Employee Health Promotion

Wellness programming means different things to different organizations. Effective wellness initiatives can be as simple as bringing bushel baskets of fresh fruit into break rooms to encourage better eating. They can be as extensive as building fitness facilities onsite or paying for obesity treatments.

A driving factor behind the push toward wellness spans organizations of all types, sizes and cultures: that is, healthcare expenses are spilling over the corporate belt buckle. The annual cost of medical services in the United States is rising at seven times the rate of inflation. And the rise in medical costs is one boom pundits expect our economy to sustain.1

This trend makes it increasingly challenging for employers to maintain current levels of insurance coverage. In 2003, healthcare inflation forced 65 percent of organizations to increase workers’ share of health costs.

Seventy-nine percent of large firms said they will increase workers’ share of health costs in 2004.2 But with lost benefits and increased financial burdens come lost morale and productivity.

Employers are searching for another way. While organizations cannot control many of the supply-side elements contributing to rising healthcare costs—malpractice insurance rates, the nursing shortage—they can help curb demand. That’s why efforts are being redirected from illness to wellness.

The case for Employee Health Promotion Programs is supported by an ever growing body of evidence demonstrating the high costs associated with controllable health risks:

• One study reports that obesity raises healthcare costs by 36 percent and medication costs by 77 percent.
• Michigan officials estimate physical inactivity cost the state nearly $8.9 billion in 2002, a cost estimated to be largely borne by employers through insurance premiums and lost productivity.
• The not-for-profit National Committee for Quality Assurance reports that the estimated average cost for postnatal care for women who did not receive prenatal care was $2,341 more than for women who had. And the indirect costs of unhealthful behavior can be just as high.

Information shows that healthier workers are more productive, spending more time at work and showing increased “presenteeism,” or productivity, while there. Further, healthier workers use fewer medical services. The five leading causes of death in the United States — heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes — are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyles. Clearly, encouraging healthful habits presents an opportunity to improve workers’ well being, reduce the need for healthcare services and help control costs.

Offering worker wellness benefits — large or small — represents an intersection between corporate social responsibility and responsibility to stakeholders. Between worker health and corporate health. It’s often the right thing to do for workers and employers.

Research by Traveler’s Corp. shows a $3.40 return for every dollar invested in Employee Health Promotion Programs. For many organizations, the choice to offer worker wellness benefits is easy—one where conscience and pragmatism align.

The challenge arises in selecting the initiatives that will deliver the most impact based on trends in your workers’ health risks and medical claims costs. From large organizations to the corner deli, business owners welcome ways to boost productivity, reduce rates of absence and cut costs. Likewise, Employee Health Promotion Programs can range from modest to elaborate.

In determining where to focus a business’s limited resources, looking at costs, benefits and best practices is a good starting point. This section profiles six aspects of wellness and explores their benefits to workers and employers.

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 workers and provide primary care – all within the context of the current regulatory and legal environment.

AAOHN’s survey found that more than half of workers (61 percent) want to receive health and wellness information from a healthcare professional, such as a consultant or an on-site 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 Promotion Programs such as screening initiatives, exercise/fitness courses, Stress Management Programs, smoking cessation, nutrition and weight control initiatives, and chronic illness management initiatives. Plus, OHNs can help workers navigate through complicated health plans and may even serve as a triage point between workers 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 workers are under treatment for chronic diseases like heart disease, on-site 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 on-site nurse for information about symptoms or prescription medication than it is to schedule a follow-up visit to a personal healthcare provider. Advantages realized by employers include enhanced worker morale and retention, a recruitment advantage, increased productivity and decreased time away from work.

In organizations 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 workers in leading stretches.