Employee Health Screening

For well over a decade, research has been showing the effectiveness of Employee Health and Wellness Programs. For every dollar spent on Employee Health and Wellness Programs, the returns have been cost savings of between $2.30 and $10.10 in the areas of decreased rates of absence, fewer sick days, decreased WSIB/WCB claims, lowered health and insurance costs, and improvements to staff member performance and productivity.

Statistics do show that Employee Health and Wellness Programs increase staff member morale, improve the ability to attract and retain key staff members, all while having more alert and productive workers. Some Employee Health and Wellness Program return on investment statistics of note:

• Canada Life Insurance reported a return of $3.43 on Employee Health and Wellness Program, and an overall Employee Health and Wellness Program return on investment of $6.85 on each corporate dollar invested on decreased turnover (32.4 percent lower), productivity gains and decreased medical claims,
• DuPont’s Employee 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 Employee Health and Wellness Program return on investment 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 Employee Health and Wellness Program than workers not enrolled in the program,
• British Columbia Hydro workers enrolled in a Employee Health and Wellness Program had a turnover rate of just 3.5 percent compared with a Organization 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 Employee Health and Wellness Program,
• Coca Cola report saving $500 every year per staff member after implementing a Employee Health and Wellness Program, with only 60 percent of their workers participating,
• Coors Brewing Co. reported that for each dollar spent on their Employee 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

Employees breathe life and value into your organization.  Within the modern worksite there are increasing instances of stress, anxiety, obesity, depression, and heart disease.  The modern worksite has become increasingly physical fitness-free.

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 organization without having to leave the chair.  The “advances” affect physical and mental health in a disastrous manner ultimately affecting your organization’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 physical fitness available is surfing the net.  Organization morale will invariably suffer if an physical fitness policy is not endorsed and put in place.

Regular physical fitness can significantly improve workplace health.  Instances of absenteeism and staff turnover, low staff morale and decreased productivity can be alleviated with a Employee Health and Wellness Program that energizes and motivates tired workers.  Boredom, repetitive motion injuries and workplace fatigue 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
• Improving productivity
• Lowering rates of absence
• Improving morale
• Lowering stress

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

Golds Gym Employee Health and Wellness Programs 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 aspects of fitness training (strength, core, cardiovascular, flexibility), performing broad-based fitness assessments, designing personalized fitness initiatives, and dynamic group training initiatives.  We take pride in our talented, professional workers who provide innovative and effective Employee Health and Wellness Programs for diverse workforces.

Golds Gym Employee Health and Wellness 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 Employee Health and Wellness Program delivers dynamic cost-effective Employee 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 Employee Health and Wellness Programs for workers, thereby hopefully creating a healthier, more productive workforce.  However, the problem with corporate 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 Employee Health and Wellness Programs provides attractive discounts for companies to train at our professionally coordinated facilities.  When your organization becomes a member of our Employee Health and Wellness Program, your workers are eligible for savings off of our regular training rates.  No matter what size of organization you keep, we have a Employee 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 Employee Health and Wellness Program with only 60 percent of their workers participating.
• Pacific Bell reported that overall rates of absence decreased after implementing a Employee Health and Wellness Program.
• Coors Brewing Company reported that for each dollar spent on their Employee 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 Employee Health and Wellness Programs contact us at (336) 725-8624.

Flu Shot Facts & Myths

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. Each year about 200,000 staff members in the U.S. are hospitalized and about 36,000 staff members 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 staff members 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 percent to 90 percent 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 staff members 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 vaccinations by visiting the following Website: www.cdc.gov/flu

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

Advantages of Employee Health and Wellness Programs: Easy to Find

Employer’s are learning that Employee Health and Wellness Programs 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 employers to incorporate Employee Health and Wellness Programs as part of their corporate strategy. The report asserts that chronic diseases which are largely preventable place a heavy toll on organization, including lower productivity and higher health insurance costs.

The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that $1.66 trillion was spent on healthcare 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 recent 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, physical fitness, cancer screening and “especially” tobacco use. A well-designed Employee Health and Wellness Programs initiative serves the best interests of workers and employers alike.

Advantages of Wellness Progams: Return On Investment

Ron Goetzel, a nationally recognized expert in the science of health management, information analysis and applied research, said in a recent interview that with an investment of $100 to $150 per staff member per year in Employee Health and Wellness Programs, an employer can expect an average return on investment 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 found until two to three years into the Employee Health and Wellness 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 staff members after they get sick, rather than a ‘health care’ system which focuses on keeping healthy staff members 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 organization.

Advantages of Wellness Progams: Getting Started

Implementing a Employee Health and Wellness Programs can be accomplished with simple, low-cost strategies.

• Offer incentives for participation.
• Start a wellness informational campaign.
• Schedule wellness seminars on diabetes, nutrition, physical fitness and cholesterol.
• Start initiatives such as fitness, sleep diary, tobacco use cessation and injury prevention.
• Offer onsite chair massages or simple stretching exercises to do at the desk.
• Change vending machine options to offer healthier, low-fat snacks and drinks.
• Actively promote staff member participation in all Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

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

Technological and demographic transformations are changing the nature of work in our society. As these changes occur the broad-based model of Employee Health and Wellness Programs described above will evolve and continue to develop. If current trends continue, the workers of tomorrow will be older, more racially and ethically diverse, increasingly female, and will frequently be located off-site. In the later case, technological advances are making it possible for more and more consultants to conduct their work from their homes. Thus the very character of the worksite will change and so must our efforts to deliver Employee Health and Wellness Programs. As an example, in the future it is likely that a great deal of health education programming will be delivered through personalized interactive multimedia formats, conveniently supplied to any number of workers through telecommunication systems.

As technological innovations increase in the workplace, Employee Health and Wellness Program consultants 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 greater amounts of leisure time that is normally devoted to recreation and relaxation. Subsequent increases in stress and fatigue will ensure the continued need for effective Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

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

Employee Health and Wellness Program consultants must understand this challenge and develop the method to overcome these obstacles. The proof is clear that much more could be done to advance the health of our society through the workplace. As change agents, health educators must work to empower employers and workers through education of the benefits of Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

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 staff member, 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 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
• Public relations and media initiatives advertising a healthy organization image
• organization newsletters and press releases on health issues to local media
• Environmentally sound use of community resources and waste disposal

At times Employee Health and Wellness Programs have been instituted as public relations vehicles intended to enhance the corporate image with little concern for improvements in staff member health. Companies who are truly committed to enhancing staff member health and wellness, are companies who have worked to include Employee Health and Wellness Programs into the organization’s mission statement. With this commitment, policies and procedures can be written to address short and long term goals of increased staff member health, productivity, and morale. These policies and procedures are critical to the establishment of supportive organizational cultures conducive to staff member health and wellness.

• Active staff member involvement in Employee Health and Wellness Program committees and organization decision making
• Availability of flextime work schedules
• No tobacco use policy
• Drug use policy and testing
• Motor vehicle seat restraints 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 environmental conditions of the worksite can be divided into both physical and psychosocial domains, both of which influence the climate and culture of a worksite. The cultural norms of a workplace have been identified as powerful determinants of worker health and behavior (Baum, 1995). Ultimately, workers benefit most from a healthy, supportive; eustressful workplace community was they feel valued and respected. Since adults spend approximately one third of their waking hours at work, one would hope that workers view work as less of a necessity and more of an enjoyable experience.

The climate of a workplace 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 Employee Health and Wellness Programs should control exposure to unhealthy conditions including: hazardous chemicals, noise, temperature, radiation and other risky conditions. Program examples include:

• Employee Health and Wellness Programs 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

An staff member’s psychological health can never be neglected in a broad-based model of Employee Health and Wellness Programs. Originating out of a need for alcohol abuse interventions in the workplace, today’s employee assistance programs (EAP) encompass assessment and counseling for substance abuse and dependency, stress related disorders, family conflicts and other personal issues.

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

• Personalized assessment of staff member concerns
• Treatment choice assistance
• Emphasis on prevention and treatment
• Personal and family counseling initiatives
• Treatment for addictions:
Drugs
Alcohol
Gambling
• Crisis intervention initiatives
• Stress management
• Ongoing support groups
• Management and staff member training to identify individuals at risk.
• After treatment assistance

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

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 Employee Health and Wellness Program specialists. These two sets of consultants may also work together for the ongoing evaluation of cost effective Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

In conjunction with the above initiatives most 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 organization clinical personnel or through outside contractors:

Serum cholesterol
Colorectal cancer screening
Blood pressure check
Mammography
Vision and hearing testing
Diabetes
• Referral and follow-up procedures (e.g., Hypertension, Cholesterol, Cancer)
• Provision of 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 organization picnics and outings
• Parent-child work visitation initiatives
• Workers compensation/rehabilitation