Wellness Program Blog

The costs of healthcare have been rising more than 10% each year for a few years. A substantial amount of the money spent in the healthcare system treats costly illnesses and illnesses.

• Approximately 95 percent of the $1.4 trillion that we spend as a nation on health goes to direct medical services, while about 5 percent is allocated to preventing disease and promoting health.

• Potentially, 50 percent to 70 percent of all diseases are preventable as they are associated with modifiable health risks.

• In an effort to optimize employee health, reduce avoidable health care utilization and enhance work performance, and in turn lower health care costs and improve employee satisfaction and retention, many companies are developing, or are interested in developing, Health Promotion Programs for employees.

The benefits of company health promotion are well documented. More than 120 research repeatedly show themes like improvements in health outcomes coupled with high Return On Investment. Some major findings include the following –

• Savings of $3.48 in lowered health care costs per dollar invested.

• Savings of $5.82 in decrease rates of absenteeism costs per dollar invested.

• ROIs of at least $3 to $8 per dollar invested within five years of wellness program implementation.

• Lifestyle behavior modification programs –  $3 to $6 Return On Investment within 2 to 5 years.

• Self care, decision support health promotion programs –  $2 to $3 Return On Investment within a year.

• Illness management programs –  $7 to $10 Return On Investment within a year.

By offering wellness programs, businesss are not only providing an additional service for staff members, but they are also gaining financially. Further, the impact of a wellness program goes beyond reduced health care cost and ROI.

A wellness program can affect productivity, absenteeism, morale, recruitment success, turnover, and medical care costs.

* Source –  Rees, C., and Finch, R. (2004). Health Improvement –  A comprehensive guide to designing, implementing and assessing wellness programs. National Business Group on Health, 1 (1), 1-7.

According to the American Journal of Wellness, “Wellness is the science and art of assisting individuals  change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health.

Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle change could be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, change behavior, and develop environments that support good health practices.

Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest impact in producing lasting change.”

Health Promotion Program –  Action Steps

The process of building a Health Promotion Program involves –

• Identifying the current health status of your personnel

• Decidingthe appropriate health promotion programs and interventions to offer

• Marketing and beginning the health promotion programs

• Building in motivational incentives

• Measuring the impact

• Revising health promotion programs based on evaluation outcomes

It might even include developing policies and procedures that support staff member participation in wellness activities at your workplace (like flextime).

Steps to Starting a Health Promotion Program

• Conduct an organizational assessment

• Obtain senior management support

• Launch a wellness committee

• Get staff member input

• Create goals and goals

• Create and implement wellness program activities

• Select incentives

• Assess outcomes

Among the ways the government plans to improve the nation’s health is through robust Wellness Programs.

According to the USA Department of Health and Human Services, these wellness programs might help workers live healthier life choices by building supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior modification programs.

In fact, among the goals of Healthful Individuals  2010, a set of health goals for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to increase the proportion of personnel that participate in a extensive Health Promotion Program at their workplace to 75 percent.

5 Ways to Assess and Improve Your Employees’ Health

Emotional health is a state of wellness that comes from understanding and acknowledging our emotions and locating appropriate ways to express them.

As staff, we often bring emotional problems from our childhood or current family life into the workplace because we haven’t dealt with them effectively outside of work.

This can seriously damage worksite relationships and lead to poor performance and negative feelings all around.

A lot of tools and techniques exist for assisting us improve our emotional health. Some of the most common are given below, with real-life case histories illustrating their use.

When an unpleasant mood or feeling persists over a length of time, do not hesitate to seek out a certified professional. Wellness programs normally have professional support already in place as part of their services.

1. Wellness Coaching –

Among the hallmarks of emotional health is the willingness to ask for help when we need it.

Confidential specialist help, the coaching and counseling provided by employee assistance or wellness programs, can provide an external source of strength and insight for “working out” emotionally-based problems in lieu of “working them in” to your job.

2. Self-help Groups –

Self-help groups are designed to aid individuals  in emotional situations in which they feel alone.  The purpose of these groups is twofold –  to allow individuals  to safely feel and express their emotions, and to help break their isolation at work and/or in society at large and reintegrate them into society with the support of a coworker group.

The classic self-help group is Alcoholics Anonymous, but thanks to technology, it’s possible to connect with others that have common health challenges, no matter how unique the situation.

Individuals  are taking benefit of tele-conference groups and social websites, such as sparkindividuals .com and revolutionhealth.com. Wellness programs often have such groups available through web-based or telephone support. Progressive employee health promotion provider

Exan Wellness, for example, offers teleconference cell groups and moderated wellness forums for interacting with others in a supportive, confidential and anonymous environment.

People  with shared challenges get together and discuss the emotional challenges they’re facing at work or in other areas of their lives and work through change together.

3. Journaling –  Journaling is usually recommended by counsellors as a way to help identify and process emotions. Individuals  record their emotions in writing as they experience them, in no matter what form they wish.

By assisting the writer gain greater emotional clarity, journaling can help in making more emotionally informed decisions. In much the same way, letter writing enables people  to identify and process the emotions they feel in relation to others.

The letter does not have to be sent or its contents shared –  it simply provides a place for the expression of feelings.

An 18-year-old “army brat,” Brent has always done well at school, academically and athletically. But in his last year of high school, something seems to have happened to him. He has lost all interest in school, becoming moody and withdrawn.

Brent describes to his guidance counselor all the times he had to move when he was growing up. Each move wrenched him from his friends and forced him to play the role of the “new kid on the block.”

The counselor suggests that Brent write letters to the friends he has missed over the years telling them how he felt. Lastly, he has a chance to say a proper goodbye.

4. Assess Your Emotional Health – Companies that seek to increase employees’ interpersonal skills, or emotional intelligence in the worksite are more successful, according to ground-breaking journalist Daniel Goleman.

And emotional intelligence is the buzzword in workplaces these days. Some health promotion programs have information about emotional intelligence, or emotional health assessments. Seek out more information about emotional intelligence for better corporate health promotion.

5. Friendships/Support Systems –  Friendships allow individuals  to feel supported in their emotional journeys.  At the same time, they give individuals  an opportunity to develop their empathetic skills.

These skills are also important for workplace health. When we’re empathic with fellow personnel, we help them resolve negative or unhealthful emotions. New friendships are made through hobbies, classes, clubs, or even through web-based groups.

Many people  are finding emotional satisfaction by connecting or re-connecting with friends through Facebook and other social web sites.

Sometimes workplace stress that is not dealt with in a healthful manner could be brought home. A 36-year-old mother of three, Sarah, wants to be a good wife, a good mother, and a success at her job.

One day, drained after a long day at work, she shouted at her rambunctious children and threatened to hit her youngest son. Her behavior horrified her.  To make matters worse, she believes she’s a failure at her job as well as at motherhood. She watches with jealousy as younger coworkers advance much more quickly up the corporate ladder despite having less experience than she has.

On the advice of a counselor, she determines to take time out for herself and take a course for amateur painters. It doesn’t take long before she strikes up a friendship with a single mom in the class.

She once led a life very similar to Sarah’s before managing to achieve a better balance between work and family. Her new friend becomes a much-needed sounding board for Sarah and offers her perspectives on her life that she had not considered before.

25 percent Jump in Corporation Interest in Employee Wellness

Corporate health promotion for their workers, companys are discovering, is good for the health of their businesses as well. Wellness programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity and poor work quality.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 USA businesses indicated a meaningful paradigm shift in how businesses view health benefits for their employees.

Of those surveyed this year, 88 percent are committed to instituting long-term health care assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their workers, with the goal of increaseing the health and productivity of their workforce. This represents a 25 percent increase in interest in wellness programs over 2007.

A strong offering of health promotion programs to meet the demand has resulted. Health assistance providers have broadened their health promotion programs with tools that address general lifestyle factors, physical, social and psychological health factors.

Programs look to predict chronic illness in their staff members and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Corporations also demand a way to measure the effectiveness of their health care spending.

Self-care is our motive, says Vic Lebouthillier, president of progressive wellness provider Exan Wellness.”We really believe giving workers tools to help them manage their own health, and promoting the benefits, while giving individuals  resources to reach out for help is the key to successful lifestyle change.

Companies are also telling us they need a cost-effective way to deliver wellness programs.  The type of wellness program we’ve created over years delivers the highest healthcare return on investment.”

Combining employee wellness promotions, online assessments and health trackers, online medical information, telephone conferences and self-help groups, and access to a broad variety of health specialists, is behind the success of the Exan wellness program. “Having online statistics about employees’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – ROI” says Vic Lebouthillier.

Corporations are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of healthcare benefits to develop holistic wellness programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their worker populations, drive worker behavior change and eliminate barriers to healthcare, says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.

However, in a separate survey of 30,000 personnel, 74% said that, although they felt their corporation had an obligation to help them understand how to use their health benefits program, only 12% felt the corporation had any right to tell them how to be healthy.

Based on these results, companys need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their staff as well as the organization. It’s a win-win situation.

Employers and workforce did find common ground when it came to future health care. Both surveys indicate that 95% of workforce understand that their taking care of their health today will impact future health care payments.

A similar percentage also understand the important of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on healthcare costs.

Cost is important for most businesses as well. Over 80 percent of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts didn’t involve shifting responsibility for healthcare onto workforce.

While 64% of businesses have shifted costs to their workers, only 17% plan to do so in the next 3-5 years. Similarly with health reimbursement accounts, 20% now offer these, but only about 5% plan to use them in 2008.

These survey leads todicate businesses are getting more proactive in helping their staff members to change behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously good for the wellness of staff members, but also for the wellness of the businesses they work for.

Nearly half the corporations surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to increased productivity and lower absentee rates. Over 60% plan to institute health promotion programs that help workers change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle.

Nearly of these businesses will also use data and measurements to ensure their health care strategies meet their health care objectives?

It’s clear to virtually every American (especially those of us in business) that health care costs are skyrocketing out of control.

No one doubts that either the market will solve the problem OR the government will impose one on us. Managed care has failed from either a cost containment or quality of care perspective.

Businesses have reached the point where the cost of providing health insurance is nearly as burdensome as government regulation. It is time for some new thinking on health care and its impact on company and vice versa.

Corporate health promotion as an operational perspective in lieu of merely window dressing is one way to deal effectively with rising healthcare costs.

The Insurance Problem

The first step in correcting the problem is to realize that an worker’s health is their own responsibility. Expecting businesss to provide unlimited health insurance coverage is simply unrealistic and unreasonable.

It is time for employers (on a broad scale) to reconsider their role in providing health insurance coverage. Instead of providing complete coverage for all personnel through group plans, corporations should start to shift the burden of health coverage to those covered.

Here is the approach. Give catastrophic medical insurance as a group benefit to all personnel with a large enough deductible (say $5000 per employee) to make the cost affordable for the company.

Then, allow employees to purchase their own health insurance policies (based on their own needs) and pay for them through payroll deduction with pre-tax earnings.

There are numerous insurance corporations that sell individual plans on this basis. Everybody wins. Workers can tailor their coverage to their own needs and circumstances using their own doctors. Corporations win by stopping the endless cycle of rising costs and ever-changing plans.

And when person become responsible for the cost of their own insurance, they become more attentive to their own health.

Besides, if an staff member is interested in working for you ONLY because your organization offers great insurance benefits aren’t they telling you they are going to cost you more money in the future?

Create a “Wellness Culture”

Our current “sickness culture” perpetuates the health care crisis and hastens the demise of market-based solutions. By ailment culture, I mean our focus on health problems instead of on having a healthful workplace and performance culture.

So, what’d a “wellness culture” look like? First, in lieu of paid sick days, employees might  be rewarded at year’s end with an attendance bonus.

Employees would be reimbursed for successful completion of use of tobacco cessation and weight-loss programs. Companies would invest in corporate memberships at local fitness clubs so every staff member can participate.

Staff Members would be offered in-house health promotion programs on a selection of issues ranging from ergonomics to stress management. Finally, organizations would commit to hiring and retaining healthful staff members.

Simply put, healthful employees cost less and are more productive than unhealthful ones. Applicants must be screened for health habits and practices that limit their productivity and increase the likelihood of future expense.

While this may seem harsh, it rewards those employees whose personal lifestyle and habits ensure the best Return on Investment by the company committing to hire, train and pay them.

Be open to “alternative and complementary” approaches

Studies published in major medical journals reveal that individuals who use “alternative and complementary” health modalities (including chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga and massage) are ordinarily healthier, better educated, take fewer medications and miss fewer days from work than the average American.

Since these person look for ways to stay healthy without drugs and surgery, they end up being a net benefit respecting attendance and productivity. Old prejudices in this area ought to be discarded in order for corporations to improve productivity and increase profitability

Conclusion

Healthcare costs are increasing at a staggering pace. Managed care is an dreadful failure. Organizations are buckling below the pressure of providing health coverage to their workers.

American competitiveness in the market is sagging. These times call for incredible solutions. It’s time for American corporations to consider some out-of-the-box solutions to the health care crisis.

Company wellness is an approach that is timely, achievable and reasonable given the alternatives. All options ought to be considered while we still have a chance.

Research spanning more than a decade has consistently shown health promotion programs to be financially effective and that every dollar invested on a health promotion program can return $2.30 and $10.10 by lowering absenteeism, sick day usage and by decreasing insurance costs.

Moreover it’s noted that there are marked improvements in staff member performance and productivity in businesses that implement a health promotion program.

Healthy organizations enjoy increased staff member morale and an improved ability to attract and retain key people . Additionally, workers are more alert and productive.

For  instance, Coca Cola reports that they save about $500 a year per employee once they implemented a fitness plan in which 60% of their employees participate.

Coors Brewing Company announced that workforce who participated in their wellness programs lowered their absentee rate by 18 percent.

Staff Members enjoy their share of benefits from wellness programs too. A healthful lifestyle affects every part of a person’s life, including their work environment.

Wellness programs lead to fewer injuries, less human error and a work environment that is more harmonious and relaxed. Additionally, workers who work at a company that starts a wellness program know that their company is concerned about their wellness.

Staff Members often report a reduction in their stress levels because of health promotion programs.

As staff members feel better, more relaxed, more valued and more human to their company; they enjoy an increase in productivity. This increase in productivity, while beneficial to the business, is also essential to the employee as it increases their own sense of self worth and confidence levels.

Staff Members who feel successful and who feel that they accomplish goals are overall happier and in a better frame of mind.

The benefits of health promotion programs, both tangible and intangible, are evident. It is a wise move for a company to implement a health promotion program, in particular when they incorporate some form of mental health aspect into it.

This also has social benefits as domestic violence and child abuse is shown to be reduced in areas where health promotion programs are implemented. These days, an organization can almost not afford to have some sort of health promotion program to offer to their employees.

Some of the top health promotion programs currently in use today include –

Health Risk Assessments (HRAs)

HRA is a top health promotion program currently in use globally. Organizations that implement it determine the safety and health concerns of personnel by the assessment of appropriateness of the facilities and equipment against the needs of the personnel.

It can, for instance, guide the company into deciding how the air quality within an office room affects the users and then help the assessment team to come up with the measures necessary to correct the problem.  An Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) can also evaluate the level of exposure workforce have to certain dangerous or dangerous materials and practices.

Immunizations

This is not always practiced in every country since there are regions where government sponsored immunization shots are available. Nevertheless, it has also become an important component of the top worker wellness programs in many businesses in North America.

Immunization shots, such as those used to combat flu, for instance, are offered to workforce for free.

Employee Assistance Programs

Worker Assistance Programs consist of a wide variety of services. It can range from providing educational resources to workforce regarding health issues to sponsoring health services and medical care. In many companies, medical and insurance have also become a staple part of their benefits system.

In-house diet and nutrition drives

This is another wellness program that companies use, particularly those that offer in-house commissary or cafeteria services. Instead of serving richer, high-calorie fare, cafeterias offer options for a healthier diet, normally in the form of low-calorie foods and sugar substitutes.

In-house wellness newsletter and campaign drives

One of the top health promotion programs that companies can implement is a self-powered tool using a newsletter to promote wellness, coupled with a visible campaign.

The campaign could  be done periodically and focus on a specific topic, like smoking hazards, cancer, stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, safety in the workplace, etc.

The newsletter in itself may be an effective means to deliver information to personnel or members of an organization but it’s far from perfect.

Some personnel, for example, might not peruse the newsletter entirely or even pay attention to it. If the issues outlined in the newsletter are promoted through an active and highly visible campaign, it’ll be easier to maximize positive results.

Exercise and Physical Fitness

Another top wellness program for corporations is one that involves physical activities. Companies often sponsor exercise-related events such as marathons and business sports programs to encourage personnel to remain fit or lose excess weight.

In mid- to large-sized businesses, businesses might even pay for health and fitness center memberships or in-house exercise facilities.

Wellness Incentives

Some of the top wellness programs implemented by businesses involve incentive rewards. This involves company-sponsored wellness programs that reward staff members for achieving specific wellness-related objectives.

Participation in health campaigns and signing up for wellness programs are two of the most commonly rewarded schemes. Rewards can range from special recognitions to over time obtained points (for larger rewards) to specific gifts. In several cases, cash might also be used.

However, incentive systems have had mixed reactions and levels of success. But it continues to be one of the top choices among corporations who are willing to modify it in order to fit their unique needs.

Colleague Pressure

In many organizations, organizations take benefit of coworker pressure in order to encourage personnel to participate in wellness programs. This is currently among the favorite staff member wellness programs currently in use today and growing in popularity.

Coworker pressure is often leveraged to help promote competitions referring to company health promotion and to persuade staff members to be active in company-sponsored wellness fairs.

Wellness is a great concept. It brings happiness into health and encourages a indeed holistic approach to life. Wikipedia defines wellness as a healthful balance of the mind-body and spirit that causes an overall feeling of well-being.

It sounds like exactly what every one is looking for. But when you start to talk about employee health promotion, or employee health promotion, all life goes out of the concept. Total solutions, disease management (DM) and medical testing do not inspire visions of enjoying life and living it to the full.

They start from the assumption that sickness is here to stay and needs to be discovered, managed and controlled but can never be healed.

The wellness industry is growing phenomenally fast. Health Promotion guru, Paul Zane Pilzer, has labeled it the next trillion dollar industry. But wellness has two different faces.

On the one hand there are the small corporations – individuals  working from home or in small centers selling all kinds of wellness products and services at a speed of growth that is escalating quickly.

On the contrary company wellness is also exploding but in a very different direction.

The baby boomers who are driving the well-liked wellness revolution have been described as the first generation to refuse to accept the inevitability of death.

They’re actively looking for ways to prevent aging, stay healthful into old age and enjoy themselves more than ever before after retirement. This is a radical departure from current notions of old age, which are often dominated by pictures of sickness, frailty and suffering.

The companies have been largely forced to take on wellness. This is partly through legislative pressure, with many countries introducing laws to make companies liable for stress-related ailment in their workforce.

It is also financially motivated, as research has repeatedly shown the immense costs of absenteeism (and increasingly of presenteeism as well).

Whereas the baby boomers are actively looking for new solutions and new lifestyles the corporations are struggling to organize largely traditional and mainstream health systems, like doctors, nurses, insurance and screening systems.

The problem is that the traditional health system does not have solutions for the problems that people  are handling.

Nobody ever went to see a doctor to get happy, because a doctor doesn’t have any clue how to make people  happy.  And many stress-related health problems are described as chronic conditions, which means that they last for a very long time – or maybe for the rest of your life – because there’s no medical cure.

Counseling is a common offering in organizations for emotional problems, but whilst it might provide a useful pressure valve it isn’t a powerful treatment for stress, unhappiness or depression.

Imagine walking into a corporation where the staff members are happy, healthy, full of inspiration, fit, love working, have meaningful family lives, active social lives, and enjoyable relationships at work and in their community.

That kind of company would be a pleasure to work in and bound to be successful because individuals  would be working to their optimum capacity.

So can we develop a system of true wellness that will serve the development of the corporations and their staff and will pay for itself because of the benefits that both sides will gain?

First of all we’ve to face the fact that we cannot place all the responsibility into the hands of the current health system. Absenteeism, stress, depression, the very roots of the wellness revolution, have not been solved by the current system.

When they’d been we wouldn’t have this revolution, we’d all be much more well. So we need to look elsewhere for solutions.

We also can’t rely on makeshift feel-good wellness offerings, like the onsite massage team which visits the office once a month or the wellness day that raises awareness for a little while but leaves most people  unaffected. They’re easy to organize but have little or no real effect on worker health promotion.

Corporate needs are different than individual needs and many of the new small wellness corporations that are springing up simply don’t have the capacity to serve the corporate market.

However it is in the best interest of both corporations and workforce to find and develop systems of wellness that really work – that benefit individuals  to be happy, handle stress, love working, and to have enough energy to go home after the day and enjoy their family and social life.

So far the corporate world has hijacked the theory of wellness and turned it into a modern version of occupational health. It is time to increase the vision and find out how to make indeed healthy, happy workplaces where people  thrive.

High rates of employee turnover and the costs of sick days are increasingly taking bites into corporate profits.  The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in total cost the average corporation.

A lot of businesses are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of health promotion programs that yield a reduction in these costs.

It’s become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed health promotion program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need.

Management’s objectives for a productive health promotion program should be viewed through the perspective of increased staff member productivity, decreased absenteeism due to health related causes, improved staff member morale, decreased utilisation of company subsidised health benefits, enhanced team cohesion and effectiveness and a decrease in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction.

It’s obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a positive impact on the financial status of any organisation.

The benefits from an personnel point of view could be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, decreased body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle job related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social connections at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.

To be most productive a wellness program needs to achieve both managements and workforce goals, and this can be accomplished through a wellness program that will provide the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and well-being, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the necessary changes to their physical condition that can be applied for their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Wellness Programs

Decreased Absenteeism – Dupont lowered absenteeism by 47.5 percent over six years for the participants of their staff fitness initiative, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Reduced Healthcare Costs – Steel case showed a reduction in medical claim costs of 55% for employee fitness program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an typical of $478.61 for participants versus non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Wellness, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Reduced Turnover – Turnover among fitness program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Business was 32.4% lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross and Blue Shield  of Indiana found that its staff fitness program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Wellness, March, April, 1991).

The Partnership for Prevention was formed to encourage Fortune 1000 companies to consider making workforce health a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) issue and adopt strategies to promote avoidance and wellness.

After several years of double-digit rate increases for health insurance, corporations are realizing that among the best ways to slow the cost increases is to have staff members take more responsibility for both costs and health choices.

A majority of businesses surveyed feel that the best way for lowering costs is financial incentives to encourage personnel to adopt healthier life choices.

Almost 100% of businesss surveyed say that healthcare costs will be a vital or meaningful concern over the next five years, as reported by a recent survey by United Benefit Advisors.

More employers are adopting higher deductible health care programs with HRA’s or HSA’S, wellness programs, and broader disease management (DM) programs for control ever-increasing healthcare costs.

Failure to deal with these issues can be disastrous for an employer. Wayne Sensor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alegent Health lately stated, “I think that we have built a health care machinery we can’t afford. I think we are choking the economic engine of America.”

In his October 2005 newsletter, Dr. Andrew Weil stated, “I think rising health- care costs are becoming the major economic issue in our nation”. Obesity costs California organizations billions of dollars each year.

Projected costs for 2005 may reach 28 billion dollars for direct and indirect healthcare costs, staff member’s compensation, and lost productivity. California has experienced among the fastest growing rates of obesity of any state.

According to California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe, “The obesity epidemic is more than a public health crisis, it’s an economic crisis.” What is frightening is that most individuals do not even realize that they’re obese, which is defined as only 20% above normal weight.

There’s a excellent need for additional education on weight and resulting illnesses, and the worksite is an ideal venue. Health Promotion education and programs can result in a significant return on investment and, when structured properly, can produce causes a very short period of time.

Although many companys have attempted some form of health promotion program in the past, results from those efforts have been disappointing.

In many cases, the healthier staff members participated for incentives, like fitness club memberships, but those who needed it most didn’t take benefit of the health promotion program in a meaningful way.

Businesses are looking at ways to encourage more workforce to purchase into the wellness movement.

A recent webinar hosted by Human Resource Executive Magazine and presented by Carlson Advertising and Marketing Group titled, “Healthier Employees; Healthier Bottom Line –  Engaging Workers is the Missing Link in Managing Health Care Costs,” drove this point home.

This session provided actionable advice on how organizations are achieving higher impact with their wellness investments by focusing on staff member engagement. It also highlighted how you can create an Economic Engagement Model to forecast the potential impact for your corporation.

Employers can simply no longer ignore the issue of their worker’s unhealthy lifestyles and must act to engage them in a meaningful wellness program to reduce health care costs, absenteeism and lost productivity.

Staff Members also benefit as they derive better health and greater satisfaction in both their personal and expert lives.  The alternative is being caught in a non-competitive position and severely impacting the bottom-line of the company.