Employee Health Screening

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 beginning an Employee Health and Wellness Program, you may be wary too. Aren’t employee 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, employee 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 employee satisfaction – but they also reduce Medical Insurance premiums and employee absenteeism.

What are some common Employee Health and Wellness Programs?

Employee Health and Wellness Programs run the gamut, depending on your worksite 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
employee safety
Health Risk Appraisals
walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs
drug testing

Maintaining Employee Health and Wellness Program during Cold Season can be a challenge for any company. 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 staff members 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 worksite 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 in the office for good health year-round.

Keeping the Office Germ-free During Cold 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. Onsite 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 Cold Season.

Education Can Increase Employee Health and Wellness Program During Cold Season

Educating staff members about various ways to stay healthy during Cold 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 staff members 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 Cold Season. With Employee Health and Wellness Program, your office can reach one step closer to immunity from sickness during Cold 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 staff members 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 American Center for Disease Control also reports that chronic disease accounts for approximately 75 percent of yearly employee healthcare costs in the American, 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 on-site Health Screening and Biometric Testings for their staff members, as well as look into a comprehensive health management program. These and other precautions are good secret weapons against the economic pitfall of unhealthy staff members.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs – Employee Engagement Strategies

Employee Health and Wellness Programs without employee engagement are of little use to a company. How do you get staff members to enroll in Employee Health and Wellness Programs – and stay engaged in the programs?

The brochures for these programs discuss the benefits to staff members and businesses. Employee Health and Wellness Program statistics show that there are tangible benefits to a company 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 company, has applied their own invigorating twist to health management by providing gift rewards to staff members who participate in Employee Health and Wellness Programs. The wellness incentive 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 incentives in Employee Health and Wellness Programs?

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

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

Successful Employee Health and Wellness Programs motivate staff members – before and after signup

Employee Health and Wellness Program administrators should keep the long-term view in mind when trying to get staff members to take that vitally important first step. Even the best incentives 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 employee 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, staff members will follow their leadership. The potential rewards and Wellness benefits are clearly worth reaping, for both your organization and your co-workers.

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

Wellness Continuity

If staff members 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 staff members 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 worksite campus. Instead, integrate Personal health and wellness with your Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

This can benefit your Employee Health and Wellness Programs in a couple of ways:

it lowers the chance that the employee will come back to the office feeling unfit, overwhelmed and unable to resume their Employee Health and Wellness Programs; and
it shows that their organization is just as invested in their Personal health and wellness as they are

Like a marathon, Personal health and wellness is a long-term venture and it’s challenging 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 organization 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 staff members 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 staff members 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 staff members can proceed safely on the road to better fitness.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs: An Attainable Goal

Was Wellness on your organization’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 staff members.”

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 businesses. They do it to lower healthcare 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 Medical 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 businesses have made on-site Health Screening and Biometric Testings – like the one that saved Shirk’s life – available to their staff members.

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

Wellness incentives may seem like an effective way to get staff members excited about Employee Health and Wellness Program – but is it wise?

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

Tax Breaks as Wellness incentives

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

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

1) A health awareness and education component, which could include Health Risk Appraisals and Health Screening and Biometric Testings.
2) A behavioral change component – such as counseling, seminars, or self-help materials to empower staff members to lead healthier lifestyles.
3) A supportive environment component – including providing meaningful incentives to participating staff members, such as a reduction in health premiums or allowing staff members to engage in walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs during the workday.
4) The creation of an employee engagement committee – which would tailor the Employee Health and Wellness Program to the needs of the employees at a particular company.

If this law gets passed, many businesses will be scrambling to provide Employee Health and Wellness Programs in hopes of receiving the Wellness incentives.

Company Obesity: The Facts

Company obesity has become one of the fastest growing healthcare 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 organization’s bottom line.

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

Obesity is associated with a 36% increase in spending on healthcare, more than smoking or problem drinking.
34% of adult U.S citizens fit the definition of “obese”
Obesity related health problems are costing American companies millions of dollars annually in medical expenditures and work loss.

Company Obesity: How businesses Can Help

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

We suggest establishing a Walking Employee Health and Wellness Program to assist your staff members in meeting their weight-loss goals. Walking Wellness is a program designed to get your staff members 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.

What is a Employee Health and Wellness Program Proposal?

You probably have seen the term many times and wondered what exactly does it mean. A Employee Health and Wellness Program Proposal is a proposal put together by a wellness consultant that makes suggestions for what type of Employee Health and Wellness Programs you should choose, what tools you will need to accomplish your corporation’s wellness goals, and costs associated with it.

Employee Health and Wellness Program Proposals Assist Human Resource Departments

A Employee Health and Wellness Program Proposal is a great thing to have in hand when HR Departments go to upper management to request funding for a Employee Health and Wellness Program. It will provide necessary stats and trends, background information, and costs that will enable the HR Department to fully present their case. Upper management will appreciate the preparedness and the research that has gone into your wellness request.

Employee Health and Wellness Program Proposals Lead to Better Employee Health and Wellness Programs

A well thought out Employee Health and Wellness Program Proposal can lead to a better Employee Health and Wellness Program, because the building blocks will already be in place. Employee Health and Wellness Program Proposals will guarantee that your corporation gets the proper Employee Health and Wellness Program established. Employee Health and Wellness Programs can vary greatly, but when your staff members ask, you can tell them that they generally include the following:

Walking programs which provides staff members with incentives to take their walking breaks at their worksite.
Company teams, workplace yoga classes and massage therapists at the worksite.
Nutrition advice, weight-loss and healthy cooking classes, stress management sessions, and either a Employee Health and Wellness Program resources column in the employee newsletter or a wellness newsletter.
Stairwell initiatives to show how stair-walking can improve health.

Wellness Challenges Are Popping Up Everywhere

Wellness Challenges are definitely hot right now and they are encouraging more and more people to get healthy and live better. Whether it is a city or a school or a social group or even a whole state, competitive spirits are being ignited by the challenge to be the healthiest team. The Wellness Challenges are usually about a six months to a year in length and they are made up of several teams, these teams all get points for physical activity, selecting healthy foods, and just making better life and health choices overall.

The best part about Wellness Challenges is even though there really is only way “real” winner; everyone that participates in the challenge is a life winner.

Wellness Challenges provides incentive to Get Healthy

Establishing a Wellness Challenges in your office is a great way to get staff members to participate in your established Employee Health and Wellness Program. Have staff members form teams and receive points for everything from attending a corporate Wellness Fair to getting a health risk assessment to beginning an exercise regimen. At the end of the year, the teams will win prizes based on the number of points they have accumulated.

Wellness Challenges Improve Corporate Health

Not only will Wellness Challenges improve the health of your staff members, it will improve the overall health of the corporation by providing benefits such as reduced injuries, reduced frequency of worker’s comp, reduced healthcare costs, better employee attendance, and better corporate morale.

Like we said earlier, everyone is a winner in a Wellness Challenges!