Statistics do show that Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives increase staff member morale, improve the ability to attract and retain key employees, all while having more alert and productive workers. Some Company Health and Wellness Program ROI statistics of note:

• Canada Life Insurance reported a return of $3.43 on Corporate Health Promotion Program, and an overall Company Health and Wellness Program ROI of $6.85 on each business dollar invested on decreased turnover (32.4% lower), productivity gains and decreased medical claims,
• DuPont’s Company Health and Wellness Program pilot sites saw a saving of 11,726 disability days and a return of U.S. $2.05 for every dollar invested by the end of the second year,
• The Canadian government’s Company Health and Wellness Program ROI was $1.95-$3.75 per staff member per dollar spent (as reported by Dr. Roy Shephard),
• Municipal workers in Toronto, missed 3.35 fewer days in the first six months of their Company Health and Wellness Program than workers not enrolled in the program,
• British Columbia Hydro workers enrolled in a Company Health and Wellness Program had a turnover rate of just 3.5% compared with a Corporation average of 10.3%,
• Johnson & Johnson estimated an average saving of U.S. $224.66 per staff member per year for the four years examined after the program introduction, with the bulk of the savings being in the third and fourth years,
• Pacific Bell reported that overall rates of absence decreased after implementing a Corporate Health Promotion Program,
• Coca Cola report saving $500 every year per staff member after implementing a Corporate Health Promotion Program, with only 60% of their workers participating,
• Coors Brewing Co. reported that for every dollar spent on their Company Health and Wellness Program they saw a $5.50 return, and the workers who participated decreased their absentee rate by 18%, and
• Prudential Insurance Company reported that the benefits costs for workers participating in their program were $312, as opposed to $574 for non-participants

Technological advances have lessened the need to “walk” at work.  Moving a mouse has the same level of physical exertion as pressing the buttons on a remote control.  Emails, the fax, and the internet have meant that it is possible to run a business without having to leave the chair.  The “advances” affect physical and mental health in a disastrous manner ultimately affecting your business’s profit.

A sedentary lifestyle is a recipe for disaster – heart disease, chronic back pain, repetitive stress disorder, and low employee self-esteem are symptomatic of a work environment in which the only exercise available is surfing the net.  Corporation morale will invariably suffer if an exercise policy is not endorsed and put in place.

Regular exercise can significantly improve worksite health.  Instances of absenteeism and staff turnover, low staff morale and decreased productivity can be alleviated with a Company Health and Wellness Program that energizes and motivates tired workers.  Boredom, repetitive motion injuries and worksite tiredness can only be combated with physical and mental stimulation. 

Studies show, workers who are physically active on a regular basis record less sick days each year and are more energetic, dynamic, and industrious.  Investing in the health of your staff pays dividends through increased productivity and goodwill.  Physically active workers are happy workers.

• Lowering health insurance and compensation costs through decreased need for medical services
• Increasing productivity
• Lowering rates of absence
• Increasing morale
• Lowering stress

On top of improving the health of your staff, a broad-based Company Health and Wellness Program shows your workers you care about their well-being.

Golds Gym Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives is committed to creating a healthy, active workforce, providing employers with training incentives for workers at our state-of-the-art facilities. Golds Gym Employee Wellness also provides training services and facility design at your office location.

Incorporating all phases of fitness training (cardiovascular, strength, flexibility, core), performing broad-based fitness assessments, designing personalized fitness initiatives, and dynamic group training initiatives.  We take pride in our talented, professional workers who provide creative and effective Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives for diverse workforces.

Golds Gym Corporate Health Promotion Program’s workers reach beyond the walls of the excercise center to motivate, educate, and encourage workers to embrace and maintain healthy active lifestyles.  Applying practical experience the Golds Gym Company Health and Wellness Program delivers dynamic cost-effective Company Health and Wellness Program that help workers work happier, harder, and healthier.

To motivate your workers to exercise, eat better, and lose weight, you could invest heavily in facilities, equipment, and staffing to develop worksite Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives for workers, thereby hopefully creating a healthier, more productive workforce.  However, the problem with business excercise facilities is that workers spend one quarter of their lives at work and typically are not motivated enough to come in early or stay late to do an exercise program.

Golds Gym Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives provides attractive discounts for companies to train at our professionally coordinated facilities.  When your business becomes a member of our Corporate Health Promotion Program, your workers are eligible for savings off of our regular training rates.  No matter what size of business you keep, we have a Company Health and Wellness Program to keep it healthy, happy, and working strong.

• Coca Cola reported saving $500 per staff member every year after implementing a Company Health and Wellness Program with only 60% of their workers participating.
• Pacific Bell reported that overall rates of absence decreased after implementing a Corporate Health Promotion Program.
• Coors Brewing Company reported that for every dollar spent on their Company Health and Wellness Program they saw a $5.50 return and the workers who participated decreased their absentee rate by 18%.
• Prudential Insurance Company reported that the benefits costs for workers participating in their program were $312 as opposed to $574 for non-participants (American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, 2004).

To learn more about Gold’s Gym Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives contact us at (336) 725-8624.

Myth: The flu isn’t a serious disease.
Fact: Influenza (flu) is a serious disease of the nose, throat, and lungs, and it can lead to pneumonia. Annually about 200,000 employees in the U.S. are hospitalized and about 36,000 employees die because of the flu. Most who die are 65 years and older. But small children less than 2 years old are as likely as those over 65 to have to go to the hospital because of the flu.

Myth: The flu shot can cause the flu.
Fact: The flu shot cannot cause the flu. Some employees get a little soreness or redness where they get the shot. It goes away in a day or two. Serious problems from the flu shot are very rare.

Myth: The flu shot does not work.
Fact: Most of the time the flu shot will prevent the flu. In scientific studies, the effectiveness of the flu shot has ranged from 70% to 90% when there is a good match between circulating viruses and those in the vaccine. Getting the vaccine is your best protection against this disease.

Myth: The side effects are worse than the flu.
Fact: The worst side effect you’re likely to get from a flu shot is a sore arm. The nasal mist flu vaccine might cause nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat and cough. The risk of a severe allergic reaction is less than 1 in 4 million.

Myth: Only older employees need a flu vaccine.
Fact: Adults and children with conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease need to get a flu shot. Doctors also recommend children 6 months and older get a flu shot every year until their 5th birthday.

Myth: You must get the flu vaccine before December.
Fact: Flu vaccine can be given before or during the flu season. The best time to get vaccinated is October or November. But you can get vaccinated in December or later.

For more information, ask your health care provider or call 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636).  You can also get more information about flu shots by visiting the following Website: www.cdc.gov/flu

Source: The Department of Health and Human ServicesCenters for Disease Control and Prevention

Employer’s are learning that Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives is an effective way to increase productivity, improve staff member health, lower health care costs and reduce rates of absence.

A report published in 2003 by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) highlighted how important it is for companies to incorporate Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives as part of their business strategy. The report asserts that chronic diseases which are largely preventable place a heavy toll on business, including lower productivity and higher health insurance costs.

The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that $1.66 trillion was spent on health care in 2003 and it attributes a majority of those costs to chronic diseases and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and asthma. Sadly, the money allocated for preventing or controlling these conditions is negligible.

In a recently published article, American Cancer Society CEO John Seffrin reported two thirds of cancer deaths in the United States could be prevented through lifestyle changes in diet, exercise, cancer screening and “especially” tobacco use. A well-designed Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives initiative serves the best interests of workers and companies alike.

Advantages of Wellness Progams: Return On Investment

Ron Goetzel, a nationally recognized expert in the field of health management, data assessment and applied research, said in a recently published interview that with an investment of $100 to $150 per staff member per year in Corporate Health Promotion Programs, an employer can expect an average ROI of approximately $3 for every $1
invested ($300 to $450 savings per staff member per year).  Goetzel says, however, that these returns are not typically realized until two to three years into the Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Advantages of Wellness Progams: Tax Breaks

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has been an outspoken proponent in seeking legislative solutions for a strained health care system.

“As a nation, we have a ‘sick care’ system that is focused on helping employees after they get sick, rather than a ‘health care’ system which focuses on keeping healthy employees healthy,” he says.

Harkin introduced the Healthy Lifestyle and Prevention (HeLP) America Act of 2004. One of the initiatives under Title II – Healthier Communities and Workplaces, provides tax credits to companies that offer broad-based programs to promote staff member health and grants for small business.

Advantages of Wellness Progams: Getting Started

Implementing a Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives can be accomplished with simple, low-cost strategies.

• Offer incentives for participation.
• Establish a wellness informational campaign.
• Schedule wellness seminars on diabetes, nutrition, exercise and cholesterol.
• Establish initiatives such as fitness, sleep diary, smoking cessation and injury prevention.
• Offer onsite chair massages or simple stretching exercises to do at the desk.
• Alter snack machine options to offer healthier, low-fat snacks and drinks.
• Actively promote staff member participation in all Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

A successful Company Health and Wellness Program can boost business morale, enhance productivity, reduce organizational conflict, attract superior workers and lower the rate of staff member turnover. The case for establishing a Company Health and Wellness Program is well worth the effort.

As technological innovations increase in the worksite, Company Health and Wellness Program experts will face new health related challenges. In the past, some have assumed that technology would make workers more efficient, thereby allowing workers to work less, while being more productive. In reality, increases in technological innovation have simply allowed more of us to take our work with us where ever we go and feel guilty for not being increasingly productive.

This trend may absorb increasingly greater amounts of leisure time that is normally devoted to relaxation and recreation. Subsequent increases in fatigue and stress will ensure the continued need for effective Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

When considering the scope of Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives described in this article, many will think of substantial investments made by large companies. The reality is that 60% of individuals working in the United States work for a business of less than 100 workers (U. S. Bureau of Census, 1988). Due to economy of scale, it has been difficult and expensive for small business owners to supply adequate health care insurance as well as prevention programming for workers.

Company Health and Wellness Program experts must understand this challenge and develop the way to overcome these obstacles. The evidence is clear that much more could be done to advance the health of our society through the worksite. As change agents, health educators must work to empower companies and workers through education of the benefits of Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

• Encourages staff member/employer involvement in the community
  Blood drives
  Sponsorship of fund raising for community schools and social services
  Community recycling initiatives
  Youth league sports sponsorship
  Job training initiatives
• Media and public relations initiatives advertising a healthy business image
• business newsletters and press releases on health issues to local media
• Environmentally sound use of waste disposal and community resources

• Active staff member involvement in Company Health and Wellness Program committees and business decision making
• Availability of flextime work schedules
• No smoking policy
• Drug use policy and screening
• Motor vehicle seatbelts and the use of other protective/safety equipment
• Sexual harassment policy
• Family leave initiatives
• Consistent and frequent awards and recognition of staff member work efforts

The climate of a worksite is also more conducive to enhancing health and human performance when the environment is safe, clean, aesthetically pleasing and ergonomically engineered. While some occupations maybe inherently dangerous (e.g., fire fighter, military personnel) all broad-based Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives should control exposure to unhealthy conditions including: hazardous chemicals, noise, temperature, radiation and other risky conditions. Program examples include:

• Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives grounded in supportive cultural change strategies
• Environmental and safety compliance measures
  Lighting
  Ventilation
  Heating
  Control of toxic substances
  Noise
  Universal precautions
• Ergonomically designed workstations
• Sanitary, clean, well maintained physical environment
• Recycling promoted initiatives
• staff member & management training in emergency procedures

Evidence of the need for such initiatives is wide spread. In a national survey conducted by the Northwestern Life Insurance Company (1992) 46% of workers reported that their job was very stressful, 34% thought about quitting their jobs because of worksite stress, and 14% did leave their job because of stress. Alcohol and substance abuse problems as well as issues of worksite violence and harassment are common areas of concern. For many the only viable treatment solution is the Corporate Health Promotion Program.  Exemplary Corporate Health Promotion Initiatives will include:

• Personalized assessment of staff member concerns
• Assistance in treatment choice
• Emphasis on prevention as well as treatment
• Individual and family counseling initiatives
• Treatment for addictions:
  Drugs
  Alcohol
  Gambling
• Crisis intervention initiatives
• Stress Management Programs
• Ongoing support groups
• Management and staff member training to identify individuals at risk.
• After treatment care

At some workplaces, workers are being encouraged to take greater responsibility for their health related behaviors through risk rated incentive packages. Linking wellness to staff member benefits of gain sharing and co-payment cost reductions will provide new opportunities requiring efforts of collaboration between the human resource managers and the Company Health and Wellness Program specialists. These two sets of experts may also work together for the ongoing evaluation of cost effective Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

In conjunction with the above initiatives the majority of large companies also have a nurse or physician on staff to dispense worksite medical and preventive care. Some initiatives have also found it cost effective to provide their own physical therapy programming to assist injured and infirm workers in regaining optimal functioning. A broad-based selection of health related staff member services and benefits would include the following:

• Free or low cost health screenings provided on site by business clinical personnel or through outside contractors:
  Serum cholesterol
  Colorectal cancer screening
  Blood pressure screening
  Mammography
  Vision and hearing screening
  Diabetes
• Referral procedures (e.g., Hypertension, Cholesterol, Cancer)
• Provision of first aid and emergency care
• Disease control and prevention initiatives
• Onsite Child and adult care services
• Financial and Pre-Retirement planning
• Continued learning/educational opportunities
• Coordination of business picnics and outings
• Parent-child work visitation initiatives
• Workers compensation/rehabilitation