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Corporate Wellness Initiatives: The Grand Slam

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

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

Corporate Wellness Initiatives Don’t Have To Be Expensive

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

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

What are some common staff member Health Promotion Programs?

Corporate Wellness Initiatives run the gamut, depending on your workplace 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.

Here are some examples of staff member Health Promotion Programs:

ergonomic safety
cardiovascular disease education and testing
staff member safety
health risk assessments
walking wellness programs
drug testing

Maintaining Employee Health Promotion during Cold Season can be a challenge for any corporation. 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 staff members 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.

Employee Health Promotion: Prevention is the Key

Prevention is the key to maintaining good health in the workplace and increasing overall Employee Health Promotion. 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 corporate Corporate Wellness Program at the worksite for good health year-round.

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. Onsite health screenings conducted regularly as part of an overall health management program will increase the chances of Employee Health Promotion year round, and especially during Cold Season.

Education Can Increase Employee Health Promotion During Cold Season

Educating staff members 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 Employee Health Promotion, as bacteria collects on keyboards, mouses, around the water cooler and next to the community coffee pot. As staff members 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.

Employee Health Promotion is possible during Cold Season. With Employee Health Promotion, your office can reach one step closer to immunity from sickness during Cold Season.

Employee Health Promotion Study Shows Millions Lost Due to Illness

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

The American Center for Disease Control also reports that chronic disease accounts for approximately 75 percent of yearly staff member health care costs in the American, which constitutes a huge expense for companies. 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.

Corporate Wellness Initiatives the Answer

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

Corporate Wellness Initiatives – With Perks

Corporate Wellness Initiatives don’t always stir the blood of staff members, even though they’re designed to do just that. How do you get staff members to enroll in Corporate Wellness Initiatives – and stay enrolled?

The brochures for these programs tout the benefits to staff members and companies. Employee Health Promotion statistics show that there are tangible benefits. Corporate Wellness Initiatives actually do save lives by getting workers to take their health seriously.

However, St. Louis, Missouri-based Maritz Inc., the world’s largest incentive corporation, has applied their own invigorating twist to health management by providing gift rewards to staff members who participate in Corporate Wellness Initiatives. The gift reward 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 Corporate Wellness Initiatives?

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

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

Successful Corporate Wellness Initiatives motivate staff members – before and after signup

Health management program administrators should keep the long-term view in mind when trying to get staff members to take that critical first step. Even the best incentives can fail in the face of faltering organization, badly-designed Corporate Wellness Initiatives and wavering support. Make sure to run good Corporate Wellness surveys before you build your Corporate Wellness Initiatives so staff member input and needs are being met by your Corporate Wellness Initiatives. The goal is positive outcomes, not high enrollment numbers.

Corporate Wellness Initiatives cannot survive managerial apathy. If executive and managerial participation is widespread and heartfelt, staff members will follow their leadership. The potential rewards and Corporate Wellness benefits are clearly worth reaping, for both your employer and your co-workers.

Good Corporate Wellness Starts with Corporate Wellness

Corporate Wellness might be the fatal flaw in your Corporate Wellness Program. Is Corporate Wellness part of your strategy? Does workplace wellness stop when your staff members leave the office?

Give Your Employees Health and Wellness Continuity

If staff members 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 staff members to build walking routes near their homes, perhaps with the cooperation of the neighborhood association or coworkers who live in the neighborhood.

Corporate Wellness Means Never Being “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”

Your Corporate Corporate Wellness Program coordinators should have “vacation wellbeing” as part of their job scope. In other words, you don’t want corporate health promotion to stop at the boundaries of the workplace campus. Instead, integrate individual health and wellness with your Corporate Wellness Initiatives.

This benefits your Corporate Wellness Initiatives in two ways:

it lowers the chance that the staff member will come back to the office feeling unfit, overwhelmed and unable to resume their Corporate Wellness Initiatives; and
it shows that their employer 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 difficult for anyone to do in isolation. Simply put, it’s easier to maintain your health when you know others are depending on you and watching your individual 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 Corporate Wellness Program when you know your employer is supporting you and wishing you the best.

Don’t Dictate Individual Health

Just as Corporate Wellness surveys serve a vital function in building a Corporate Wellness Program, it’s critical that you involve staff members 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 staff members 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 staff members can proceed safely on the road to better physical fitness.

Corporate Wellness: An Attainable Goal

Was Corporate Wellness on your organization’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 Corporate 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 Corporate 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.

All thanks to a single health management program.

So of course, Shirk is a huge proponent of Corporate Wellness Initiatives. 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 staff members.”

Corporate Wellness Decreases Health Care Costs

Though cases like Shirk’s dramatic cancer save are the most desirable effect of Corporate Wellness Initiatives, it isn’t the initial draw for Worksites. They do it to lower health care costs, and there’s no doubt that Corporate Wellness Initiatives do just that. Health Promotion Statistics show that Corporate 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 Corporate Wellness savings aren’t just in the Medical Insurance department. Human resource departments report that Corporate Wellness Initiatives also reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

Still, companies have been loath to invest that elusive Corporate 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 worksite health screenings – like the one that saved Shirk’s life – available to their staff members.

Is It Necessary to Incent Organizations to Initiate Corporate Wellness Initiatives?

Corporate Wellness Incentives may seem like an effective way to get staff members excited about Employee Health Promotion – but is it wise?

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

Tax Breaks as Corporate 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 staff members 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 staff members.

The legislation, introduced by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, states that companies would receive a Corporate Wellness incentive – a fifty percent tax credit – if they offer to their staff members a Corporate Wellness Program that meets the following criteria:

1) A health education and awareness component, which could include health risk assessments and health screenings.
2) A behavioral change component – such as counseling, seminars, or self-help materials to empower staff members to lead healthier lifestyles.
3) A supportive environment component – including providing meaningful incentives to participating staff members, such as a reduction in health premiums or allowing staff members to engage in walking wellness during the workday.
4) The creation of an staff member engagement committee – which would tailor the Corporate Wellness Program to the needs of the staff members at a particular corporation.

If this legislation gets passed, many companies will be scrambling to offer Corporate Wellness Initiatives in hopes of receiving the Corporate Wellness Incentives.

Employee Obesity: The Facts

Employee 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”, heaviest countries 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 organization’s bottom line.

According to a new report from The Conference Board, Weights and Measures: What Employers Should Know about Obesity, obese staff members cost private companies an estimated $45 billion annually. 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 U.S citizens fit the definition of “obese”
Obesity related health problems are costing American companies millions of dollars annually in medical expenditures and work loss.

Employee Obesity: How companies Can Help

With the increase in obesity and employer costs associated with it, it is more and more imperative to establish a way to assist staff members with their healthy living choices. Corporate Wellness Initiatives can help companies help their staff members. By providing assistance with health screening, health risk assessments and by conducting Employee Health Promotion surveys; Corporate Wellness Initiatives allow the employer non-invasive ways to communicate their concerns about their staff member’s health.

We suggest establishing a Walking Corporate Wellness Program to assist your staff members in meeting their weight-loss goals. Walking Wellness is a program designed to get your staff members away from their desk and get them outside for a little exercise. Keep it fun by having contests, setting up weight-loss teams and having organized healthy picnics.

What is a Corporate Wellness Program Proposal?

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

Corporate Wellness Program Proposals Assist Human Resource Departments

A Corporate Wellness Program Proposal is a great thing to have in hand when HR Departments go to upper management to request funding for a Corporate Wellness Program. It will offer 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.

Corporate Wellness Program Proposals Lead to Better Corporate Wellness Initiatives

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

Walking programs which offers staff members with incentives to take their walking breaks at their workplace.
Company teams, workplace yoga classes and massage therapists at the workplace.
Nutrition advice, weight-loss and healthy cooking classes, stress management sessions, and either an Employee Health Promotion resources column in the staff member 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 offers Incentive to Get Healthy

Establishing a Wellness Challenges in your office is a great way to get staff members to participate in your established Corporate Wellness Program. Have staff members form teams and receive points for everything from attending a Corporate Wellness Fair to getting a health risk assessment to starting an exercise 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 staff members, it will improve the overall health of the corporation by providing benefits such as reduced injuries, reduced frequency of worker’s comp, reduced health care costs, better staff member attendance, and better corporate morale.

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