Posts from — November 2008

As the field of Employee Wellness Programs continues to evolve, the need to define and articulate the  components of this comprehensive approach increases. In 1987 Allensworth and Kolbe (1987) expanded the  prevailing definition of comprehensive school health to include the domains of Health Instruction,  Healthy Environment, Health Services, Physical Education, Counseling and Psychological Services, School  Food Service, Employee Wellness Programs for Faculty and Staff, and the Integration of School and  Community Resources.

To promote the health of school age children, prevention specialists have found that an integrated  comprehensive approach is the most effective strategy. Relying only on health education or Physical  Education initiatives to foster children’s health has demonstrated limited effectiveness. Consistent  health messages delivered by numerous agents increases the possibility of attaining health goals and  objectives. A similar model is essential if Employee Wellness Programs are to impact positively on the  health and performance of all employees.

A comprehensive model of Employee Wellness Programs includes the following components; Health Education  Strategies, worker Health Services and Benefits, physical fitness and nutrition Strategies, Company  Health and Wellness Program Policies and Procedures, Counseling and Employee Assistance Programs, a  Safe and Healthy Work Environment, and the Integration of Company and Community Resources. This model  can be used to evaluate and plan for Employee Wellness Programs that are truly comprehensive in nature,  focusing on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies for employees.

One value of a truly comprehensive model is that it is possible to promote a holistic approach of  worker health. A healthy, productive worker is one who is given the opportunity to develop physically,  emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. In addition, this model supports the ideals of  wellness and optimal health by encouraging worksites to go beyond initiatives designed to only reduce  health care costs, prevent disease, or maintain health.

A key factor in the utility of this model is the overlap of responsibilities. Design and implementation  are dependent upon the motivation and cooperation of qualified – and ideally – credentialed  professionals throughout the administrative structure of a employer. Such a model requires consistent  communication between health educators, medical staff, human resource managers, physical therapists,  industrial hygienists, physical fitness physiologists, ergonomic engineers, dietitians, occupational  therapists, psychologists and independent consultants. Planning must also incorporate active  involvement of workers, administrators, family members, and employer retirees at all stages of the  development, implementation and evaluation stages. All must be committed to the development of a  healthy organization where employees are happy and proud to work.

Various groups are working to advance the science of Employee Wellness Programs. Health educators have  the expertise and training to be leaders in this field. On the basis of theoretical foundations of  behavior and the results of empirical research, we must start to articulate a clear vision of what  optimal initiatives should consist of. The Components of this model are included below for reference  and will be discussed individually in coming posts.

• Health Education
• physical fitness and nutrition Strategies
• worker Health Services and worker Benefits
• Employee Assistance Programs and Counseling Programs
• Safe Work Environment
• Health Related employer Policies and Procedures
• Integration of employer and Community Resources

As the field of Employee Wellness Programs continues to evolve, so will the need to define the  dimensions of a comprehensive model of Employee Wellness Programs. A representative model includes the  following components; health education initiatives, worker health services and benefits, physical  fitness and nutrition initiatives, Company Health and Wellness Program policies and procedures,  counseling and employee assistance programs, a safe and healthy work environment, and the integration  of company and community resources.

A comprehensive approach to Employee Wellness Programs will maximize the impact of all initiatives by  increasing communication between administrators, employees, and worker families, while encouraging the  adoption of a healthy worksite culture and climate. Philosophically, this model supports the ideals of  worker wellness and optimal health by encouraging worksites to go beyond initiatives designed to only  reduce health care costs, prevent disease, or maintain health.

A key factor in the utility of this model is the overlap of responsibilities for Employee Wellness  Programs by various departments and individuals outside and inside the company. As the structure of the  worksite continues to change, in the future this dynamic model can be used to evaluate and plan for  Employee Wellness Programs that are truly comprehensive in nature.

A Comprehensive Model For Employee Wellness Programs

According to the National Survey of Worksite Health Promotion Activities (1992) 81% of corporations in  the United States with 50 or more employees have some form of Employee Wellness Programs activity. This  result puts us in proximity of the Healthy People 2000 (1990) objective of 85 percent by the year 2000.  Why are corporations getting into the employer of Employee Wellness Programs? The three most common  reasons cited for employer interest in Employee Wellness Programs are the desire to control spiraling  health care costs, to encourage a healthy productive work force, and as a way of boosting the morale of  employees and the image of the company (O’Donnell, 1994).

As the motivations behind Employee Wellness Programs differ, so do the extent of a Employee Wellness  Programs efforts. A program may consist of distributing the occasional health pamphlet on the warning  signs of cancer to employees, or it may comprise an elaborate and strategically planned Company Health  and Wellness Program targeted to the specific needs of a company and its employees. Research indicates  (O’Donnel & Harris, 1994) that some Employee Wellness Programs have been more effective than others in  improving health status, but what would a truly comprehensive model of Employee Wellness Programs  consist of?

Close your eyes and imagine yourself working for the healthiest employer possible. What characteristics  or Company Health and Wellness Program strategies would make that organization so healthy? Examine it  from a holistic perspective. What does that employer do to enhance the physical, social, emotional,  spiritual, and intellectual aspects of worker health? How does that employer develop effective health  policies and relevant programs that impact all employees? Finally, how does that employer demonstrate  its belief that workers are the employer’s most valued asset?

It is unlikely that any one component of a Company Health and Wellness Program will be accountable for  the positive health outcomes of all employees. Company Health and Wellness Program have evolved from  the occasional fitness center for the exclusive use of employer executives, or the sporadic worker  safety program, to a wide range of health enhancing services and initiatives. Company Health and  Wellness Program professionals often speak of the importance of cultural change and the need to  institutionalize Employee Wellness Programs in today’s worksite. This goal can only occur through a  comprehensive and integrated approach that impacts on workers through numerous channels.

Walking Employee Wellness Programs are among of the most popular Employee Wellness Programs. They set  the bar for entry fairly low – most anyone can walk around the block or their building – and walking  Employee Wellness Programs also provides employees with a good way to break up the afternoon doldrums  and interact in a casual, more social environment with other employees. 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 Company Health and Wellness Program statistics.

As a first step to beginning your Employee Wellness Program, we recommend that you have a designer draw  up an attractive map of your organization 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 Company 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 in the office and make sure people know about walking Employee Wellness  Programs by using your office communication channels – newsletters, announcements, organization  meetings. Keep it fun by building weight-loss teams, setting up races or organizing healthy picnics and  athletic activities around the walking Employee Wellness Programs route.

Here are some other walking Employee 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 Company 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 in the office.
Reinforce the walking Company Health and Wellness Program message by regularly mentioning it during  worker meetings
Set up a health-related benefit that walking Employee Wellness Programs participants can use for  health-related expenses.

Company Health and Wellness Program Statistics tell a clear story – Company Health and Wellness Program  Programs are effective , and they save corporations money.

You should take note of these interesting Company Health and Wellness Program Statistics:

Some 25 percent of American corporations were running Employee Wellness Programs in 1996.
Company Health and Wellness Program Statistics depict a savings of $2.30 to $10.10 for every $1  spent on Employee Wellness Programs.
Coca-Cola’s fitness program recouped $500 per year per worker, despite the fact that only 60%  of their staff was enrolled.
A Ipsos-Reid Company Health and Wellness Program statisics paper in 2004 found the three major  preventable causes of staff absenteeism to be mental health (anxiety and/or depression), stress and a  bad relationship with a supervisor.
Company Health and Wellness Program Statistics from Prudential Insurance reveal a benefit  expense of $312 per person enrolled in their wellness system, but $574 per non-enrolled worker.
At the Coors Brewing Co., Company Health and Wellness Program Statistics illuminate a savings  of $5.50 per $1 spent on fitness, with a positive side-effect of member absenteeism dropping by 18%.

Company Health and Wellness Program Advantages still aren’t self-evident to some executives, even  though the research, real-world evidence and cost-benefit analyses are demonstrative. With careful  planning, almost every organization can reap Company Health and Wellness Program Advantages.

Part of the problem is that some executives erroneously believe that the Company Health and Wellness  Program Advantages are mostly on the worker side. The truth is that Company Health and Wellness Program  Advantages both the employer and worker – and according to Company Health and Wellness Program  statistics , the employer stands to gain $2.30 to $10.10 in cost savings per dollar spent. Employee  fitness saves companies money.

At the same time, health care and insurance costs continue to skyrocket. Company Health and Wellness  Program Advantages are one of the only ways to cut those costs while helping employees at the same  time. As Karen Roberts, senior vice president with Aon Consulting, said about Company Health and  Wellness Program Advantages in her address at the 2006 WorldAtWork Total Rewards Conference &  Exhibition, “If you can’t afford to invest in wellness this year, you’re never going to afford it.”

Company Health and Wellness Program Advantages include helping to prevent cancer, obesity, heart  disease and hypertension. It’s rare that corporations can cut costs and assist struggling employees,  support families and even arguably save lives. Isn’t that a good thing?

Onsite Employee Health Screening means better heath risk assessment baselines and better security

“Onsite Employee Health Screening” is a hot phrase these days, but it can help your workforce with  health management, too. When the pundits talk about Onsite Employee Health Screening, they’re usually  referring to retinal scanners, fingerprint readers, and other high-tech security measures. However, if  you trace the phrase “Onsite Employee Health Screening” back to its roots, it refers to the measurement  of unique human physical and behavioral characteristics.

Employee Wellness Programs are of critical importance to the modern business. As a result, Onsite  Employee Health Screening should be one of the tools in the arsenal of a forward-thinking organization.

Workplace Health Screenings aren’t just a “feel-good” measure for your employees. Assessments of worker  health help your workers to prioritize their well-being, which results in happier, more productive  employees. Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) also build your database of worker biometric data. Onsite  Employee Health Screening, when handled worksite by our experienced professionals, is hassle-free and  smoothly organized. The biometric data we collect then can be stored digitally for years or even  decades, helping you and your workforce build better health risk assessment baselines that you can use  to assess workforce fitness and the efficacy of your corporation’s Health and Productivity Programs.  Collected biometric data can even allow an worker’s doctor to assess that person’s health over many  years, helping him or her spot trends and diagnose disease.

Onsite Employee Health Screening extends to a wide variety of health risk tests, including measurements  of blood pressure, blood type, body fat, substance abuse, and susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.  Collecting biometric data for security purposes – like fingerprints, facial recognition imprints, or  hand geometry – can be dovetailed with our health tests to minimize workflow disruption.

Employee Wellness Programs: A Long-Term Committment

“Employee 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 organization 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 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.

Unfortunately 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 poor dietary  habits cause most of the heath issues that weigh down worker attendance and erode a corporation’s  productivity.

It’s ironic that the poorest societies in the world – the ones furthest from the conveniences of modern  life – often have the fittest, 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 U.S citizens 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 U.S citizens 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 U.S citizen in 2004 stood at twelve.

Twelve! That means that your average worker 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 drugs help American health. In fact, he  points out a bevy of negative consequences for America’s legal prescription addition, which include  prescription interactions, liver damage, and the legions of people who now depend on drugs to deal with  ordinary trials and stresses.

An employer has the potential to improve Health

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

Health Risk Assessment: Helping Quantify Employee Health help you quantify worker health

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

Health Risk Assessment: What is it?

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

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

Health Risk Assessment: The Typical Health Risk Assessment

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

blood pressure check,
testing for cancer,
blood sugar test, and
a analysis of the worker’s health status.

Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) would assess the worker’s:

lifestyle factors,
medical conditions,
prescriptions,
functional concerns and abilities,
life quality,
self-efficacy,
fitness level.

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

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

Some common Health and Wellness Fair desired outcomes include:

better awareness of the health services and resources available to employees, both from their  employer and from local, state, regional and national health services;
increased motivation for improving health behavior
increased participation in Employee Wellness Programs, commuter and carshare programs and  health savings accounts
better awareness of person health status through Health Screenings, Health and Wellness Fair  activities, displays, handouts, and demonstrations, and
better information on what employees are seeking from their employer’s health management  initiatives, and which employees are interested in participating.

Planning a Health and Wellness Fair

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

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

Health and Wellness Fairs and Company Health and Wellness Program Recruitment

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

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

Employee Wellness Programs: The Grand Slam

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

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

Employee Wellness Programs Don’t Have To Be Costly

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

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

What are some common Employee Wellness Programs?

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

Here are some examples of Employee Wellness Programs:

ergonomic safety
cardiovascular disease education and testing
worker safety
Health Risk Assessments (HRAs)
walking Employee Wellness Programs
drug testing