Wellness might be the fatal flaw in your Workplace Wellness Program. Is Wellness part of your strategy? Does worksite wellness stop when your workers leave the office?

Wellness Continuity

If workers don’t have the tools to pursue health and wellness on a Personal level, then it becomes easy for them to “fall off the wagon” and slide back into a unealthy lifestyles. If you have a walking program, for example, it should encourage workers to build walking routes near their homes, perhaps with the cooperation of the neighborhood association or coworkers who live in the neighborhood.

Workplace Wellness Programs: Always on Your Mind

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

This can benefit your Workplace Wellness Initiatives in a couple of ways:

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

Like a marathon, Personal health and wellness is a long-term venture and it’s challenging for anyone to do in isolation. Simply put, it’s easier to maintain your health and wellbeing when you know others are depending on you and watching your Personal performance. It’s easier to stick to an exercise program when you have a jogging partner who wakes you up when you oversleep, or spots you when you’re lifting weights.

Similarly, it’s easier to stick to your Workplace Health and Wellness Plan when you know your corporation is supporting you and wishing you the best.

Don’t Dictate Personal Health

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

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

Workplace Wellness Programs: An Attainable Goal

Was Wellness on your corporation’s new year’s resolutions list? Here we are a little over midway into the third month of 2008, the time when resolutions start to falter if they haven’t lost momentum completely. Has your Worksite’s wellness resolution fallen by the wayside? If so, there are still ways to get back on track.

One Wellness tip comes to us from the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, reported from the Jersey Shore. Rod Shirk, the YMCA’s chief financial officer, participated in the organization’s first executive Workplace Wellness Program, which registered his cholesterol as higher than normal. That prompted him to get a physical, which showed high levels of a prostate-specific antigen that often indicates prostate cancer. The outcome? His doctors caught a life-threatening illness just in time.

Thanks Workplace Wellness Program.

So of course, Shirk is a huge proponent of Workplace Wellness Programs. He says, “For us here at the YMCA, if we are telling people to be healthy, we had better set a good example for our workers.”

Wellness Decreases Health Care Costs

Though cases like Shirk’s dramatic cancer save are the most desirable effect of Workplace Wellness Programs, it isn’t the initial draw for companies. They do it to lower health care costs, and there’s no doubt that Workplace Wellness Initiatives do just that. Workplace Health and Wellness Plan Statistics show that Workplace Wellness Initiatives return anywhere from $2.30 to $10.10 per dollar spent on wellness. “Health care costs should go down as people think about changing their diets and getting more active,” Shirk says.

The Workplace Health and Wellness Plan savings aren’t just in the Medical Insurance department. Human resource departments report that Workplace Wellness Initiatives also reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

Still, businesses have been loath to invest that elusive Wellness dollar despite the well-documented returns. A Principal Financial Group and Harris Interactive survey found that only 10% of small- to medium-size companies have made on-site Health Testings - like the one that saved Shirk’s life - available to their workers.

Is It Necessary to Incent Corporations to Initiate Workplace Wellness Programs?

Wellness incentives may seem like an effective way to get workers excited about Workplace Health and Wellness Plan - but is it smart?

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

Tax Breaks as Wellness incentives

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

The legislation, introduced by Oregon Senator Gordon Smith and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, notes that businesses would receive a Wellness incentive - a fifty percent tax credit - if they provide to their workers a Workplace Health and Wellness Plan that meets the following criteria:

1) A health education and awareness component, which could include Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) and Health Testings.
2) A behavioral change component – such as counseling, seminars, or self-help materials to empower workers to lead healthier lifestyles.
3) A supportive environment component – including offering meaningful incentives to participating workers, such as a reduction in health premiums or allowing workers to engage in walking Workplace Wellness Initiatives during the workday.
4) The creation of an worker engagement committee – which would tailor the Workplace Health and Wellness Plan to the needs of the employees at a particular company.

If this legislation gets passed, many companies will be scrambling to provide Workplace Wellness Initiatives in hopes of receiving the Wellness incentives.

Worksite Obesity: The Facts

Worksite obesity has become one of the fastest growing health care problems in America. It is well known that America is considered one of the, if not “the”, fattest nations in the world. This is largely in part due to fast food, un-healthy snacks and a very sedentary lifestyle. However, what many people are not aware of is that the rate of obesity in our country has doubled in the last 30 years and this weighs heavily on a corporation’s bottom line.

According to a new report from The Conference Board, Weights and Measures: What corporations Should Know about Obesity, obese workers cost private companies an estimated $45 billion each year. Here are some of the report’s findings:

Obesity is associated with a 36% increase in spending on health care, more than smoking or problem drinking.
34% of adult Americans fit the definition of “obese”
Obesity related health problems are costing United States businesses millions of dollars each year in medical expenditures and work loss.

Worksite Obesity: How companies Can Help

With the increase in obesity and corporation costs associated with it, it is more and more imperative to establish a way to assist workers with their healthy living choices. Workplace Wellness Initiatives can help companies help their workers. By providing assistance with Health Testing, Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) and by conducting Workplace Health and Wellness Plan surveys; Workplace Wellness Initiatives allow the corporation non-invasive ways to communicate their concerns about their worker’s health.

We suggest establishing a Walking Workplace Health and Wellness Plan to assist your workers in meeting their weight-loss goals. Walking Wellness is a program designed to get your workers away from their desk and get them outside for a little physical activity. Keep it fun by having contests, setting up weight-loss teams and having organized healthy picnics.

What is a Workplace Health and Wellness Plan Proposal?

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

Workplace Health and Wellness Plan Proposals Assist Human Resource Departments

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

Workplace Health and Wellness Plan Proposals Lead to Better Workplace Wellness Initiatives

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

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

Wellness Challenges Are Popping Up Everywhere

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

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

Wellness Challenges provides incentive to Get Healthy

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

Wellness Challenges Improve Corporate Health

Not only will Wellness Challenges improve the health of your workers, it will improve the overall health of the corporation by providing benefits such as fewer injuries, worker’s comp claims, reduced health care costs, better worker attendance, and better corporate morale.

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

Companies are no longer able to trim extra savings out of their health insurance programs, and the majority of companies have been cost shifting, asking workers to cover more of their health care costs. Health insurance costs continue to climb (10% or more per year) at 2-3 times the general inflation rate. With nowhere else to turn, businesses are – more than ever – looking to get workers engaged in Workplace Wellness Initiatives as a means of slowing health care costs and improving productivity.

For example, last year 53% of large businesses provided Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) for their staff, up from 35% just two years earlier, according to a Mercer survey. Change is being driven by cost, but Workplace Wellness Initiatives a win-win solution for both businesses and workers.

Here are other Workplace Health and Wellness Plan trends organizations are implementing:

More companies are integrating Workplace Wellness Initiatives into their benefits plans. If they want the best plans or the lowest personal costs, they need to participate in the Workplace Health and Wellness Plan and meeting minimum goals.

More companies are providing worksite weight loss programs as part of the Workplace Wellness Program, especially after Duke University’s new research showing the high cost of overweight workers and improved cost for worker’s compensation for sedentary and overweight workers.

Companies are providing more Workplace Wellness Initiatives designed to assist workers with chronic health conditions: health coaches, nurse advice lines, telephone counseling, and self-study guides

Companies are providing more web-based Workplace Health and Wellness Plan interventions and health information resources

More companies are providing regular worksite employee health screenings including cholesterol, glucose, A1c, blood pressure, weigh-ins, and other checks as a component of their Workplace Wellness Program. Some Workplace Wellness Initiatives even include bone-density checks and skin cancer screenings.

Many companies are providing fitness programs, either in the community or worksite, as a component of their Workplace Wellness Program.

Corporations are providing more rewards, prizes and incentives getting engaged in Workplace Health and Wellness Plan activities

Some companies are adding emphasis to maintaining health. It’s one thing to lose weight or stop smoking; it’s another to maintain these changes. Helping workers stay engaged and maintain their health changes is important for long-term success.

Companies are putting more emphasis on keeping healthy people healthy rather than just working primarily with high-risk individuals. Research shows this approach results in a greater Workplace Health and Wellness Plan return on investment.

Wellness companies are providing great resources for organizations’ workers over the Internet – online wellness centers, monthly health and wellness newsetters, wellness challenges, web-based points tracking systems, virtual fitness programs, web-based wellness coaching or interventions, interactive health calculators, healthy recipes, even downloadable health tips for your iPod.

Companies who are becoming more proactive are making a big impact on their future health care expenses and productivity. Ohio State University announced that they expect to save $30 million dollars with their broad-based Workplace Health and Wellness Plan over the next 5 years!

Workplace Wellness Initiatives and prevention are sound ideas whose time has come. Wellness is more fun and costs less than treating disease.

References: TIME in partnership with CNN, “Businesses Help Workers Lose Weight.” Website accessed July 2007.