Wellness Program Blog

Benefits of Fitness Initiatives

 

Exercise reduces weight, lowers risks of heart attack and stroke, helps to control blood pressure and diabetes, and improves mood. Studies increasingly show that exercise may also help reduce the occurrence of certain types of cancer. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently documented another major advantage: exercise improves the health of the nation’s medical care expenditures.3 According to the CDC, physically active individuals incur $865 less per year in medical costs than inactive individuals.

 

Dr. Michael Moore, vice president and chief medical director at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, maintains that exercise is the most effective tool in health maintenance. “If you could prescribe exercise in a pill, it would be the number-one prescribed treatment in the world,” he said. In step with Dr. Moore’s prescription, nearly one-third of U.S. companyes help staff members pay for gym memberships, according to an Associated Press report. Subsidizing gym memberships is just one way businesses promote active lifestyles.

 

Popular Fitness Initiatives:

 

1. Allow access to on- and off- worksite gyms and recreational activities before, during, and after work hours.
2. Offer and promote participation in after work recreation or leagues.
3. Offer cash incentives or decreased insurance costs for participation in physical activity and/or weight management or maintenance activities.
4. Offer shower and/or changing facilities onsite.
5. Offer outdoor exercise areas such as fields and trails for worker use.
6. Offer bicycle racks in safe, convenient, and accessible locations.
7. Offer onsite fitness opportunities, such as group classes or personal training.
8. Offer an onsite exercise facility.
9. Create initiatives that have strong social support systems and incentives, such as:
10. • Buddy or team physical activity goals
11. • Initiatives that involve workers and family
12. • Initiatives to promote physical activity, such as pedometer walking challenges
13. • Explore discounted or subsidized memberships at local health clubs, recreation centers, or YMCAs
14. Offer flexible work hours to allow for physical activity during the day.
15. Support physical activity breaks during the workday, such as stretching or walking.
16. Host walk-and-talk meetings.
17. Map out onsite trails or nearby walking routes and destinations.
18. Have staff members map out their own biking or walking route to and from work.
19. Post motivational signs at elevators and escalators to promote stair usage.
20. Offer exercise/physical fitness messages and information to staff members.
21. Offer or support recreation leagues and other physical activity events onsite or in the community.
22. Begin worker activity clubs such as walking or bicycling clubs.
23. Offer onsite child care facilities to facilitate physical activity.
24. Sponsor a bike to work day and reward staff members who participate.
25. Create a box and solicit fitness and health tips.

 

 

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

 

AAOHN’s survey reported that more than half of staff members (61 percent) want to receive health and wellness information from a healthcare professional, such as a consultant or an worksite occupational health nurse (OHN), compared to pamphlets or brochures (18 percent) or human resources staff (15 percent).

 

OHNs can develop, implement and evaluate components of work site Employee Health and Wellness Programs such as testing initiatives, exercise/fitness courses, Stress Management Programs, smoking cessation, nutrition and weight control initiatives, and chronic illness management initiatives. Plus, OHNs can help staff members navigate through complicated health plans and may even serve as a triage point between staff members and their personal healthcare providers.

 

Employees might refrain from seeing their healthcare provider when it means time away from work, inconvenient parking, waiting time in the office and co-pays. In situations where staff members are under treatment for chronic diseases like heart disease, worksite nurses can routinely monitor risk factors such as blood pressure or cholesterol on a regular basis.

 

It’s often easier for an worker to ask an worksite nurse for information about symptoms or prescription medication than it is to schedule a follow-up visit to a personal healthcare provider. Benefits realized by employers include enhanced worker morale and retention, a recruitment advantage, increased productivity and decreased time away from work.

 

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

Good for waistlines & your bottom line

 

By Sandra Simpson, APRN, BC, COHN-S, manager in Occupational Health Services at a Fortune 500 company in Memphis, Tenn., and a member of the board of directors of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN). For a copy of the AAOHN wellness survey, visit www.aaohn.org, or call (800) 241-8014, x0.

 

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, employers have understood the benefits associated with keeping workers well – increased productivity from decreased rates of absence and lowered disability claims. For these reasons, coupled with the fact that many businesses realized double-digit healthcare costs last year, businesses should consider Employee Health and Wellness Programs as a way to keep staff members healthy.

 

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

 

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

 

The AAOHN survey questioned 500 staff members nationwide about their perceptions of Employee Health and Wellness Programs. More than three-quarters of all members indicated these initiatives are a good way to improve their overall health, and nearly 60 percent consider these offerings an incentive to remain with their current employer. worker retention and turnover impact the bottom line, so building Employee Health and Wellness Programs into the work site culture is a valuable way to help retain talented staff members in addition to enhancing personal health and workplace productivity.

 

Health 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 percent of survey respondents cited Stress Management Programs as a priority topic for work site wellness.

 

In addition to stress, other preferred topic areas include testing initiatives (84 percent), exercise/physical fitness initiatives (84 percent), medical insurance education (81 percent) and disease management lunch and learns (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 due to computer work and workplace violence.

 

What you should do

 

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

 

Printed materials such as brochures, posters, fliers or pamphlets present an easy solution. But it’s important to remember that different individuals require different formats for learning. A good rule of thumb: provide information in a variety of learning formats such as videos, pamphlets, health-related quizzes, display boards, lunch-and-learn presentations and reimbursement or incentive programs.

 

This assumes you’ve overcome the first hurdle – getting individuals to sign on to a Employee Health and Wellness Program. While survey respondents indicated health and Employee Health and Wellness Programs are important, just six out of 10 (60 percent) reported that they participated in the Employee Health and Wellness Programs at their businesses. The other 40 percent cited lack of interest and lack of time as deterrents.

 

This points to the need for a comprehensive, structured Employee Health and Wellness Program using a creative approach, with an incentive for participation and effective program marketing.

 

By investing in an organized Employee Health and Wellness Program headed by a qualified healthcare professional such as an worksite nurse, businesses can give staff members the access to the health 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.

Worksites do not exist in a vacuum. They are part and parcel of the community in which they are located. Successful corporate administrators are cognizant of the need for positive community relations and should do what is necessary to promote good will. What better way to bridge relationships than by utilizing existing community Employee Health and Wellness Program services and initiatives whenever possible (e.g., voluntary, private and public health agencies) and providing health related services back to the community. Since the community is also the home of the worker, an effective mode of health promotion is through programming directed at the larger community. Sponsorship of community related health fairs is one example more are listed below.

 

• Encourages worker/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

• Public relations and media initiatives advertising a healthy company image

• company newsletters and press releases on health issues to local media

• Environmentally sound use of community resources and waste disposal

 

Small and large businesses carry a significant proportion of the provision of health care for families in this country by providing healthcare insurance for their staff members. With the escalating increase in healthcare cost many businesses are attempting to slow the increase of healthcare insurance premiums by providing creative cost control initiatives. Greater emphasis is being put on primary prevention to keep staff members healthy and secondary prevention to identify and treat health conditions before they can become serious.

 

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

 

In conjunction with the above initiatives most large businesses 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 comprehensive selection of health related worker services and benefits would include the following:

 

• Free or low cost health screenings provided on site by company clinical personnel or through outside contractors:

                        Serum cholesterol

                        Colorectal cancer screen

                        Blood pressure testing

                        Mammography

                        Vision and hearing testing

                        Diabetes

• Referral and follow-up procedures (e.g., Hypertension, Cholesterol, Cancer)

• First Aid and emergency care

• Disease control and prevention initiatives

• Child and infirm adult care services

• Financial and Pre-Retirement planning

• Ongoing learning/educational opportunities

• Coordination of company picnics and outings

• Parent-child work visitation initiatives

• Workers compensation/rehabilitation

Walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs are among of the most popular Employee Health and Wellness Programs. They set the bar for entry fairly low – most anyone can walk around the block or their building – and walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs also provides workers with a good way to break up the afternoon doldrums and interact in a casual, more social environment with other workers. Just leaving your desk for a few minutes every day for a walk can be a big stress reliever – and stress is the #2 leading cause of absenteeism, according to Employee Health and Wellness Program statistics.

 

As a first step to starting your Employee Health and Wellness Program, we recommend that you have a designer draw up an attractive map of your corporate campus or vicinity. Plan out and test a few short walks of varying distances, and using a pedometer and watch, figure out how long each walk is in time and distance. Have a little fun with your walking Employee Health and Wellness Program by equating each walk with a common office activity of the same duration, like a writing a one-page status report or filling out a common form. Post the map at the worksite and make sure people know about walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs by using your office communication channels – newsletters, announcements, business meetings. Keep it fun by building weight-loss teams, setting up races or organizing healthy picnics and athletic activities around the walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs route.

 

Following are some other walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs tips from Tom Weede, author of The Entrepreneur Diet: The On-the-Go Plan for Fitness, Weight Loss, and Healthy Living:

   

            Make sure to link the walking Employee Health and Wellness Program to work objectives. Employees need to be reassured that these walks are part of their responsibility to be healthy and productive. They’re not personal errands that need to be compensated for by longer days at the office.

    Keep healthy snacks at the worksite.

    Reinforce the walking Employee Health and Wellness Program message by regularly mentioning it during staff member meetings

    Set up a health-related benefit that walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs participants can use for health-related expenses.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs: A Long-Term Committment

 

“Employee Health and Wellness Programs” – what does that phrase mean to you? To many of us, it evokes an array of ambivalent thoughts — the health club membership we barely used, the nagging ankle injury from last year’s business picnic, the backaches, the bratwurst we had for lunch, the love handles and of course, the fad diets that failed us or that we failed. Usually, Employee Health and Wellness Programs is a guilt trigger that causes us to feel remorse about our bodies and the health management we know we should be doing for them.

 

The sad fact is that we live in a society where our survival is dependent on sitting at a desk, not hunting game, picking berries and sprinting away from wolves. We also live in such luxury, nutritionally, that we can gain weight steadily without being wealthy. Cardiovascular disease, obesity and bad nutrition cause most of the heath issues that weigh down staff member attendance and erode a company’s productivity.

 

Ironically the poorest societies in the world – the ones furthest from the conveniences of modern life – often boast the healthier, most physically hardy members. And as for the animal kingdom — don’t look there for commiseration. In the wild, it is extremely rare to find an animal that suffers from our kind of wellness issues.

 

Prescription Drug dependency degrades Health and Wellness

 

It doesn’t help that Americans are descending into a deadly love affair with drugs — and drug testing won’t help you with these drugs.

 

For example, Greg Critser’s book Generation RX details how Americans spend about $180 billion dollars on Prescription Drugs each year, with the estimated 2011 tally at a whopping $414 billion. The average number of Prescription Drugs per United State citizens in 2004 stood at twelve.

 

Twelve! That means that your average staff member is taking 14, 18, or even more than 20 medications in an attempt to improve their Health and Wellness.

 

Is this effective, though? Critser is not convinced that the prescriptions help U.S. health. In fact, he points out a bevy of negative consequences for America’s legal prescription medication addition, which include prescription medication interactions, liver damage, and the legions of people who now depend on prescriptions to deal with ordinary trials and stresses.

 

An company has the potential to improve Health

 

It’s not all bad news, though. Occupational Health Screening and Biometric Testings and well-designed Employee Health and Wellness Programs can help you fight the downward spiral for you and your staff members. In fact, good Employee Health and Wellness Programs – like a strong walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs initiative – can literally save lives and reduce the symptoms that cause workers to turn to prescriptions in the first place.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs and Healthcare Costs

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are more important now than ever.  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, with the troubles in the economy it seems that the costs of company provided medical care keep continuing to grow and it doesn’t seem like it is going to change.  The article states that during the year 2008, U.S. organizations can expect to see an increase of 10% in medical care costs.

 

This increase in medical care costs is causing some small organizations to reduce their staff member health benefits or get rid of them altogether.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs for Healthier Lifestyles

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs do provide an option for small organizations.  The corporations can provide discounted co-pays and deductibles to those workers that fully participate in the provided Employee Health and Wellness Program.  Full participation means getting health screens, receiving a health risk assessment, and then working with their wellness coordinator to work towards a healthier lifestyle.

 

The healthier the workers, the lower the overall medical care costs for the corporation.  Just one lengthy hospital stay can almost deplete a small business’ medical care budget.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs and Your Bottom Line

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs provide many advantages to a company’s bottom-line. Employee Health and Wellness Program Statistics from Prudential Insurance show a benefit expense of $312 per person enrolled in a Employee Health and Wellness Program compared to an expense of $574 per staff member that wasn’t enrolled.  Coors Brewing Company showed a positive side-effect of participant absenteeism dropping by 18%, thus greater production and less medical care costs overall.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are an intelligient investment, at least according to Lincoln industries in Nebraska.  CNN reported on this 565 employee business their committed investment in their staff member’s wellness.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs are part of business Culture

 

The Employee Health and Wellness Programs, according the story, has been in place for 16 years at Lincoln, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.  The business has three full-time workers dedicated to the Employee Health and Wellness Program and the wellness of the workers, who receive workplace massages and a round of instructor-led stretching before they start their shifts.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Assessed

 

According to CNN, one of the rules of the Employee Health and Wellness Program, which workers are not required to participate in, is that they receive quarterly checkups where assessments are completed on their weight, amount of body fat and flexibility.  Based on these health assessments, the workers are then ranked from platinum all the way down to “non-medal”.  To become platinum level, where you receive a business-paid climbing trip, you must achieve certain physical fitness levels and be a non-smoker.  Smoking cessation classes are part of the Employee Health and Wellness Program.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Bring a Big Savings

 

The Employee Health and Wellness Program has been a smart investment for Lincoln Industries.  By having healthier workers, they have seen an average of $2 million in savings in medical care costs per year.  The savings don’t stop there, since instituting a Employee Health and Wellness Program, workers’ compensation claims have gone from $500,000 per year down to less than $10,000 per year.

Employee retention is a challenge. Employee Health and Wellness Programs can help. providing perks such as incentives to exercise, healthy food, and stress management and weight loss programs at work is a way to maintain your staff members satisfied.

 

Attracting new workers are also a challenge, and anything you can do to “stand out” from other staff members is to your advantage. Remember, salary isn’t everything. Often, the possibility of flex hours or a discount at the local gym may be the deciding factor for a future staff member. Once again, Employee Health and Wellness Programs to the rescue!

 

How Are Employee Health and Wellness Programs Administered?

 

Whether running small Employee Health and Wellness Programs in-house or using outside corporate wellness organizations to oversee the whole thing, program promotion is of utmost importance. You may have a great speaker come in to talk about a very “hot topic,” but if no one knew about it, it was a waste of the speaker’s time and your money.

 

Corporate Employee Health and Wellness Program setup and promotion go hand and hand. Depending on the size of your organization, it may be handled by one person or an entire corporate wellness team. You may even have an staff member who is interested in physical fitness and would love to organize some educational wellness presentations and programs.

 

Other staff members may have areas of interest and would be willing to set up some educational programs. Especially for smaller employers, once you have chosen your events and programs, it is best to set up a calendar with a schedule of events. Then publish the entire calendar as well as announcing each individual event as it comes up.

 

Access to Employee Health and Wellness Programs

 

To make access easy, offer a wide range of Employee Health and Wellness Programs and programs that can fit into everyone’s schedule. For example, some staff members may find it difficult to get to a presentation at work or make a commitment for 8 weeks of the Weight Watchers at Work program. However, they will take advantage of a reduced rate at the gym and will borrow tapes from the health and wellness library.

 

If you have shifts, remember to schedule events for the after 5:00 group. Nothing will undermine Employee Health and Wellness Programs more quickly than promoting great programs that are only convenient for first shift staff members.