Wellness Program Blog

Health Risk Assessment: Helping Quantify Employee Health help you quantify staff member health

An Health Risk Assessment (HRA) is an important tool to help you isolate the value of strong Employee Health and Wellness Program Programs.

Health Risk Assessment: What is it?

Does the term “Health Risk Assessment” have you puzzled? If so, then you are not alone.  Unfortunately there is no standard definition or format for a Health Risk Assessment. A health risk assessment is both a procedure and a document, too, depending on the context — you must answer questions and ideally undergo some simple Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing to develop a document that describes what’s good and bad about your current state of health.

To add confusion to the situation, there’s a field called health risk management. Talk to an OSHA inspector about health risk assessment and they will likely assume you’re referring to an analysis of contaminants and industrial chemicals in a factory or manufacturing facility.

Health Risk Assessment: The Typical Health Risk Assessment

A comprehensive health risk assessment is aimed at producing a concrete baseline of a person’s health, and includes most of these features:

• a blood pressure check,
• cancer testing,
• blood glucose test, and
• a analysis of the staff member’s health status.

Health risk assessments would analyze the staff member’s:

• lifestyle measures,
• medical conditions,
• prescriptions medications,
• functional concerns and abilities,
• quality of life,
• self-efficacy,
• physical fitness level.

Wellness Fair activities put the spotlight on Employee Health and Wellness Programs

A Wellness Fair is a outstanding way to shake your staff members out of the doldrums and into better awareness of their health and wellness. A Wellness Fair brings your organization together to discuss Employee Health and Wellness Programs, examine Health Insurance and “cafeteria” plans, explore health savings accounts, publicize Employee Health and Wellness Program Programs and share success stories and challenges.

Some common Wellness Fair desired outcomes include:

better awareness of the health services and resources available to workers, both from their company and from local, state, regional and national health services;

increased motivation for improving health behavior

increased participation in Employee Health and Wellness Programs, commuter and carshare programs and health savings accounts

better awareness of person health status through Health Screening and Biometric Testings, Wellness Fair activities, displays, handouts, and demonstrations, and

better information on what workers are seeking from their company’s health management initiatives, and which workers are interested in participating.

Planning a Wellness Fair

Planning a Wellness Fair is a lot like starting an Employee Health and Wellness Program on a smaller scale. Just like an Employee Health and Wellness Program, your Wellness Fair will need publicity, logistical planning, programming, targeted goals, in-house marketing and of course, executive approval. Festive touches like free food, kid-friendly activities, live music, art displays, talent shows and other community-minded fun will help cement the appeal of your Wellness Fair and ensure that the Wellness Fair becomes a welcomed, annual event.

You can find some Wellness Fair planning tips at the Family and Consumer Sciences site of Texas A&M University. These Wellness Fair tips are aimed more at community and non-profit organizers, but you can discover many useful Wellness Fair ideas at the site.

Wellness Fairs and Employee Health and Wellness Program Recruitment

Many Employee Health and Wellness Program planners find that Wellness Fairs are the primary reason why workers sign up for walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs, health savings accounts and other pro-Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

Don’t forget – not only do workers value these programs highly, but the increased energy and decreased sick leave associated with Employee Health and Wellness Programs also saves your business money. The Employee Health and Wellness Program Statistics are clear – healthier companies work harder and pay less in Health Insurance premiums.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs: The Grand Slam

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are as close to a grand slam proposition as you’ll find, according to most researchers and Employee Health and Wellness Program experts.

But if you have skeptics in your organization who are questioning the time and expense of starting an Employee Health and Wellness Program, you may be wary too. Aren’t staff member Employee Health and Wellness Programs subject to the adage “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”?

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Don’t Have To Be Expensive

Fortunately, staff member Employee Health and Wellness Programs don’t require a big investment. Like any other corporate project, mismanagement and “death by committee” can inflate the cost of Employee Health and Wellness Programs, but it’s hard to spend too much time and money on them. After all, Employee Health and Wellness Programs are mostly informational in nature. Flyers, e-mails, maps, and Employee Health and Wellness Program Wellness Fairs can only cost so much. There’s no expensive, specialized Employee Health and Wellness Program machinery.

Employee Health and Wellness Program statistics on successful programs are particularly persuasive. Unlike many cost-saving measures, Employee Health and Wellness Programs actually add to staff member satisfaction – but they also reduce Health Insurance premiums and staff member absenteeism.

What are some common Employee Health and Wellness Programs?

Employee Health and Wellness Programs run the gamut, depending on your workplace demographic, from exercise for health patients to nutritional initiatives that encourage workers to replace unhealthy snack foods with healthy fare like dried fruit and shelled nuts.

Following are some examples of Employee Health and Wellness Programs:

• ergonomic safety
• cardiovascular disease education and testing
• staff member safety
• Health risk assessments
• walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs
• drug testing

Maintaining Employee Health and Wellness Program during Flu Season can be a challenge for any business. The average adult can get up to four colds in one year, and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized every year for flu complications. From December to March, there are more workers out of the office due to illness, and others who barely made it to the office and can hardly think over their constant coughing and sneezing.

Employee Health and Wellness Program: Prevention is the Key

Prevention is the key to maintaining good health in the workplace and increasing overall Employee Health and Wellness Program. Fighting infection after the cold and flu epidemics hit is a losing battle and can best be combated with early action, such as implementing a Employee Health and Wellness Program Program at the worksite for good health all year long.

Keeping the Office Germ-free During Flu Season

The typical office is the perfect breeding grounds for influenza or the cold virus. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says that there are higher chances for the spread of infection during winter because people spend more time indoors. In an office, this risk is increased by cubicles, bringing many people into a close space. Workplace Health Screening and Biometric Testings conducted regularly as part of an overall health management program will increase the chances of Employee Health and Wellness Program year round, and especially during Flu Season.

Education Can Increase Employee Health and Wellness Program During Flu Season

Educating workers about various ways to stay healthy during Flu Season may help prevent the spread of any sickness to the entire office. Hand washing is a crucial component in maximizing Employee Health and Wellness Program, as bacteria collects on keyboards, mouses, around the water cooler and next to the community coffee pot. As workers shake hands, infection may be passed, multiplying the chance of getting a cold or coming down with the flu. Hand washing and anti-bacterial cleaners for surfaces can help reduce the spread of sickness.

Employee Health and Wellness Program is possible during Flu Season. With Employee Health and Wellness Program, your office can reach one step closer to immunity from sickness during Flu Season.

Employee Health and Wellness Program Study Shows Millions Lost Due to Illness

Employee Health and Wellness Program was shown to be a huge economic boon for companies in a recently-released joint report by  the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Nearly three million productive workers in labor markets worldwide add up to a lot of money. The Employee Health and Wellness Program study estimates that China will lose $558 billion, India $237 billion, and Russia $303 billion in national income from 2005 to 2015 due to only three chronic diseases: heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Lack of Employee Health and Wellness Program A “Huge Expense”

The U.S. Center for Disease Control also reports that chronic disease accounts for approximately 75 percent of yearly staff member medical care costs in the U.S., which constitutes a huge expense for companies. And the Public Health Foundation of India estimates that its country will lose 18 million potentially productive years of life by 2030, a statistic no nation can afford, let alone a developing one.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs the Answer

A sustainable solution to these challenges cannot be solved by medical benefits alone. Workplace commitments to Employee Health and Wellness Program are also crucial. Companies are advised to implement workplace Health Screening and Biometric Testings for their workers, as well as look into a comprehensive health management program. These and other precautions are good secret weapons against the economic pitfall of unhealthy workers.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs – Employee Engagement Strategies

Employee Health and Wellness Programs without employee engagement are useless to a business. How do you get workers to enroll in Employee Health and Wellness Programs – and stay engaged in the programs?

The brochures for these programs discuss the benefits to workers and organizations. Employee Health and Wellness Program statistics show that there are tangible benefits to a business for offering such programs. Employee Health and Wellness Programs actually do save lives by getting workers to take their health seriously, increase productivity, decrease absenteeism and more.

However, St. Louis, Missouri-based Maritz Inc., the world’s largest incentive business, has applied their own invigorating twist to health management by providing gift rewards to workers who participate in Employee Health and Wellness Programs. The wellness reward program is Maritz’s own Exclusively Yours® plan. Health management participants earn points, which can be then redeemed for merchandise, electronics, restaurant vouchers and travel, much like a frequent-flier program.

Enrollment rewards in Employee Health and Wellness Programs?

Undoubtably companies that don’t work in the rewards industry will be tempted to cry foul about using such a rich carrot to incentivize health program enrollments. Not every business can throw that kind of money at health management resources – and not every business has the built-in savings as a business that specializes in providing reward programs.

For certain rich rewards like Maritz’s will break through the glaze that appears over many workers’ eyes when they’re encouraged to do something new, different or difficult. For many workers uncomfortable with health management and exercise, “new, different and difficult” would apply to Employee Health and Wellness Programs. So where does that leave organizations who are unwilling or unable to provide rewards for health management program enrollment?

Successful Employee Health and Wellness Programs motivate workers – before and after signup

Employee Health and Wellness Program administrators should keep the long-term view in mind when trying to get workers to take that vitally important first step. Even the best rewards can fail in the face of faltering organization, badly-designed Employee Health and Wellness Programs and wavering support. Make sure to run good Wellness surveys before you build your Employee Health and Wellness Programs so staff member input and needs are being met by your Employee Health and Wellness Programs. The goal is positive outcomes, not high enrollment numbers.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs cannot survive managerial apathy. If executive and managerial participation is widespread and heartfelt, workers will follow their leadership. The potential rewards and Wellness benefits are clearly worth reaping, for both your company and your co-workers.

Wellness might be the fatal flaw in your Employee Health and Wellness Program. Is Wellness part of your strategy? Does workplace wellness stop when your workers leave the office?

Wellness Continuity

If workers don’t have the tools to pursue health and wellness on a Personal 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 workers 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 Programs: Always on Your Mind

Your Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator should have “vacation wellbeing” as part of their job scope. In other words, you don’t want a Employee Health and Wellness Program to stop at the boundaries of the workplace campus. Instead, integrate Personal health and wellness with your Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

This can benefit 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 company is just as invested in their Personal health and wellness as they are

Like a marathon, Personal health and wellness is a long-term endeavor 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 Personal performance. It’s easier to maintain 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 maintain to your Employee Health and Wellness Program when you know your company is supporting you and wishing you the best.

Don’t Dictate Personal Health

Just as Wellness surveys serve a vital function in building a Employee Health and Wellness Program, it’s vitally important that you involve workers 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 workers 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 Personal health and wellness responsibility is to provide good health risk assessment baselines so workers can proceed safely on the road to better physical fitness.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs: An Attainable Goal

Was Wellness on your company’s new year’s resolutions list? Here we are a little over midway into the third month of 2008, the time when resolutions start to falter if they haven’t lost momentum completely. Has your Worksite’s wellness resolution fallen by the wayside? If so, there are still ways to get back on track.

One Wellness tip comes to us from the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, reported from the Jersey Shore. Rod Shirk, the YMCA’s chief financial officer, participated in the organization’s first executive Employee Health and Wellness Program, which registered his cholesterol as higher than normal. That prompted him to get a physical, which showed high levels of a prostate-specific antigen that often indicates prostate cancer. The outcome? His doctors caught a life-threatening illness just in time.

Thanks Employee Health and Wellness Program.

So of course, Shirk is a huge proponent of Employee Health and Wellness Programs. He says, “For us here at the YMCA, if we are telling people to be healthy, we had better set a good example for our workers.”

Wellness Decreases Health Care Costs

Though cases like Shirk’s dramatic cancer save are the most desirable effect of Employee Health and Wellness Programs, it isn’t the initial draw for organizations. They do it to lower medical care costs, and there’s no doubt that Employee Health and Wellness Programs do just that. Employee Health and Wellness Program Statistics show that Employee Health and Wellness Programs return anywhere from $2.30 to $10.10 per dollar spent on wellness. “Health care costs should go down as people think about changing their diets and getting more active,” Shirk says.

The Employee Health and Wellness Program savings aren’t just in the Health Insurance department. Human resource departments report that Employee Health and Wellness Programs also reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

Still, companies have been loath to invest that elusive Wellness dollar despite the well-documented returns. A Principal Financial Group and Harris Interactive survey found that only 10% of small- to medium-size organizations have made workplace Health Screening and Biometric Testings – like the one that saved Shirk’s life – available to their workers.

Is It Necessary to Incent Corporations to Initiate Employee Health and Wellness Programs?

Wellness rewards may seem like an effective way to get workers excited about Employee Health and Wellness Program – but is it smart?

This helps and encourages organizations to understand the importance of maintaining a healthy staff members, not only for the welfare of its workers, but as well as the welfare of the corporate bottom line … then, yes, it could be necessary.

Tax Breaks as Wellness rewards

In 2007, two senators decided to band together to create the “Healthy Workforce Act.” This act is designed to encourage organizations to keep workers healthy and prevent disease. The senators believed that having a country focused on “well care” versus “sick care” would decrease the overall costs of medical care for everyone. They decided to start with America’s staff members.

The legislation, introduced by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, states that companies would receive a Wellness reward – a fifty percent tax credit – if they provide to their workers a Employee Health and Wellness Program that meets the following criteria:

1) A health education and awareness component, which could include Health risk assessments and Health Screening and Biometric Testings.

2) A behavioral change component – such as counseling, seminars, or self-help materials to empower workers to lead healthier lifestyles.

3) A supportive environment component – including providing meaningful rewards to taking part in workers, such as a reduction in medical premiums or allowing workers to engage in walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs during the workday.

4) The creation of an staff member engagement committee – which would tailor the Employee Health and Wellness Program to the needs of the staff members at a particular business.

If this legislation gets passed, many organizations will be scrambling to provide Employee Health and Wellness Programs in hopes of receiving the Wellness rewards.

Company Obesity: The Facts

Company obesity has become one of the fastest growing medical care problems in America. It is well known that America is considered one of the, if not “the”, heaviest countries in the world. This is largely in part due to fast food, un-healthy snacks and a very sedentary lifestyle. However, what many people are not aware of is that the rate of obesity in our country has doubled in the last 30 years and this weighs heavily on a company’s bottom line.

According to a new report from The Conference Board, Weights and Measures: What companys Should Know about Obesity, obese workers cost private organizations an estimated $45 billion annually. Following are some of the report’s findings:

Obesity is associated with a 36% increase in spending on medical care, more than smoking or problem drinking.

34% of adult Americans fit the definition of “obese”

Obesity related health problems are costing U.S. companies millions of dollars annually in medical expenditures and work loss.

Company Obesity: How organizations Can Help

With the increase in obesity and company costs associated with it, it is more and more imperative to establish a way to assist workers with their healthy living choices. Employee Health and Wellness Programs can help organizations help their workers. By providing assistance with Health Screening and Biometric Testing, Health risk assessments and by conducting Employee Health and Wellness Program surveys; Employee Health and Wellness Programs allow the company non-invasive ways to communicate their concerns about their staff member’s health.

We suggest establishing a Walking Employee Health and Wellness Program to assist your workers in meeting their weight-loss goals. Walking Wellness is a program designed to get your workers away from their desk and get them outside for a little exercise. Keep it fun by having contests, setting up weight-loss teams and having organized healthy picnics.