All About Employee Wellness Programs

Staff members breathe life and value into your company. Within the modern worksite there are increasing instances of stress, anxiety, obesity, depression, and heart disease. The modern worksite has become increasingly physical fitness-free.

Technological advances have lessened the need to “walk” at work. Moving a mouse has the same level of physical exertion as pressing the buttons on a remote control. Emails, the fax, and the internet have meant that it is possible to run a company without having to leave the chair. The “advances” affect physical and mental health in a disastrous manner ultimately affecting your company’s profit.

A sedentary lifestyle is a recipe for disaster - heart disease, chronic back pain, repetitive stress disorder, and low employee self-esteem are symptomatic of a work environment in which the only physical fitness available is surfing the net. Employer morale will invariably suffer if an physical fitness policy is not endorsed and put in place.

Regular physical fitness can significantly improve workplace health. Instances of absenteeism and staff turnover, low staff morale and decreased productivity can be alleviated with a Employee Wellness Program that energizes and motivates tired workers. Boredom, repetitive motion injuries and workplace fatigue can only be combated with physical and mental stimulation.

Studies show, workers who are physically active on a regular basis record less sick days each year and are more energetic, dynamic, and industrious. Investing in the health of your staff pays dividends through increased productivity and goodwill. Physically active workers are happy workers.

• Lowering medical insurance and compensation costs through decreased need for medical services
• Improving productivity
• Lowering rates of absence
• Improving morale
• Lowering stress

On top of improving the health of your staff, a broad-based Employee Wellness Program shows your workers you care about their well-being.

Golds Gym Employee Wellness Programs is committed to creating a healthy, active workforce, providing employers with training incentives for workers at our state-of-the-art facilities. Golds Gym Employee Wellness also provides training services and facility design at your office location.

Incorporating all aspects of fitness training (strength, core, cardiovascular, flexibility), performing broad-based fitness assessments, designing personalized fitness initiatives, and dynamic group training initiatives. We take pride in our talented, professional workers who provide creative and effective Employee Wellness Programs for diverse workforces.

Golds Gym Employee Wellness Program’s workers reach beyond the walls of the fitness center to motivate, educate, and encourage workers to embrace and maintain healthy active lifestyles. Applying practical experience the Golds Gym Employee Wellness Program delivers dynamic cost-effective Employee Wellness Program that help workers work happier, harder, and healthier.

To motivate your workers to exercise, eat better, and lose weight, you could invest heavily in equipment, facilities, and staffing to develop on-site Employee Wellness Programs for workers, thereby hopefully creating a healthier, more productive workforce. However, the problem with corporate fitness facilities is that workers spend one quarter of their lives at work and typically are not motivated enough to come in early or stay late to do an exercise program.

Golds Gym Employee Wellness Programs provides attractive discounts for organizations to train at our professionally coordinated facilities. When your company becomes a member of our Employee Wellness Program, your workers are eligible for savings off of our regular training rates. No matter what size of company you keep, we have a Employee Wellness Program to keep it healthy, happy, and working strong.

• Coca Cola reported saving $500 per worker every year after implementing a Employee Wellness Program with only 60 percent of their workers taking part.
• Pacific Bell reported that overall rates of absence decreased after implementing a Employee Wellness Program.
• Coors Brewing Company reported that for each dollar spent on their Employee Wellness Program they saw a $5.50 return and the workers who participated decreased their absentee rate by 18%.
• Prudential Insurance Company reported that the benefits costs for workers taking part in their program were $312 as opposed to $574 for non-members (American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, 2004).

To learn more about Gold’s Gym Employee Wellness Programs contact us at (336) 725-8624.

Flu Shot Facts & Myths

Myth: The flu isn’t a serious disease.
Fact: Influenza (flu) is a serious disease of the nose, throat, and lungs, and it can lead to pneumonia. Each year about 200,000 staff members in the U.S. are hospitalized and about 36,000 staff members die because of the flu. Most who die are 65 years and older. But small children less than 2 years old are as likely as those over 65 to have to go to the hospital because of the flu.

Myth: The flu shot can cause the flu.
Fact: The flu shot cannot cause the flu. Some staff members get a little soreness or redness where they get the shot. It goes away in a day or two. Serious problems from the flu shot are very rare.

Myth: The flu shot does not work.
Fact: Most of the time the flu shot will prevent the flu. In scientific studies, the effectiveness of the flu shot has ranged from 70 percent to 90 percent when there is a good match between circulating viruses and those in the vaccine. Getting the vaccine is your best protection against this disease.

Myth: The side effects are worse than the flu.
Fact: The worst side effect you’re likely to get from a flu shot is a sore arm. The nasal mist flu vaccine might cause nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat and cough. The risk of a severe allergic reaction is less than 1 in 4 million.

Myth: Only older staff members need a flu vaccine.
Fact: Adults and children with conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease need to get a flu shot. Doctors also recommend children 6 months and older get a flu shot every year until their 5th birthday.

Myth: You must get the flu vaccine before December.
Fact: Flu vaccine can be given before or during the flu season. The best time to get vaccinated is October or November. But you can get vaccinated in December or later.

For more information, ask your healthcare provider or call 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636). You can also get more information about flu vaccinations by visiting the following Website: www.cdc.gov/flu

Source: The Department of Health and Human ServicesCenters for Disease Control and Prevention

Benefits of Employee Wellness Programs: Easy to Find

Employer’s are learning that Employee Wellness Programs is an effective way to increase productivity, improve worker health, decrease healthcare costs and reduce rates of absence.

A report published in 2003 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) highlighted how important it is for employers to incorporate Employee Wellness Programs as part of their corporate strategy. The report asserts that chronic diseases which are largely preventable place a heavy toll on company, including lower productivity and higher medical insurance costs.

The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that $1.66 trillion was spent on healthcare in 2003 and it attributes a majority of those costs to chronic diseases and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and asthma. Sadly, the money allocated for preventing or controlling these conditions is negligible.

In a recent article, American Cancer Society CEO John Seffrin reported two thirds of cancer deaths in the U.S. could be prevented through lifestyle changes in diet, physical fitness, cancer screening and “especially” tobacco use. A well-designed Employee Wellness Programs initiative serves the best interests of workers and employers alike.

Benefits of Wellness Progams: Return On Investment

Ron Goetzel, a nationally recognized expert in the science of health management, data analysis and applied research, said in a recent interview that with an investment of $100 to $150 per worker per year in Employee Wellness Programs, an employer can expect an average ROI of approximately $3 for every $1
invested ($300 to $450 savings per worker per year). Goetzel says, however, that these returns are not typically realized until two to three years into the Employee Wellness Program.

Benefits of Wellness Progams: Tax Breaks

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has been an outspoken proponent in seeking legislative solutions for a strained healthcare system.

“As a nation, we have a ‘sick care’ system that is focused on helping staff members after they get sick, rather than a ‘health care’ system which focuses on keeping healthy staff members healthy,” he says.

Harkin introduced the Healthy Lifestyle and Prevention (HeLP) America Act of 2004. One of the initiatives under Title II - Healthier Communities and Workplaces, provides tax credits to organizations that offer broad-based programs to promote worker health and grants for small company.

Benefits of Wellness Progams: Getting Started

Implementing a Employee Wellness Programs can be accomplished with simple, low-cost strategies.

• Offer incentives for participation.
• Create a wellness informational campaign.
• Schedule wellness seminars on diabetes, nutrition, physical fitness and cholesterol.
• Create initiatives such as fitness, sleep diary, tobacco use cessation and injury prevention.
• Offer onsite chair massages or simple stretching exercises to do at the desk.
• Change vending machine options to offer healthier, low-fat snacks and drinks.
• Actively promote worker participation in all Employee Wellness Programs.

A successful Employee Wellness Program can boost company morale, enhance productivity, reduce organizational conflict, attract superior workers and decrease the rate of worker turnover. The case for beginning a Employee Wellness Program is well worth the effort.

Demographic and technological transformations are changing the nature of work in our society. As these changes occur the broad-based model of Employee Wellness Programs described above will evolve and continue to develop. If current trends continue, the workers of tomorrow will be older, more racially and ethically diverse, increasingly female, and will frequently be located off-site. In the later case, technological advances are making it possible for more and more experts to conduct their work from their homes. Thus the very character of the worksite will change and so must our efforts to deliver Employee Wellness Programs. As an example, in the future it is likely that a great deal of health education programming will be delivered through personalized interactive multimedia formats, conveniently supplied to any number of workers through telecommunication systems.

As technological innovations increase in the workplace, Employee Wellness Program experts will face new health related challenges. In the past, some have assumed that technology would make workers more efficient, thereby allowing workers to work less, while being more productive. In reality, increases in technological innovation have simply allowed more of us to take our work with us where ever we go and feel guilty for not being increasingly productive.

This trend may absorb greater amounts of leisure time that is normally devoted to relaxation and recreation. Subsequent increases in fatigue and stress will ensure the continued need for effective Employee Wellness Programs.

When considering the scope of Employee Wellness Programs described in this article, many will think of substantial investments made by large organizations. The reality is that 60 percent of individuals working in the U.S. work for a company of less than 100 workers (U. S. Bureau of Census, 1988). Due to economy of scale, it has been difficult and expensive for small company owners to supply adequate healthcare insurance as well as prevention programming for workers.

Employee Wellness Program experts must understand this challenge and develop the means to overcome these obstacles. The proof is clear that much more could be done to advance the health of our society through the workplace. As change agents, health educators must work to empower employers and workers through education of the benefits of Employee Wellness Programs.

Worksites do not exist in a vacuum. They are part and parcel of the community in which they are located. Successful corporate administrators are cognizant of the need for positive community relations and should do what is necessary to promote good will. What better way to bridge relationships than by utilizing existing community Employee Wellness Program services and initiatives whenever possible (e.g., voluntary, private and public health agencies) and providing health related services back to the community. Since the community is also the home of the worker, an effective mode of health promotion is through programming directed at the larger community. Sponsorship of community related health fairs is one example more are listed below.

• Encourages worker/employer involvement in the community
Blood drives
Sponsorship of fund raising for community schools and social services
Community recycling initiatives
Youth league sports sponsorship
Job training initiatives
• Media and public relations initiatives advertising a healthy company image
• company newsletters and press releases on health issues to local media
• Environmentally sound use of waste disposal and community resources

At times Employee Wellness Programs have been instituted as public relations vehicles intended to enhance the corporate image with little concern for improvements in worker health. Companies who are truly committed to enhancing worker health and wellness, are organizations who have worked to include Employee Wellness Programs into the company’s mission statement. With this commitment, policies and procedures can be written to address short and long term goals of increased worker health, productivity, and morale. These policies and procedures are critical to the establishment of supportive organizational cultures conducive to worker health and wellness.

• Active worker involvement in Employee Wellness Program committees and company decision making
• Availability of flextime work schedules
• No tobacco use policy
• Drug use policy and screening
• Motor vehicle seat restraints and the use of other protective/safety equipment
• Sexual harassment policy
• Family leave initiatives
• Consistent and frequent awards and recognition of worker work efforts

The environmental conditions of the worksite can be divided into both physical and psychosocial domains, both of which influence the culture and climate of a worksite. The cultural norms of a workplace have been identified as powerful determinants of worker health and behavior (Baum, 1995). Ultimately, workers benefit most from a healthy, supportive; eustressful workplace community was they feel valued and respected. Since adults spend approximately one third of their waking hours at work, one would hope that workers view work as less of a necessity and more of an enjoyable experience.

The climate of a workplace is also more conducive to enhancing health and human performance when the environment is safe, clean, aesthetically pleasing and ergonomically engineered. While some occupations maybe inherently dangerous (e.g., fire fighter, military personnel) all broad-based Employee Wellness Programs should control exposure to unhealthy conditions including: hazardous chemicals, noise, temperature, radiation and other risky conditions. Program examples include:

• Employee Wellness Programs grounded in supportive cultural change strategies
• Environmental and safety compliance measures
Lighting
Ventilation
Heating
Control of toxic substances
Noise
Universal precautions
• Ergonomically designed workstations
• Sanitary, clean, well maintained worksite
• Recycling promoted initiatives
• worker & management training in emergency procedures

An worker’s psychological health can never be neglected in a broad-based model of Employee Wellness Programs. Originating out of a need for alcohol abuse interventions in the workplace, today’s employee assistance programs (EAP) encompass assessment and counseling for substance abuse and dependency, stress related disorders, family conflicts and other personal issues.

Evidence of the need for such initiatives is wide spread. In a national survey conducted by the Northwestern Life Insurance Company (1992) 46 percent of workers reported that their job was very stressful, 34 percent thought about quitting their jobs because of workplace stress, and 14 percent did leave their job because of stress. Alcohol and substance abuse problems as well as issues of workplace violence and harassment are common areas of concern. For many the only viable treatment solution is the Employee Wellness Program. Exemplary Employee Wellness Programs will include:

• Individualized assessment of worker concerns
• Treatment choice assistance
• Emphasis on prevention as well as treatment
• Personal and family counseling initiatives
• Treatment for addictions:
Drugs
Alcohol
Gambling
• Crisis intervention initiatives
• Stress Management Programs
• Ongoing support groups
• Management and worker training to identify individuals at risk.
• After treatment care

Small and large organizations carry a significant proportion of the provision of health care for families in this country by providing healthcare insurance for their workers. With the escalating increase in healthcare cost many organizations are attempting to slow the increase of healthcare insurance premiums by providing creative cost control initiatives. Greater emphasis is being put on primary prevention to keep workers healthy and secondary prevention to identify and treat health conditions before they can become serious.

At some workplaces, workers are being encouraged to take greater responsibility for their health related behaviors through risk rated incentive packages. Linking wellness to worker benefits of gain sharing and co-payment cost reductions will provide new opportunities requiring efforts of collaboration between the human resource managers and the Employee Wellness Program specialists. These two sets of experts may also work together for the ongoing evaluation of cost effective Employee Wellness Programs.

In conjunction with the above initiatives most large organizations also have a nurse or physician on staff to dispense on-site medical and preventive care. Some initiatives have also found it cost effective to provide their own physical therapy programming to assist injured and infirm workers in regaining optimal functioning. A broad-based selection of health related worker services and benefits would include the following:

• Free or low cost health screenings provided on site by company clinical personnel or through outside contractors:
Serum cholesterol
Colorectal cancer screening
Blood pressure check
Mammography
Vision and hearing screening
Diabetes
• Referral and follow-up procedures (e.g., Hypertension, Cholesterol, Cancer)
• First Aid and emergency care
• Disease control and prevention initiatives
• Child and infirm adult care services
• Pre-retirement and financial planning
• Ongoing learning/educational opportunities
• Coordination of company picnics and outings
• Parent-child work visitation initiatives
• Workers compensation/rehabilitation

nutrition and physical fitness initiatives have demonstrated effectiveness in delaying the onset of worker morbidity while enhancing self esteem, stress management and general feelings of well being. Although many nutrition and physical fitness initiatives are instructional in nature, they should go beyond educational initiatives by providing enabling supports for the adoption of healthy behaviors.

Quality Employee Wellness Programs encourage and facilitate participation in daily physical activity for all workers, and when possible family members and retired workers. This is accomplished through access to fitness facilities, (preferably on site) and properly supervised physical fitness classes. In addition a broad-based program will provide opportunities for Individualized physical fitness and nutrition prescriptions from certified experts. Commitment to the model is demonstrated through occupational food services and sales consistent with healthy nutrition. Specific initiatives to include:

• Resistance training
• Flexibility conditioning initiatives
• Healthy cooking classes
• Aerobic conditioning initiatives
• Diet planning and analysis assistance
• Physical rehabilitative initiatives
• Weight/body fat control initiatives
• Team and individual recreational sports initiatives
• Physical fitness assessments and initiatives