Worksite Wellness ProgramsWorksite Wellness Programs

Worksite Wellness Program Benefits 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 business can reap Worksite Wellness Program Benefits.

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

At the same time, medical care and insurance costs continue to skyrocket. Worksite Wellness Program Benefits 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 Worksite Wellness Program Benefits 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.”

Worksite Wellness Program Benefits include helping to prevent cancer, obesity, heart disease and hypertension. It’s rare that businesses 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 staff members 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.

Worksite Wellness Programs are of imperative 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 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 staff members build better health risk assessment baselines that you can use to analyze staff members physical fitness and the efficacy of your organization’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.

Worksite Wellness Programs: A Long-Term Committment

“Worksite 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, Worksite 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 bad nutrition cause most of the heath issues that weigh down worker attendance and erode a organization’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 Medication dependency degrades Health and Wellness

It doesn’t help that United States 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 United States citizens spend about $180 billion dollars on Prescription Medications each year, with the estimated 2011 tally at a whopping $414 billion. The average number of Prescription Medications 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 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 organization has the potential to improve Health

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

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

An Health Risk Assessment (HRA) is an important tool to help you isolate the value of strong Worksite 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:

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

Health risk assessments would analyze the worker’s:

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

Wellness Fair activities put the spotlight on Worksite Wellness Programs

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

Some common Wellness Fair desired outcomes include:

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

Planning a Wellness Fair

Planning a Wellness Fair is a lot like beginning an Worksite Wellness Program on a smaller scale. Just like an Worksite Wellness Program, your 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 Wellness Fair and ensure that the Wellness Fair becomes a welcomed, annual event.

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

Wellness Fairs and Worksite Wellness Program Recruitment

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

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

Worksite Wellness Programs: The Grand Slam

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

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

Worksite Wellness Programs Don’t Have To Be Expensive

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

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

What are some common Worksite Wellness Programs?

Worksite 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 Worksite Wellness Programs:

ergonomic safety
cardiovascular disease education and testing
worker safety
Health risk assessments
walking Worksite Wellness Programs
drug testing

Maintaining Worksite Wellness Program during Cold Season can be a challenge for any business. 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 employees 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.

Worksite Wellness Program: Prevention is the Key

Prevention is the key to maintaining good health in the worksite and increasing overall Worksite 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 Worksite Wellness Program Program at the worksite for good health all year long.

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. Workplace Health Screenings conducted regularly as part of an overall health management program will increase the chances of Worksite Wellness Program year round, and especially during Cold Season.

Education Can Increase Worksite Wellness Program During Cold Season

Educating employees 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 Worksite Wellness Program, as bacteria collects on keyboards, mouses, around the water cooler and next to the community coffee pot. As employees 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.

Worksite Wellness Program is possible during Cold Season. With Worksite Wellness Program, your office can reach one step closer to immunity from sickness during Cold Season.

Worksite Wellness Program Study Shows Millions Lost Due to Illness

Worksite Wellness Program was shown to be a huge economic boon for businesses in a recently-released joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Nearly three million productive employees in labor markets worldwide add up to a lot of money. The Worksite 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 Worksite Wellness Program A “Huge Expense”

The U.S. Center for Disease Control also reports that chronic disease accounts for approximately 75 percent of yearly worker medical care costs in the U.S., which constitutes a huge expense for businesses. 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.

Worksite Wellness Programs the Answer

A sustainable solution to these challenges cannot be solved by medical benefits alone. Workplace commitments to Worksite Wellness Program are also crucial. Companies are advised to implement worksite Health Screenings for their employees, as well as look into a comprehensive health management program. These and other precautions are good secret weapons against the economic pitfall of unhealthy employees.

Worksite Wellness Programs – Employee Engagement Strategies

Worksite Wellness Programs without staff engagement are of little use to a business. How do you get employees to enroll in Worksite Wellness Programs – and stay engaged in the programs?

The brochures for these programs discuss the benefits to employees and organizations. Worksite Wellness Program statistics show that there are tangible benefits to a business for offering such programs. Worksite 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 business, has applied their own invigorating twist to health management by offering gift rewards to employees who participate in Worksite 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 Worksite Wellness Programs?

Undoubtably businesses 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 business can throw that kind of money at health management resources – and not every business has the built-in savings as a business that specializes in offering incentive programs.

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

Successful Worksite Wellness Programs motivate employees – before and after signup

Worksite Wellness Program administrators should keep the long-term view in mind when trying to get employees to take that vitally important first step. Even the best incentives can fail in the face of faltering organization, badly-designed Worksite Wellness Programs and wavering support. Make sure to run good Wellness surveys before you build your Worksite Wellness Programs so worker input and needs are being met by your Worksite Wellness Programs. The goal is positive outcomes, not high enrollment numbers.

Worksite Wellness Programs cannot survive managerial apathy. If executive and managerial participation is widespread and heartfelt, employees 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 Worksite Wellness Program. Is Wellness part of your strategy? Does worksite wellness stop when your employees leave the office?

Wellness Continuity

If employees don’t have the tools to pursue health and wellness on a Individual 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 employees to build walking routes near their homes, perhaps with the cooperation of the neighborhood association or coworkers who live in the neighborhood.

Worksite Wellness Programs: Always on Your Mind

Your Worksite Wellness Program coordinator should have “vacation wellbeing” as part of their job scope. In other words, you don’t want a Worksite Wellness Program to stop at the boundaries of the worksite campus. Instead, integrate Individual health and wellness with your Worksite Wellness Programs.

This benefits your Worksite Wellness Programs in a couple of ways:

it reduces the chance that the worker will come back to the office feeling unfit, overwhelmed and unable to resume their Worksite Wellness Programs; and
it shows that their organization is just as invested in their Individual health and wellness as they are

Like a marathon, Individual health and wellness is a long-term commitment and it’s challenging for anyone to do in isolation. Simply put, it’s easier to maintain your state of health when you know others are depending on you and watching your Individual performance. It’s easier to stick to an fitness 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 stick to your Worksite Wellness Program when you know your organization is supporting you and wishing you the best.

Don’t Dictate Individual Health

Just as Wellness surveys serve a vital function in building a Worksite Wellness Program, it’s vitally important that you involve employees 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 employees are in charge of their own health and wellness. Your role as their health management partner is to support, advise, counsel, offer resources and information.

Of course, don’t forget that part of Individual health and wellness responsibility is to offer good health risk assessment baselines so employees can proceed safely on the road to better physical fitness.