and Worksite Health Promotion Programs is not about beginning a grand scheme that is so complicated it is underutilized.

Workplace Wellness Programs are about starting an environment that encourages fitness and healthy living. The program ought to be accessible and make sense to the people it is directed at throughout the day.

The outcomes will be a plan that offers plenty of opportunity for exercise, teaches proper nutrition and stays current on health problems beneficial to the workers.

The results will be a plan that gives plenty of opportunity for exercise, teaches proper nutrition and stays current on health concerns productive to the workers.

Designing Organization Exercise Programs and Employee Health Promotion Programs – Making a Proposition

Coordinating company fitness and Corporate Wellness Programs means understanding there are many directions the program can take. For starters, it must be of interest to staff members at all levels.

The company’s proposal to the employee is this: you take better care of yourselves and we will help you accomplish your intention. To be effective, the Employee Health Promotion Program must be pervasive.

In other words, it must address the needs of the top executives as well as the warehouse staff members. The variety of jobs within a business usually indicate wide differences in stress and strain levels on the body and differences in mental and emotional stress.

The program must also take into account employee habits at work and at home. A company with a company fitness and Employee Wellness Program in place sends the message to its employees and customers is that the company takes health seriously.

Structuring employer fitness and Company Health Promotion Programs involves determining the types of activities that will be most effective for the circumstance.

Every corporation will need a different plan. A corporation fitness plan can include a lot more than just an fitness program and dietary planning.

It can offer real opportunity to enhance the entire corporation environment. A Workplace Health Promotion Program can include the following:
• Health intervention for existing health problems
• Recreational programs that engage workers and their families
• Ergonomics to decrease work strain and resulting injuries
• Specialized programs that target employees with physical conditions interfering with work performance
• Addressing health and fitness concerns related to an aging work force
• Creating fitness programs specifically designed to expand employee work-specific strength

The benefits of carefully coordinating corporation fitness and Worksite Wellness Programs are obvious. Workers get access to the exercise program either workplace or through corporation membership at the gym.

Structuring employer fitness and Employee Health Promotion Programs means including those components critical to great health.
• Meal structuring and sound food choices
• Courses instructing on the food pyramid and how the body processes nutrients
• Instruction on working out safely
• Weight loss and weight management

The advantages for the company are endless.
• Savings on Health Care costs
• Fewer employee sick days
• Employees with a sense of health fitness
• Lowerincidences of chronic ailments
• Attracts new employees dedicated to fitness

Structuring Corporation Exercise Programs and Corporate Health Promotion Programs – Closing the Deal

Implementing and structuring business fitness and Employee Wellness Programs nets big benefits for staff members and the business.
workers are happier, feel better, are more satisfied with their work, are healthier and have more vitality.
Stress is lowerd which positively impacts the attitudes of workers, lowers injuries and makes workers more constructive.
Closing the deal on a physical activity program means the business and workers sign on the dotted line of health. Don’t let Health Care care costs continue to rise. Start now designing business fitness and Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

Company Wellness Program proposals must be designed so that they meet employer goal.

Company Wellness Programs for workers are the newest attack on employee unhealthy lifestyles that are equating to exorbitant healthcare expenditures.

Workplace Health Promotion Program Proposals for starting a program must take into consideration the type of company, the budget and the makeup of the employee population.

Worksite Health Promotion Programs for office employee will be different than programs for construction employees

The objective will be same, but the approach to reaching those objective will be different. For a program to be considered successful, outcomes must be measurable.

• staff members achieve better overriding conditioning
• Medical Care claims decline
• Productiveness increases
• staff members experience fewer sick days
• Number of injuries declines
• Physical issues like high Blood Pressure are lowerd
In general, Workplace Wellness Program proposals must target the fitness concerns at the company and provide plans for progress.

Worksite Wellness Program Proposals – Going the Distance

There are many different kinds of wellness proposals.

• One-one-one employee assessments by a  professional health care provider
• Outside specialist assistance for program design and implementation only
• Ongoing program monitoring by a personal trainer
• In-house program design
• Fitness Center memberships
• Workplace Wellness Programs
• Complete Company Health Promotion Programs including diet and fitness
• Programs that address a specific concern like injury at the worksite

These are just a few forms Workplace Wellness Program proposals can take. A Wellness program can be very basic or elaborate depending on the business budget. A program can cover up to 4 components.

• Education on health topics
• Screening programs with follow-up screening
• Corporation culture of health improvement

• Fitness and nutrition programs – supervised and unsupervised programs can cover a myriad of health and fitness information and movements. The rewards for starting a Worksite Health Promotion Program are unlimited.

Employee Health Promotion Program proposals offer a way for management to invest in their staff members with a promise of returns in the form of productivity and cost savings.

Wellness Proposals – Healthy Alternatives

Company Wellness Program proposals provide workers alternatives to specific health ailments. Proposals can address particular problems in addition to overriding fitness.

These topics comprise of stopping smoking, more flexibility for job achievement, preventing back injuries, preventing repetitive motion strain, improving loss of functionality due to age and prenatal programs.

Corporate Wellness Program proposals must have goal that cover improving employee morale, more productiveness, reducing absenteeism, more employee vitality and netting Healthcare savings to the organization.

Worksite Health Promotion Program costs can significantly vary and many cover cost sharing between the employee and the business to cover gym fees. The bottom line is that a business can design a Worksite Health Promotion Program proposal that suits the business budget, employee lifestyles, and employee and business mission.

In any of the Corporate Wellness Program proposals, active alternatives to current corporation problems must be spelled out. Employee health is a top priority for any corporation that cares about its success.

Research web-based the different Workplace Health Promotion Program proposals that are available for organizations. Then select the one that works as if your employees’ lives depended on it, because that very well may be the case.

Company Health Promotion Programs has become a critical component of employers. It has become apparent in a service oriented economy that workers are living more sedentary lives than ever before.

As a outcome, a myriad of healthcare ailments plague the workforce costing the employee quality of life, while the business faces growing Health Care costs.

It is a situation in which no one wins. Waiting until the problem occurs is self-defeating for both the business and the employee. Company Wellness Programs only makes good sense by discussing the problem before it happens.

Workplace Wellness Program – Cease and Desist Order

Employee Health Promotion Programs are like cease and desist orders. These particular orders are instructions on why staff members should cease living unhealthy lives and desist from eating junk food.

Let’s face it – employee frequently eat unhealthy food throughout the day. Office employees, line employees, sales associates, and executives – they all fall prey to the temptations of donuts, snack machines food, office party snacks and so on.

The bad habits continue at home. Food that is bad for your health is staples in an abundance of diets. These foods include too much white bread, cakes, alcohol, fast food picked up on the way home and unhealthy snacks like buttered popcorn and sugar rich soda drinks.

Poor diet and little or no exercise results in genuine chronic illnesses eventually including heart disease and strokes.

Waiting until the ailments occur is expensive. Growing medical care costs are taking a genuine monetary toll on employers. Every dime that is invested on illness recovery could have been invested on a company preventive health and Employee Health Promotion Program.

Prevention means starting conditions such that illness and injury are minimized through diet and exercise and an awareness of what is a good fitness plan.

• employees are screened for potential for serious chronic diseases such as diabetes
• workers are taught the value of great diet and how to develop a dietary plan
• Individual job stress levels are judged
• Fitness Programs are made easily accessible to encourage participation
• Frequent seminars are helpful on relevant topics of health and Workplace Wellness Programs
• Business provides incentive programs to maximize participation

Most employees do not be aware of the long-term consequences of living a life with little or no exercise. Worksite Wellness Programs bring the information to the employees so they can make informed decisions.

The decline in sick days, fewer injuries and decreased stress stimulates work and lowers costs.

Workplace Wellness Program – Resuming New Health

Employee Wellness Programs can be elaborate menus of choices or simple plans that show staff members how to enhance their quality of life.

The programs can cover all the topics that confront employees during their work day also. These kinds of topics include preventing injury, fitting exercise into a full schedule, making healthy fast food choices or decreasing work related stress.

No matter what form the business preventive health and fitness program takes the benefits will be rapidly incurred. It only takes a couple of weeks for staff members to begin to feel the results of a more active life.

A physical activity program instructs on diet and provides the opportunity for exercises that tone, strengthen and enhance flexibility.

Employee Wellness Programs only make sense. It produces a corporation culture that speaks volumes about the priority of a healthy lifestyle.

Once workers stop their old sedentary habits, they are left with the choice of resuming new active attitudes and practices.

Workplace Health Promotion Programs are here to stay.

Corporation health and fitness are not just words to be spouted so people think the business cares about its employees. Health and fitness are significant concepts that are just as vital to a business as finance and sales.

That’s because the health of its staff members is one of the major determinants of the health of the company. Company staff members work long and difficult hours and sometimes the price they pay becomes an unhealthy lifestyle.

A caring corporation does not want its staff members to be plagued with a myriad of serious health problems. A Corporate Health Promotion Program is a alliance of an staff members desire to fit exercise into a full schedule and a company’s desire for a active crew.

It’s a takeover of poor health affecting corporation work.

Worksite Wellness Programs – Benefits

Bearer bonds are owned by whoever has them in hand. Their value to the person who carries them is realized by ownership. Health operates under the same concept.

An employee and the company must take ownership of the Workplace Health Promotion Program concept. A company has many choices as to how it starts a health and Workplace Health Promotion Programs.

• A professional organization writes a organization specific fitness plan
• A Worksite Health Promotion Program professional and the business jointly create a fitness plan
• An internet based fitness consultant can be utilized
• A personal trainer at a fitness center develops a employer program
• Company can create its own plan without assistance from outside professionals.

A Company Health Promotion Program may center around a program at a fitness center. It can also be based at the workplace itself, making it easily accessible to staff members.

Utilizing a professional provides means the organization gets knowledge based assistance in evaluating employees. Each employee gets an evaluation of basic health status. Customized fitness plans are instituted and progress is monitored.

A qualified consultant can be available at the fitness center, or visit worksite as schedules. Some corporations hire a certified fitness trainer to work directly with staff members on an ongoing basis at the workplace. Other corporations pay for the services of a trainer at the nearest fitness center.

The company health and Corporate Health Promotion Programs vary. A company may institute a fitness plan that includes staff members and their families by paying for family membership at the fitness center.

The benefits of this plan is that the whole family can use the fitness center, which encourages participation. A lot  corporations pay for the entire cost of the Company Health Promotion Program at a fitness center.

Some employers pay a portion while the employee must pay the difference. Others only pay part and the employee pays the balance. Some company fitness plans are multi-layered and offer a wide range of exercise classes and seminars on diet.

There are group activities and daily tips for bettering health. Some plans are very simple in that most of the internal Corporate Health Promotion Program is mostly information. All exercise is done outside the corporation at the gym.

It doesn’t matter what form the plan takes. The point is that a Company Wellness Program is valuable for the success of the corporation and the health of the employees. Taking care of its most valuable assets, the employees, only makes sense.

Company Health Promotion Programs – Like Stock Options?

Corporations offer stock options, whereby staff members can buy stock in the corporation. It is another form of ownership. Workers have many options when it comes to fitness.

Their health needs, genetics, work environment and current physical condition all play into the structure of the Workplace Health Promotion Program. It is up to the employer to provide a program that involves all employees so that maximum benefits are realized on both sides.

In other words, employees have plenty of options and the business realizes real dollar savings through a healthier crew.

Business Physical Activity Program – Group Effort

Businesses are expected to be socially responsible in today’s culture. It used to be workers had few amenities, because the corporation didn’t see any benefit to the corporation.

Times have changed drastically. Companies now be aware of that the health of its employee workforce is indicative of the health of the employer itself. The employer exercise program was introduced to encourage active employee lifestyles, even while on the job.

Half The Time

Stress is a huge factor in how we manage a heavy workload. Stress impacts our physical and mental wellbeing. It even produces a chemical that is processed into fat by our bodies. A employer fitness program uses exercise and health information to teach staff members how to stay physically in-shape.

When in-shape, the body and mind is much better able to handle stress. Stress has an abundance of side effects. It can cause inattention, sickness and high Blood Pressure (BP). These effects in turn cost the business an abundance of money in absenteeism, poor productivity and higher healthcare costs.

A organization fitness program makes fitness a priority in the organization among its workers. In return, a fitness program provides many benefits to the organization.

• Increased productivity because of progresss in health
• Increased employee concentration due to minimization of stress effects
• General improved morale
• Decreased absenteeism

You usually hear people who are under much stress say, “I do not know why I did that” when they make a mistake. The truth is they probably really do not know that their concentration is misdirected because of stress.

I Want to Participate

A company physical activity program can take many forms.

• Exercise Program can be set up at the business’s facility and managed by an employee
• Organization physical activity program  can have a company membership with a nearby fitness center
• Exercise Program can be under contract with a certified personal trainer who comes to the employer’s facility and coordinates the program, including employee assessments
• Fitness Program can be managed by an employee workplace using the services of a web based physical activity program

A corporation physical activity program can be modified in almost any way necessary to accommodate the corporation and its employees.

Usually, in any program, seminars are provided periodically also to inform employees of current health topics and trends. As a minimum, a business program normally will provide the following:

• Aerobics for cardiovascular conditioning
• Abdomen strength building
• General muscle toning
• Exercises for better flexibility

More elaborate programs will offer employee classes, courses and gym equipment. Corporation programs can be adapted to any company and any budget.

Why Will This Work

We spend much time at our job. It’s simple for staff members to skip working out, blaming it on lack of time. Using professional fitness services like those found here takes away the excuses that are costing the organization money.