Wellness Program Incentives

How does it feel to walk into your workplace? Do people look happy? Is the place well lit and cheerful? Do you feel welcome, wanted and energized? Or do you feel a dark cloud come over you, and count the hours until you can leave?
The impact of the worksite environment on the wellness and health of employees is huge. First there is the physical look, feel, smell, and sounds of the place. Then you’re affected by the policies, like whether others are allowed to smoke around you. As time passes, more subtle factors start to affect you. Do your attempts to live a healthier lifestyle get recognized at work, or are they sabotaged? Are your managers inspiring you by being positive role models? Do you get regular opportunities to learn healthier behaviors?
In a supportive environment, staff members feel that the employer they work for supports them with encouragement, opportunity, and rewards for healthy lifestyles. And the spirit that results is highly contagious. Workers who feel cared are naturally more loyal and advantageous.
The following ideas will help you change your workplace environment into one that truly supports the wellness of your workers and corporation.

Company Wellness Program Ideas for Creating Supportive Environments

Wellness Friendly Facilities

When you arrive at a workplace, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? Is there sufficient light and clean air? Are there pleasant work areas, places to eat decent food, take a walk before lunch? Close your eyes. How does it smell? Sound? Do the employees have sufficient space?
• Vending machines with healthy diet choices like non-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks
• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other exercise opportunities worksite or nearby
• Cafeteria offers healthy foods that may include a salad bar with low-fat dressing
• Natural light is used whenever possible; all lighting is appropriate and adequate
• Heating and ventilation is adjustable, comfortable and healthful
• No cigarette machines, ashtrays, or smoking areas worksite
• Noise levels are safe and supportive of concentration
• Work station furniture conforms to ergometric standards
• Safety hazards have been eliminated
• Lockers and showers are available for employees who work out before work or while on breaks
• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use
Familiarity can make it tough to evaluate a workplace. People get used to stressful conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them. It might provce useful to ask people who are unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Professional consultants can also prove helpful.

Proactive Wellness Policies

One clear way to influence behavior is through policies and procedures. If nurses aren’t permitted to work more than twelve hours consecutively, there will be less medication errors. If parents are afforded flextime to manage their children’s needs, they’ll be less stressed. If workers have the potential to apply unused sick days to planned vacation time, they’ll save them up rather than calling in sick to utilize them all.

Supportive corporate policies may include:

• Safety Belt use demanded in company vehicles
• Drug and alcohol policies are appropriate to the industry
• Emergency procedures are developed, known, and practiced
• Flexible work schedules allow workers to exercise, go to children’s school conferences, etc.
• Tobacco-free policy is enforced
• Excessive overtime is discouraged
• Membership at fitness facility is partially reimbursed
• Shift staff members are scheduled to allow adequate rest
• Healthcare Costs coverage rewards good health
• Rates of Absenteeism policy rewards employees who don’t use sick days
• EAP ready to help workers with chemical dependencies, depression, family problems
• Meaningful consequences are given for unsafe, unhealthy, prohibited behavior.  Your employer may have a policy concerning alcohol use during work hours, but if everyone looks the other way when someone comes back from lunch reeking of beer, the culture is one that permits drinking at lunchtime-and one in which written policies are able to be safely ignored. Prohibited behaviors must be confronted promptly. Otherwise your policies remain mere lip service rather than springboards to health.

Consistent Recognition And Rewards For Success

Attention, praise, and rewards are provided for wellness achievements.
You have the potential to show you value the Corporate Wellness Programs by celebrating your programs and those who have made lifestyle improvements in organization newsletters, on bulletin boards, and at annual banquets, meetings, and celebrations. Incentives are a direct way to render appreciation, too.
Wellness mentors are sought and applauded, too. Staff Members who support others’ efforts to improve their health are noticed and appreciated. Peer modeling and mentoring classes can encourage those who enjoy assisting others to step forward into a new role.

Managers Model And Support Healthier Behavior

Nothing could say “We advocate you to exercise often” better than a manager going on a bike ride during the lunch hour–or your supervisor sitting next to you in a weight management class. Wellness activities promote relaxed interaction between people from different departments and at different levels in the chain of command. That promotes relaxed communication and a feeling of solidarity that is pure gold.
Managers might also provide support for employees who are working on improving their health. It doesn’t take anything fancy-just a “good job” or “nice to see you at the gym” can put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.
Managers might also help by allowing employees the flexibility to go to wellness events.

Ongoing Company Wellness Programs

It’s valuable to give staff members the sense that the wellness program is a permanent and valuable part of the organization, not a organization fad. That can activate as soon as a new employee is hired.
New staff members are oriented to the wellness program as one of the employee benefits. Information about the program ought to be presented by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who invites the new employee to take part.
The staff members are familiar with the ongoing wellness programs.
The wellness programs and wellness coordinator are visible in the corporation. Opportunities to take part are abundant and it’s easy to sign up.
A wide variety of awareness classes are provided. There are issues of interest for everyone.

These are simple activities that are able to be done within your business to encourage healthy lifestyles during a contest or during other times. The goal is to encourage employee participation. Some examples:
• Create a sub-committee of enthusiastic employees who will help reward the fitness program by offering ideas, ideas and encouragement to fellow employees.
• Designate monthly mailbox handouts to encourage a contest or provide fitness-related education/encouragement information.
• Send a periodic voicemail on each participant’s telephone with encouraging wellness messages.
• Make available regular cumulative health progress reports.
• Provide low-fat or heart-healthy lunch selections on a weekly basis in your cafeteria or have employees bring a healthy snack to share, with a recipe book compiled at the culmination of the contest or specified time period (such as a National Nutrition Month in March).
• Distribute employee gifts (pedometers or other novelty item related to some aspect of your contest theme) as registration starts.
• Allocate for employees “Fitness 15-Minute Walk Breaks;” business time to walk, exercise, etc. If appropriate, you could use a space not currently used to set up a treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, some no cost weights and relaxing music.
• Launch a T-shirt design contest.
• Create posters to map contest (or fitness) progress and to serve as reminder of your objectives and goals:
   • Use push pins or other identifiers for each individual to display in the office showing how they have progressed – workers are able to get very creative with this and design pins that reflect their personalities.
   • Use a bar graph to compare progress.
   • Use a “thermometer” type graphic and illustrate progress – consider a different, health-related graphic all together and color it in as you progress.
• Offer aerobic dance or walking videos in your conference or break rooms.
• Compile a list of organized events in the area that offer opportunities to get employees working out by participating as a team (below are just a few):
   • Race For The Cure
   • March of Dimes Walk America event
   • Juvenile Diabetes Research
   • Foundation Walk to Cure
   • American Heart Association’s Heart Walk
   • American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life
   • American Lung Association’s Lung Run
   • Local marathons or special community walks or runs
• Designate or attend a health-and-fitness retreat or workshop.
• Have a soup-and-salad luncheon followed by a hula-hoop contest!
• Use the mall as an alternate walking location during inclement weather.
• Designate “Move it Mondays” – allow staff members to take an extra ten minutes at lunch for physical activity.
• Create “Tasty Tuesdays” – support workers with low-calorie treats/snacks.
• Establish “Walking Wednesdays”- allow workers to take an extra 10 minutes during lunch to walk, or “Wacky Wednesdays” that allow workers to explore new exercises.
• Create “Thirsty Thursdays” – make healthy smoothies or juice drinks for employees.
• Establish “Fresh Fruit Fridays” for employee – offer seasonal fruit treats.
• Send weekly physical activity tips to staff members via the most effective communications vehicle in your workplace.
• Partner with another organization representative for local media events coordinated through your advertising or communication department.
• Encourage departmental teams to challenge each other (examples: Customer Service, Marketing, Health Support).
• Designate walking clubs with executive/supervisory leadership.
• Seek out local aerobic opportunities or classes through churches, community groups, college, YMCA, etc.
• Contact several local area fitness clubs and ask if they can or will offer group discounts for physical activity programs, waive enrollment fees, or set up a 12-week program as opposed to signing an extended contract.
• Hold a Frozen Yogurt Social – “Reap the Benefits of Fitness.”
• Map out a walking track around the building including the number of laps required for one mile.

These are brief informational “Health Tips” in an e-mail format on many different health-related topics. You are able to appoint someone within your business to find specific topics on the Internet from sites that are in the public domain or topics can be purchased from employers. Some qualified sources include:
• Hope Health
• Sound Ideas, Inc.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Institutes of Health

These e-mails are able to be sent daily, weekly or monthly. Our experience indicates weekly is the best frequency.

If the majority of your workers do not have e-mail, consider providing the information to them through:
• Bulletin boards
• Check stuffers
• Mailbox stuffers
• Newsletters

SAMPLE #1 Worksite Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Corporate Health Promotion Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Layering for Exercise

One way to help ensure enjoyment of a winter walk (or run) is to make sure you’re dressed properly for the weather. And the secret to that, for a winter workout, is to dress in layers.
Layer 1 — Avoid 100 percent cotton in the first layer, next to your skin. Cotton holds perspiration. Wear underwear made from manmade fabrics to wick perspiration away from skin.
Layer 2 — A zippered sweatshirt and sweatpants will keep you warm. Just open the zipper if you get too warm.
Layer 3 — If necessitated, over the sweatsuit, you have the potential to add a waterproof and windproof jacket. If it’s very cold, you may want to wear a jacket made with goose down.
Hands — Mittens will keep your hands warmer than gloves.
Feet — Wear socks made from wool or manmade fabrics that keep your feet dry and warm. Avoid 100 percent cotton socks. Don’t wear sneakers or boots that fit too tightly … this will restrict blood flow and your feet will end up feeling colder.
Head — About 40% of your body heat is lost through the head. Wear a hat and cover your ears.
Lips — Don’t forget lip balm containing sunscreen … even in winter!

SAMPLE #2 Worksite Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Workplace Health Promotion Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Energy Boosts

Need an energy boost? Here are some ideas for tapping into your own energy sources — and most require little effort.
• Get an extra hour of sleep. No surprise here — it can make a big difference in your energy level the following day.
• Eat less more frequently. Have small, balanced meals or snacks throughout your day for a steady supply of fuel and energy. Make note of which foods seem to boost your energy level.
• Drink sufficient amounts of water. Dehydration contributes to fatigue, which you have the potential to offset by drinking water throughout the day.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Both are able to contribute to dehydration and fatigue. They also seem to disrupt sleep patterns.

Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are informational sessions planned and organized by you to meet specific goals. Decide on a topic and find a speaker. Select a site for the “Lunch and Learn” session, usually a lunchroom or break room. Depending upon your budget and objectives, employees are able to brown bag the lunch or you could support the meal. Meetings are able to be mandatory or elective, your choice.
Experience tells us the most success will be achieved if these Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are elective and if the organization provides lunch.
Goals for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs

Education on a specific health issue. You may want to choose one of your group’s top diagnoses. Examples are:
• Diabetes – diabetes prevention and care by a certified diabetic educator
• Cardiovascular disease – cardiovascular health (individual counseling sessions with a nutritionist)
• Hypertension
• Hyperlipidemia
• Flu and pneumonia
• Breast cancer – breast health or breast self-exam sessions can be taught by a trained instructor

Education on healthcare insurance benefits:
• Diabetes – what are the covered benefits, where to purchase diabetic supplies, support groups for workers with diabetes.
• Workplace Health Promotion Program Benefits
• Well baby/child care.

Education on the significance of enrolling in your health plan or local health department’s health education programs or disease management programs. Example programs:
• Diabetes
• Respiratory
• Low-Back Pain
• Cardiovascular
• Tobacco use

Community Resource Speakers for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs
• Local health plan office
• Local heart association
• Local cancer society
• Pharmacies – many pharmacists are available to speak on pharmacy-related problems.
• Prescription Drug Employers – countless employers have standard presentations developed for employers that are offered no cost of charge to use at your own direction. Some examples are:
   • Know Your Numbers (elevated cholesterol) – Pfizer
   • Respiratory Wellness (flu and pneumonia) – Pfizer
   • Men’s and Women’s Health – Pfizer
• Local gyms/personal trainers/YMCA – are able to discuss walking safety, advantages of walking, swimming and aerobics.
• Yoga and/or Pilates instructors
• Running, cycling club representatives
• Local hospital nutritionists
• Stamp Out Smoking – Tobacco Coalition representatives

Topics for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs

• Bicycling – benefits and opportunities for cycling
• Nutrition and health (Heart Healthy lunch for all attendees)
• Heart health
• Women’s health issues
• How to recognize the signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke
• National Employee Fitness Day within the office setting – Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness representatives can reward event
• Exercise tolerance and healthy heart concerns
• Beginning an exercise program – include the importance of seeing the doctor before beginning of any new exercise program
• Self-defense
• Domestic violence
• Safety in general
• Exercise safety
• Walking/running benefits and safety tips Tobacco dangers and avoidance

Conducting an Employee Fitness Challenge at your workplace is a fun and exciting way to raise awareness among employees about the significance of beginning and sustaining an exercise program. It is a concentrated effort in which to engage them in physical activity for a specific time period that, hopefully, will help them begin a healthy habit that will last a lifetime.
However, it is significant to take part in wellness all year. This section provides a accross the board list of Company Health Promotion Program ideas that have been implemented within wellness programs.
All ideas presented in this section have been successful for one or both of the entities. Each activity/idea has the potential to be used as a stand-alone event, even if you don’t conduct a fitness contest, or has the potential to be held in conjunction with your Employee Fitness Contest.
You may want to choose some of the ideas you believe will work for your employees or come up with others and begin your plan to create a better state of health.

Research studies have repeatedly shown that all-inclusive Workplace Health Promotion Programs, or Workplace Health Promotion Programs, have the potential to reduce health care and insurance expenditures, decrease absenteeism, and better success and work rate. Other advantages shown in studies include improved ability to attract and retain key personnel, greater employee allegiance, and improved public conception of the company.

Health Care and Insurance expenses

A number of studies offer evidence of reduced medical and insurance costs for participants in Corporate Wellness Programs, particularly wellness programs involving physical activity.

For $30 per person, the Bank of America implemented a Employee Health Promotion Program for retirees using a risk assessment questionnaire, self-care books and other mailed materials. Insurance claims were reduced an average of $164 per year in this group while they increased $15 for the control group. Since they were able to document significant changes in risk behavior, they anticipate greater savings in future years.

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks participants claim $300 less per case for a 1-year savings of $700,000. Savings for conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle are $722 per case.

Coca Cola published a decline in healthcare|medical|medical care|healthcare} claims with an exercise program alone, saving $500 per employee per year for the staff members (60%) who joined their HealthWorks exercise program. Prudential Insurance Employer reports that the business’s major medical costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each participant in its wellness program.

Decreased Rates of Absenteeism

Absenteeism has been demonstrated to be impacted by wellness programs. The evidence indicates a significant decrease in absenteeism and resultant dollars saved as a result of employee exercise program.

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks program diminished absent days .8 percent to save $2 million in one year. FitWorks participants also invested 3.3 days less on STD for an additional savings of $4.7 million.

Focusing Workplace Wellness Program efforts on high-risk staff members can lead a better outcome. A national manufacturing business reports a reduction of 12.2 percent in illness days for these staff members.

A two-year study by The DuPont Corporation of the effect of its accross the board Workplace Health Promotion Program on absences among workers reports that blue-collar workers at intervention sites had a 14 percent decline in disability days vs. 5.8 percent decline for controls. There were a total of 11,726 fewer net disability days.

Enhanced Performance, Productivity and Morale

A number of employers with Corporate Wellness Programs report documented improvement in job attitude, work success, energy level, and/or overall morale among program participants–all vital factors in enhancing work rate.

A Johnson & Johnson study observed that employee attitude changes were greater at Employee Health Promotion Program intervention sites with significant beneficial attitude changes noted in the categories of organization responsibility, supervision, on the job conditions, job competence/security, and pay/benefits.

In a Canadian government study, the Canada Life Assurance Organization experimental group realized a 4 percent rise in work rate after starting a employer fitness program, compared to the control group. Further, 47 percent of program participants published that they felt more alert, had better rapport with their co-staff members, and generally enjoyed their work more.

Swedish investigators found that mental effectiveness was significantly better in physically fit staff members than in non-fit staff members. Fit staff members committed 27% fewer errors on tasks involving concentration and short-term memory, as compared with the effectiveness of non-fit staff members.

The Bottom Line

The following sample of Workplace Wellness Programs wellness program results have been stated by individual employers:

Business: Dollars Saved/Dollars Spent

• Bank of America (Fries): $5.96/$1
• PacBell: $3.10/$1
• Wisconsin School District Insurance Group: $4.47/$1
• Prudential Insurance: $2.90/$1
• Bank of America (Leigh): $4.73/$1
• General Mills: $3.50/$1

Summary

There is strong evidence that a large portion of the billions of dollars now being invested by employers on health-related expenditures is avoidable by means of Employee Wellness Programs. Well-planned, inclusive Employee Wellness Programs (Employee Wellness Programs and Employee Wellness Programs) have been determined to be cost-effective, particularly when the Employee Wellness Programs is matched to the health problems of the specific employee.

Free Company Health Promotion Programs and Low Cost Health Management Alternatives

Create a no cost Employee Health Promotion Program or run a successful health management program in the workplace for little or no expense to your business. The advantages of workplace wellness and learning how to enable a health management program at work are numerous. The articles on health management have generated a variety of questions, mostly from wellness providers but also from corporations trying to enable their own wellness workplace programs. There are a number of things to do to enable a successful health management program at work.

Recommendations for Starting a Free or Low Cost Corporate Health Promotion Program

Prior to starting a low cost or no cost wellness program for your corporation, learn more about what staff members want. Survey staff members to learn more about their wellness issues. Keep the survey confidential to protect employees’ identities. Typically the most popular workplace wellness topics are tobacco cessation, weight loss issues and heart and blood lipid health.

Look for Worksite Wellness Program Freebies

Discover who will come in for no cost to talk to staff members and explore partnerships with outside agents related to workplace wellness. By way of example, contact a local branch of a well-known weight loss business and ask if someone has the potential to come in and talk to staff members. Seek agencies that are willing to come in and talk about subject matters related to wellness at no expenditure to staff members, in exchange for something from you.

Find Workplace Health Promotion Program Partnerships

Working with a weight loss corporation to set up a speaking engagement for workers is an excellent opportunity to explore a potential wellness partnership. The weight loss corporation may say that if ten workers join the program, they will have weekly gatherings at corporation headquarters for the people who joined. The weight loss group also may offer corporation workers a discount if several people join the program.

Nonprofits an Untapped Health Leadership Resource

There are also plenty of nonprofit agencies who would be thrilled to visit a organization to discuss health management. But it’s up to you to offer them something in return. For example, if the MS Society came in and talked about the signs of MS, the organization could offer to organize an MS walk (in keeping with organization health management objectives, right?), or an auction with employee and organization-donated items where the proceeds go to MS. The people at the nonprofit agencies would be glad to open a dialog with your organization and to talk about what they would want in return for a speaking engagement. In a myriad of cases, they won’t need anything at all for a first meeting.

Collecting Data and Evaluating Workplace Health Promotion Program Results

Collecting data and analyzing results of a Company Health Promotion Program is able to be tricky because of HIPPA laws. Nevertheless, if at least 10 employees joined the weight loss program, or 20 people take part daily in the all-new “Let’s Walk a Mile at Lunch” program, that sort of progress is able to speak strongly to senior staff. And, employer successes will potentially give senior staff more incentive to support money for additional health management and Company Health Promotion Programs in the future.

Small organization wellness programs are catching on. A well-designed wellness program has the potential to boost work rate, boost morale and vitality, cut stress, decrease absenteeism, and control preventable healthcare costs within a organization. The beauty of it is that you’re simply assisting staff members to make smart choices so the costs of implementing a wellness program are minimal compared to the benefits.

Employee health is a primary concern for small corporation owners. In a small corporation, even a few sick workers are able to disrupt the flow of the workplace and bring the operation to a standstill.

Instead of sitting back and hoping for the best, some small business owners are taking the matter of employee health into their own hands by starting Corporate Wellness Programs. Here’s how they work.

Overview of Corporate Wellness Programs

Employee wellness programs are programs instituted by the company to improve the overall health of their labor force and to help individual employees overcome specific health-related hurdles. These programs are able to be provided in a variety of formats: In mandatory employee training meetings, as voluntary classes, or through a third-party provider offering a wide-range of Employee Assistance Programs.

In every case, however, the employer picks up the bill for the programs because an investment in employee health is a employer expenditure that directly impacts the employer’s bottom line.

Why offer Worksite Wellness Programs?

Apart from the obvious concern for the health of your workers, there are several other reasons why Company Wellness Programs make sense for small employers. From the get-go, your employer will advance from the lowered level of absenteeism that goes hand in hand with a healthy workforce.

Corporate Wellness Programs will also decrease the number of injuries that occur in the workplace, not just from accidents, but also from repetitive motion and other recurring sources. Since even a minor blip in worker attendance can have a large impact on a small employer, a more reliable workforce will eventually translate into a smoother work cycle and a more robust bottom line.

Worksite Health Promotion Program Features

Workplace Wellness Programs can cover a broad range of health-related subject matters. Based on your employees’ needs, it’s completely up to you to determine the kind of programming you wish to offer. Still, most Workplace Wellness Programs offer some at least some programs in the following areas:

• Nutrition. Diet can significantly impact an employee’s ability to do their job effectively. Nutritional programs educate employees about meal options and equip them to make healthy dietary choices.
• Physical Fitness. In addition to diet, exercise is an significant factor in a healthy lifestyle. Company Health Promotion Programs frequently support staff members with opportunities to incorporate exercise into their daily lives.
• Tobacco Cessation. Statistics prove that tobacco users tend to fall ill more generally than their non-smoking peers. Since sick staff members disrupt the workplace, tobacco cessation programs are a no-brainer for both employers and staff members.
• Physiological Testing. Many employers offer physiological as a regular part of their wellness programs. Cholesterol tests, Blood Pressure screenings, and other simple exams have the potential to support early warning signs for more genuine problems.
• Stress Management. Stress itself takes a toll on employees. Nevertheless, stress is also linked to other health problems such as depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. Workplace Health Promotion Programs that help employees deal with stress improve not only the mental health of your employees, but their physical health as well.

Establish a Corporation Company Wellness Program for Your Staff Members Today

The benefits to starting a workplace health and wellness program are abounding.

A few corporate health & wellness tips to get staff members started on the path to a healthier lifestyle:

1. Look around, and determine if staff members lead a healthy lifestyle before starting an Worksite Wellness Program. How many staff members run outside at lunch for a smoke break? Would a smoking cessation program help? How often do the junk food-laden snack machines must be replenished? Is anyone exercising or taking advantage of local walking trails as part of their healthy living objectives and goals? The answers to these questions will give organizations a better idea of the Worksite Wellness Program that’s right for them.

2. Survey employees to evaluate their healthy lifestyle habits. Are they exercising regularly? Eat three square meals a day? Have regular physicals? Really? Then what planet are they on? Because we would love to visit! A corporate wellness program benefits most employers because employees don’t have the time or energy to stay on top of health & wellness problems at work or when they leave the office to go home.

3. Give Employee Wellness Programs a big kick-off with a healthy living “fair.” Provide staff members no cost flu shots, Blood Pressure checks, blood lipid screenings, body/fat ratio assessments, tobacco cessation programs and no cost mammograms- and contact the local hospital, because there’s plenty more where this came from. Businesses keep their staff members hopping during the week. Give staff members a chance to amp up their healthy lifestyle on the employer dime. A corporate health & wellness program is an added benefit that staff members get for working for the employer!

4. Incent to live- offer cash money for staff members to lose weight, commit to a smoking cessation program and generally enjoy a healthier lifestyle. Encourage humankind’s innate competitive nature by offering prizes for health & wellness employee “winners.” And, bolster a healthier lifestyle by sponsoring staff members who want to enter a local 5K for charity race, run a marathon or play a sport.

Introduction to Worksite Health Promotion Programs

The previous ten years has brought primary changes in organization attitudes toward Workplace Health Promotion Programs. Interest in self-help and self-care programs has increased as growth in health care costs have encroached substantially into profits. Changes in the organization structures of health care facilities, in particular the growth of the for-profit health care sector, and the need to contain costs are changing the ways in which purchasers of health care plans are viewing their own efforts toward provision of worksite health care programs and facilities. Projections for the next decade indicate that worksite health programs will continue to become significant factors in the provision of health care, including prevention activities, for both government and private industry. In employers with existing Workplace Health Promotion Programs, administrative rationale for sponsoring these activities ranged from improving employee health (28%) to improving employee morale (9.7%). Programs include interventions associated with safety, health risk assessment, smoking cessation, Blood Pressure (BP) control, nutrition programs and stress management. Benefits given range from improved health and productivity to lowering health care costs.

Demographics of the American Workforce
• 110 million Americans composed the civilian labor force in 1981; by the year 2000 the civilian labor force is expected to be nearly 140 million.
• 44 percent of the 1984 labor force was female; ten percent was Black.
• The median age of the workforce is 32 years and is expected to increase to 32 years by 2030.
• 57.9% of all workers work in companies with between 2 and 500 workers; 45% work in companies with fewer than 100 workers. An additional 7.5 million American citizens are self-employed and 3 million are farmers.
• 18% of all wage and salaried staff members in 1985 were union participants.
• 45% of all workers are employed in offices.

Prevalence of Worksite Wellness Programs Activities

Based on a 1985 survey, almost 66 percent of worksites with 50 or more staff members had Corporate Wellness Programs activities in 1985.  The frequency of workplace-based activities by selected categories in 1985 was:

Activity

Smoking Control       35.6 percent
Health Risk Assessment    29.5 percent
Back Care             28.6%
Stress Management       26.6 percent
Exercise             22.1%
Off the Job Accidents    19.8 percent
Nutrition             16.8%
Blood Pressure Control    16.5%
Weight Control          14.7 percent

Worksite size is the strongest indicator of program prevalence.

Most workers believe the advantages of their Worksite Health Promotion Programs activities outweigh the costs, although few formal evaluations exist.

The most frequently cited reason for starting programs and perceived benefit from programs is improved employee health.

At most worksites with activities (85.4%), all workers are eligible to take part. 30% of worksites with activities offer them to company dependents, and an equal percent offer them to retirees.

When worksites seek outside program assistance, they turn to voluntary, not-for-profit corporations (57.1%), private for-profit providers-consultants (50%), local hospitals (44%), and insurance corporations (43%).

Tobacco Cessation Programs

Smoking related health issues cost U.S. companies $26 billion per year in lost productivity and $7 to $8 billion in smoking-related healthcare costs.

Staff Members who use tobacco are 50% more likely to be hospitalized than nonsmokers, have 2 times as a myriad of job-related accidents as nonsmokers and have absenteeism rates approximately 50% higher than nonsmokers.

People who used tobacco an average of one or more packs of cigarettes per day had 118% higher healthcare expenses than people that do not smoke.

76 percent of current smokers and 80 percent of former smokers and nonsmokers feel that corporations should restrict smoking to certain areas.

In 1985, 65% of smokers, 85% of nonsmokers and 78% of former smokers, felt that smokers must refrain from smoking in the presence of nonsmokers.

In 1986, 17 states had laws regulating smoking in offices or workplaces either in government-controlled offices or offices of private staff members.

Examples of tobacco cessation intervention program used by employers include:

• making available people that do not smoke a discount of health and life insurance;
• paying full or partial fees for tobacco cessation programs;
• offering cessation programs on corporation or shared time;
• making available cash payments to quitters after 6 of 12 tobacco-free months;
• participating in national quit smoking days; and
• adopting a smoke-free corporation policy and setting deadlines for implementing the policy.

Physical Fitness Programs

An active 55-year-old man has the potential to lead as vigorous a lifestyle as a sedentary 35-year-old.

Differences in work-related exercise has been determined to provide a two- to three-fold difference in cardiovascular deaths between active employees and their more sedentary counterparts.

In addition to improving strength, balance, and flexibility, physical activity programs have the potential to cut the probability of back injuries among certain occupational groups.

93 million workdays in the United States are lost annually due to back issues.

Research findings support the notion that worksite exercise programs improve fitness and help reduce other health risks, although results related to improved productivity are weak due to lack of methods for accurately measuring productivity.

A very small percentage of worksites have onsite physical fitness facilities.

The majority of workers sponsored physical activity programs involve skills training such as aerobic dance, low impact aerobics, weight training, preand post-natal physical activity classes, and walking/jogging groups.

Some employers subsidize employee participation in area “Ys,” health clubs or other area programs if no on-Site facilities are available.

Job Site physical activity programs may reduce expenditures to employers by lowering employee health care claims and expenditures.

Participants whose weekly physical activity was equivalent to climbing less than five flights of stairs or walking less than a half mile, spent 114 percent more on health claims than those who ascended at least 15 flights of stairs or walked 1 1/2 miles weekly.

Health Care costs for obese people are roughly 11% higher than those for thin people.

Nutrition and Weight Control

One-third of America population is obese to the extent of decreasing their life expectancy.

Improvements in eating habits are able to reduce the risk of weighty health issues such as high Blood Pressure (BP) and blood lipid levels and is instrumental in the control of non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

The workplace offers several advantages for diet education; support and influence of co-staff members and senior staff, availability of a daily eating situation, and opportunities for follow-up and monitoring.

Worksite nutrition programs have the potential to be grouped in 6 broad categories:

• cafeteria programs;
• multi-component programs;
• weight control programs;
• blood lipid reduction programs;
• programs for pregnant and lactating women; and
• other diet education topics.

Men are less likely to participate in weight-loss programs than are female workers.

Stress Management

Estimates suggest that 50 percent to 80 percent of physician visits are able to be attributed to psychosomatic or stress-related origins.

Corporation pays many of the costs related to employee stress, both directly in the form of medical costs and in decreased productiveness.

Job factors which are associated with stress include:

• not allowing staff members to take part in decisions about the work process;
• positions which require more or less skill than the employee has;
• changes in work demands;
• lack of clarity about expectations and standards; and
• conflict with co-staff members or supervisors.

Most workplace stress management programs are implemented as a result of requests from workers.

Stress management programs focus on three types of skills: relaxation skills, coping skills, and interpersonal skills.

Worksite stress management programs are frequently delivered in one of three formats:

• sessions conducted by trained professionals;
• self-learning tools; and
• personal teaching to support  with self-assessment, planning for changes, learning new skills and responding to life crises.

The two major techniques used in workplace stress management programs are:

• teaching people to lower the detrimental physical effects of stress; and
• teaching people to recognize and control sources of stress at work and in personal life.

Seat Belt Usage

Motor vehicle accidents are the largest single cause of lost work time and on-the-job fatalities of United States business.

Motor vehicle accidents account for 27 percent of all work-related deaths and 45 million days of lost work each year.

More than 36% of the 11,300 accidental work deaths in 1983 involved motor vehicles.

Employees who regularly fail to use seat belts may spend up to 54 percent more days in the hospital.

Traffic accidents caused about 3 times as many days of restricted exercise as any other kind of disability.

Motor vehicle crashes cost $15.2 billion in lost work rate, 88% of which is attributed to losses from workforce activities and future earnings.

In work settings where safety belt policies, requiring use of belts by anyone riding in a business vehicle or using a personal vehicle for business business, have been enforced, 60% to 90% use has been stated.

Incentive programs, accompanied by education and use requirement restrictions have resulted in 40 percent to 70 percent initial usage rates.

Factors influencing the sources of worksite safety belt programs include:

• active commitment on the part of upper management;
• clearly defined and well enforced policy of necessitated belt use on the job;
• positive rewards and incentives; and
• ongoing education and training programs.

Case Studies of Workplace Wellness Programs

Based on an extensive assessment of its accross the board employee Employee Wellness Program, LIVE FOR LIFE, Johnson & Johnson reported the break-even point for the program occurs in year 3 and by year 5 they have a net advance of $316 per employee. Their year 9 projected advance is $677 per employee.

employees at four Johnson & Johnson organizations who were exposed to the Corporate Health Promotion Program expanding their daily energy expenditure in vigorous activity by 104% compared to an increase of 33% among employees at organizations that were provided only an annual health screen.

Members in the United Methodist Publishing House’s Corporate Wellness Program submitted more claims (1.14 per participating employee and .82 for the control in 1984, 1.44 and 1.3 respectively in 1985), but the average cost per claim was less for participants ($316 for participants and $567 for control, in 1984, $262 and $602 respectively in 1985, $270 and $566 respectively in the first four months of 1986).

The United Methodist Publishing House attributes some of the lower than projected use in healthcare costs for 1985 ($902,116 projected with actual costs $142,884) to the Workplace Health Promotion Program even though the results are not conclusive.

In 1985, the Adolph Coors Company conducted a phone interview of a random sample of its 10,000 staff members to determine changes in health practices since the introduction of an employee Worksite Health Promotion Program 4 years earlier. The sample of 495 staff members was stratified to match the company profile in terms of age, sex and job description. The survey published that 65 percent of respondents started exercising in The last 4 years, 37 percent had improved their diets, 20 percent were regular users of the wellness center, 9 percent had stopped smoking as the result of the company’s tobacco cessation program and active participants of the wellness center miss an average of 1.96 workdays annually because of illness or injury compared to 3.08 days for non-participating staff members.

The Coors Organization also achieved a cost savings from a cardiac rehabilitation program that was implemented in 1981. In 1980 workers were out of work 7.2 months after a heart attack or bypass operation. In 1984, cardiac patients were out an average 1.9 months saving $152,000 in lost work time and in 1985 cardiac patients missed an average of 2.6 months, saving $125,000 that year.