Company Wellness Programs

Wellness program means different things to different companies. Effective wellness programs can be as simple as bringing bushel baskets of fresh fruit into break rooms to encourage better consuming. They can be as robust as building fitness facilities on-site or compensating for obesity treatments.

A driving factor behind the push toward wellness spans organizations of all types, sizes and cultures –  that is, healthcare expenditures are spilling over the corporate belt buckle.

The annual cost of medical services in the USA is rising at seven times the rate of inflation.  And the rise in medical costs is one boom pundits expect our economy to sustain.1

This trend makes it increasingly difficult for employers to maintain current levels of insurance coverage. In 2003, health care inflation forced 65% of organizations to raise employees’ share of medical costs.

Seventy-nine% of large firms said they’ll increase workers’ share of medical costs in 2004.2 But with lost benefits and increased financial burdens come lost morale and productivity.

Businesss are searching for another way. While corporations can’t control many of the supply-side elements contributing to rising healthcare costs-malpractice insurance rates, the nursing shortage-they can help curb demand. That’s why efforts are being redirected from disease to wellness.

The case for wellness is supported by an ever growing body of evidence demonstrating the high costs associated with controllable health risks –

• One study reports that obesity raises health care costs by 36% and medication costs by 77%.  

• Michigan officials estimate lack of exercise cost the state almost $8.9 billion in 2002, a cost estimated to be largely borne by companys through insurance premiums and lost productivity.

• The not-for-profit National Committee for Quality Assurance reports that the estimated typical cost for postnatal care for women who didn’t receive prenatal care was $2,341 more than for women who had.  And the indirect costs of unhealthful behavior may be just as high.

Data shows that healthier personnel are more productive, spending more time at work and showing increased “presenteeism,” or productivity, while there. Further, healthier personnel use fewer medical services.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. – heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes –  are directly linked to unhealthful lifestyles. Obviously, encouraging healthful habits presents an opportunity to improve employees’ well being, reduce the need for healthcare services and help control costs.

Offering staff member wellness benefits – big or small – represents an intersection between corporate social responsibility and responsibility to stakeholders. Between staff member health and corporate health. It’s often the right thing to do for staff and companys.

Research by Traveler’s Corp. shows a $3.40 return for every dollar invested in Wellness Programs. for a lot of businesses, the option to offer employee health promotion benefits is easy-one where conscience and pragmatism align.

The challenge arises in choosing  the programs that will deliver the most impact based on trends in your employees’ health risks and medical claims costs.

From big businesses to the corner deli, corporation owners welcome ways to improve productivity, reduce rates of absenteeism and cut costs. Likewise, health promotion programs can range from modest to elaborate.

In determining where to focus a organization’s limited resources, looking at costs, benefits and best practices is a good starting point. This section profiles six aspects of wellness and explores their benefits to workforce and employers.

When it comes to working wellness into your workforce, you want someone who knows the ins and outs of wellness, and who can counsel workers and provide primary care – all within the context of the current regulatory and legal environment.

AAOHN’s survey reported that more than half of employees (61 percent) want to receive wellness information from a health care expert, such as a advisor or an onsite occupational health nurse (OHN), compared to  flyers or  flyers (18 percent) or human resources (HR) staff (15 percent).

OHNs can develop, implement and evaluate components of work site wellness programs such as screening programs, exercise/fitness courses, stress management, smoking cessation, nutrition and weight control programs, in addition to chronic disease management programs.

Plus, OHNs can help workers navigate through complicated health plans and might even serve as a triage point between workers and their personal health care providers.

Staff Members might refrain from seeing their health care provider when it means time away from work, inconvenient parking, waiting time in the office and co-pays.

In situations where workforce are under treatment for chronic conditions like heart disease, onsite nurses can routinely monitor risk factors like blood pressure (BP) or cholesterol on a regular basis.

It’s often easier for an staff member to ask an onsite nurse for information about signs or prescription medication than it’s to schedule a follow-up visit to an individual health care provider.

Benefits realized by employers include enhanced worker morale and retention, a recruitment advantage, increased productivity and decreased time away from work.

In corporations with a safety department, the OHN can evaluate and address work-related health issues, including participation in workstation examinations to correct potential ergonomic problems, and proactively addressing muscle strains by developing stretching programs and involving personnel in leading stretches.

Health Promotion Programs are excellent for waistlines and your bottom line

In today’s hectic world, most of us are spending more time at work, and have increasingly less time to look after our health. for a long time, corporations have understood the benefits associated with keeping workforce well – increased productivity from reduced absenteeism and reduced disability claims.

For these reasons, coupled with the fact that many companies realized double-digit health care costs last year, companies should consider Health Promotion Programs as a way to keep staff members healthy.

But just how important are these programs to employees? How often are they willing to participate in programs designed to positively impact their wellness? Who do personnel trust to provide them with important information about their health?

Answers to these questions and more were lately garnered from a research study  commissioned by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Inc. (AAOHN).

The AAOHN survey questioned 500 personnel nationwide about their perceptions of Health Promotion Programs. More than three-quarters of all participants indicated these programs are a good way to improve their overall health, and almost 60% consider these offerings an incentive to remain with their current company.

Staff Member retention and turnover impact the bottom line, so building wellness programs into the work site culture is a valuable way to help retain talented personnel as well to enhancing personal health and workplace productivity.

Health Promotion wish list

Employees appear to have their own agenda when it comes to their health. With new pressures resulting from an unstable economy, national security threats and work/balance issues, it’s not surprising that 85% of survey respondents cited stress management as a priority topic for work site wellness.

In addition to stress, other preferred topic areas include health screening programs (84 percent), exercise/physical fitness programs (84 percent), health insurance education (81 percent) and disease management workshops (80 percent).

In addition to lifestyle and personal health issues, those asked expressed concern about work-related health issues, including strains and injuries resulting from lifting or task-oriented muscle repetition, exposure to harmful substances, personal injury, vision changes because of computer work and workplace violence.

Starting a Health Promotion Program

With such a broad range of health concerns, a key goal for businesss is finding a way to proactively address the health needs of the largest number of staff, and effectively change unhealthy behaviors, promote wellness and ward off illness and illness.

Printed materials like  brochures, posters, fliers or  brochures present an easy solution. But it’s important to remember that different people  require different formats for learning.

A good rule of thumb –  provide information in a selection of learning formats such as videos,  flyers, health-related quizzes, display boards, lunch and learn presentations and reimbursement or incentive programs.

This assumes you’ve overcome the first hurdle – getting people  to sign on to a wellness program. While survey respondents indicated wellness programs are important, just six out of 10 (60 percent) announced that they participated in the wellness programs at their corporations. the other 40% cited lack of interest and lack of time as deterrents.

This points to the need for a extensive, structured health promotion program using a creative approach, with an incentive for participation and effective program advertising.

By investing in an organized wellness program headed by a licensed healthcare specialist like an onsite nurse, businesses can give workforce the access to the medical information they want, and increase participation and generate interest at the same time.

The result –  staff members become savvier healthcare consumers who feel more in charge of their personal health.  And healthier staff members make for a healthier bottom line.

Health promotion programs are designed to help improve the overall health and awareness of health related issues of staff members in the workplace.

Despite the fact that these programs are set up to help individuals set, work toward and maintain healthful lifestyle choices, they sometimes fail.

There are five main reasons health promotion programs are unsuccessful. the first reason is because of lack of staff member interest. It’s critical when presenting a new health promotion program to staff members that every effort is made to communicate the all encompassing benefits of the program to the organization and to the individual.

Next, health promotion programs can fail because of lack of staff resources. When a health promotion program is introduced but there are few resources to offer with the program, it will be difficult for an worker to want to take benefit of it.

As part of the previous reason for failure of a wellness program, inadequate funding also can set a program up for failure. With little money to promote a wellness program, it can be challenging to spread the word about the benefits of a wellness program.

An all too frequent reason that health promotion programs do not reach optimal success is because the program and its coordinators fail to engage high risk personnel. If high risk personnel have the majority of the health issues in a workplace, they ought to be the most targeted person for a health promotion program.

To see 100 percent participation is the optimal goal, but to engage those with the most severe health concerns is a huge priority.

In conclusion, the inability to enlist the support of higher management is a meaningful reason why health promotion programs may not be successful. Without the endorsement, support and flexibility that management can offer a health promotion program, it’s far less likely that it’ll actually succeed.

Health promotion programs succeed for just as many reasons as they fail. With engaged and aroused workers, obtaining wellness goals is attainable and promising.

Corporate wellness involves many aspects of the workplace and can look dramatically different based upon the shared wellness vision.

Health Promotion efforts can also be uniquely tailored to women and men, old and young or to special health needs. Health Promotion in the workplace should be a top priority regardless of gender, age or special needs.

Living healthful requires time and attention and often special wellness activities designed by a wellness committee can help reach certain health goals.

Most wellness programs allow for each staff member to dictate the objectives and activities that will make up their wellness objectives.

Very often, the business will jump in with wellness programs or incentives.  As when sponsoring a competition, some businesss will pay workforce for reaching weight reduction objectives.

Other wellness ideas may include special benefits or compensation for reaching health objectives. It may be difficult to gage what’ll motivate some workers, but knowing that most workers don’t want to pay more for health care is a good begin.

A solid health promotion program is a surefire way to cut down on healthcare costs, lost vacation time, and other miscellaneous medical testing.

With a unified wellness committee taking employees opinions into account, there ought to be goals set up across the board that’ll help focus and monitor health care goals for all involved employees.

Some staff members may choose to focus on specific health concerns while others may want to improve their overall health through diet, exercise and stress relief techniques.

When some personnel seem adamant about admitting health concerns, it might be helpful to reaffirm confidentiality with each employee.

Other personnel may find it helpful to join a group or a partner in working toward health care objectives. Studies have proven that working on any type of goal with another individual increases the percentage of completion and success.

Employee wellness can come in any shape, form or timeframe. It’s more important to have resources in place for workforce to ensure a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Wellness programs encourage people  to start taking steps toward health care avoidance by teaching healthful decision making. These programs are designed to decrease health care costs, lower rates of absenteeism, and increase productivity.

It is believed that many illnesses in America are preventable by proper biometric screenings and small changes toward a healthier lifestyle. the most valuable resource a company has is its personnel.

By investing time and money into them, the organization would reap the benefits of having more focused and healthier workforce.

For an worker, health promotion programs can lead you towards living a healthier lifestyle and becoming a much healthier person. Depending on what a business offers you are able to learn how to reduce stress, keep your sugar levels in control, and even lose weight.

The support you’ll receive from your colleagues will help you reachyour health goals. From eating a healthful lunch together to forming a racquetball tournament, you’ll develop a feeling of friendship between colleagues.

Social influences are a major part of a healthy life style. You will be getting encouragement from peers in addition to encouraging others around you to live healthy.

For employers, these health promotion programs proved to have a considerable return on the investment put into them.

The small amount of funds it costs to begin these programs and continue with them is insurmountable compared to what they save with increased productivity and decreased costs spent on sick time and insurance premiums.

Having business support is a good begin to living a healthier lifestyle. No matter what the approach, Health promotion programs can help make a positive change in your job, life and the community.

Starting these programs is just one way employers around the country are building a healthier and more productive workforce.

Around the United States businesses everywhere are implementing wellness programs. There are a few advantages to offering employee wellness programs.

These programs vary in intricacy, from only offering information to workers on staying healthy to offering a company health club and nutritious meal plans. the bottom line of health promotion programs is that healthy workers are happy workers, and they are what make a company run.

As an employee, wellness programs have a few wellness benefits including assisting you live a healthful lifestyle. Depending on the wellness efforts your business has put into place you can learn how to reduce stress, keep your sugar levels in control, and even lose weight if desired.

The support peers will give each other will help in improving worker health. Social influences are a major part of a healthy life style. You’ll be getting encouragement from peers as well as stimulating others around you to promote wellness in the workplace.

There are a few barriers to wellness programming in the workplace. Aligning cultural touch points will aid in the effort to promote employee wellness. From resource commitment to rewards and recognition it’s the job of the corporation to support a healthy lifestyle as much as possible.

Hiring wellness specialists that have a shared wellness vision with the organization’s management is another option to promote wellness in the workplace. They can give wellness coaching and advice on how to live healthy and make healthy decisions.

Workers are a company’s most valuable assets and it’s important to develop opportunities for personal health management, with an emphasis on shared responsibility. A healthful workforce is vital to the growth of the American business and in the long run is fundamental for the progress of the American economy.

While many organizations have amazing health wellness programs, others do not. Sometimes it isn’t the business who determines that a wellness program would be beneficial, but the employees themselves are the ones requesting such an office benefit.

With the correct steps, staff have often been very successful at changing the environment of a workplace.

When an employee or group of personnel wishes to start a health health promotion program within the company, she must first consult with other personnel to see if there’s a mutual interest.

Often times, many people  are thinking about starting something, but no one has taken the first step. A team could  be formed with those interested, and information could  be collected from other staff members about their needs and interests.

If one is considering the proposal of a wellness program to her employer, not only must the requests be made clear (such as a request for a lunchtime yoga class) but the logistics ought to be known before presenting it to the boss. Some of the questions that ought to be considered include –  

• Where will the class be held?
• Who’ll teach the class?
• How’ll the instructor be paid?

Regrettably, there are corporations where employers do not see the advantage of health health promotion programs until they’re presented to them in a clear manner. Staff Members themselves need to be proactive.

When there’s stress, fatigue, and unhealthful snacking because workforce are overwhelmed and feeling easily replaceable, then the company could  be in too distant of a position to realize that the workforce are unhappy.

Rather than continue to complain and be frustrated with the current situation, staff members need to be the ones to make the first step in creating a program that will enable everyone to learn more about how to take care of themselves.

Is your organization’s ROI decreasing? Are the costs of your organization’s health insurance premiums increasing?

If you said yes to either or both of these questions it’s most likely because your workers aren’t getting what they need to work at their highest potential. A good way to change this is through the use of health promotion programs.

Health promotion programs are a excellent way to lessen the stress felt by staff while working, help the physical and mental health of all individuals, create a safer, more fun work environment, and hence increase the productivity of all staff and decrease the cost of medical insurance for the business.

There are many ways that corporations can go about increasing corporate wellness. Among the most popular ways is by building a health club that the employees of the organization can use before or after working.

By building an onsite health club, companies are showing that they’re concerned with the health of their workers and that they’re willing to help with the physical and mental wellness of their employees.

A health club is also promoting necessary healthful strategies such as weight loss, needed daily aerobic exercise, and just in general, everyone’s want/ need to stay healthful and fit. In order for all staff members to stay safe while exercising, a corporation must employ staff whom are properly trained and licensed as fitness trainers.

There are also many other options that corporations have, to go about building worker wellness programs. One other choice is to hold exercise classes such as yoga, spinning, or walking, or to hold educational classes that teach about how to eat healthy, give general health education, or teach more, fun ways to exercise.

Another great way to improve a program is to hold support groups for smoking cessation, weight loss, or dealing with cancer. With a combination of all these different ideas and programs, companies can create successful health promotion programs that help not only the individual workers, but also the business as a whole.

In order for corporations to be performing at their maximum potential they must create fitness and wellness programs that all their staff can participate in.

Fitness and wellness programs are essential for a successful business because they decrease the stress felt by workforce, they help the physical and mental health of individuals, and they develop safer and sometimes more fun work environments.

The effect of those changes is an increase in productivity by workforce because there are less sick days and when they are at work they are more willing and able to do so.

In order to have a successful fitness and health promotion program the corporation must create an outcome-oriented operating plan. There are eight steps to create a complete and successful operating plan for health promotion programs.

1. Come up with a vision statement which includes objectives the organization is attempting to meet. the fitness and health promotion program vision statement must also satisfy the overall company’s vision statement.

2. Make certain to set goals that the corporation and the workforce are attempting to accomplish through the use of a fitness and wellness program.

3. Come up with objectives that the organization and staff can use to accomplish their objectives.

4. Develop a timeline which tells when the program is being implemented and when the goals and goals set should be accomplished.

5. Come up with a realistic budget which includes the cost of the incentives used to encourage workforce, materials used for the program, and person employed to teach classes, or promote safety while exercising.

6. Advertise and market the program to all staff via email, bulletin boards, newsletters, and meetings.

7. Develop an implementation plan which includes detailed information on what programs will be offered, and when.

8. Come up with an investigation plan which includes surveys and participant investigations to determine whether the program is working or not.

With these eight steps organizations can create successful fitness and health promotion programs that better the health of employees while decreasing stress and increasing the overall productivity of the individuals and the corporation in general.