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Employers advise: 'Shape up for good health
Editor's Note - The following information was excerpted from Your Guide to Wellness At the Worksite with the permission of the Health Insurance Association of America. Will health promotion in the work setting help slow the rise in health care costs for business? Corporate America seems to be answering the question this way: "We don't know yet. And we'll never know unless we try it." The motivation to undertake health promotion programs is very strong indeed. Each year more than 330 million workdays are lost because of illness and disability. The result; many billions of dollars in medical expenses, lost productivity, and diminished well-being of employees and their families. Employers are clearly getting the message. More and more they are sponsoring activities designed to improve the health practices and life-styles of their workers. And amidst these efforts, evidence grows that carefully conceived and executed programs hold the prospect of better health for employees and substantial long-term cost savings. This growing commitment by the business community suggests that wellness at the worksite is an idea whose time has come. What is wellness? Simply put, "wellness" is a freely chosen life style aimed at achieving and maintaining an individual's good health. This has a special meaning for the nation's employers. More and more it is recognized that employee wellness directly affects business costs. Once employee health was a very private matter. Today employers understand that helping their work
Illinois Parks and Recreation 32 March/April 1985 force stay well may reduce absenteeism, increase productivity and hold down company expenditures for health care. At the same time the well-being of employees, their families and society is enhanced. A healthier community is being created. Why the worksite? By and large, individuals need and appreciate the stimulus — and convenience — that employee wellness programs provide. Workers after all spend many hours at the worksite. The worksite has an important influence on social attitudes and habits. As a result, such health promotion programs have a high degree of voluntary participation. There are other advantages. You (the employer) have an excellent opportunity to communicate with employees on a subject of common interest. These activities improve employee morale. Useful data on health insurance claims can be collected. And, finally, a network can be established to support workers in their determined efforts to stay well. Employee program Companies large and small can do something about employee health — and a growing number are actively involved in health promotion. Some worksite programs are very comprehensive, others limited in scope. They cover a broad spectrum of health risks. Among the more popular programs are: • smoking cessation, • exercise - fitness, • nutrition - weight control, • alcohol - drug abuse control, • hypertension control, • heart attack risk reduction, • cardiopulmonary resuscitation, • cancer risk reduction, • stress management, • employee assistance program and • accident risk reduction. Whatever type of wellness program is selected, realistic goals and objectives need to be established, and adequate start-up time allocated, because the programs require time to produce results. Dr. Robert E. Dedmon, staff vice-president of Kimberly-Clark, offers these key points to consider for the employer planning an employee health promotion program:
• Secure the commitment of the chief executive officer and other senior management to health promotion programs. • Use persuasive, medically valid, well-designed and clearly presented communication to motivate employees to participate. • Apply educational diagnosis and evaluation with specific, practical and achievable behavioral objectives. • Develop data systems that provide clear and meaningful information. • Share data, experience and ideas among companies. • Arrange training programs for occupational physicians, nurses and managers in effective health education strategies. • Put some emphasis on screening, but place maximum stress on intervention after detecting a problem. The yield and cost-effectiveness of various screening tests should be constantly reevaluated. • Secure the involvement and support of local employees' personal physicians. Bottom line advice The advice is that if the bottom line is your main concern, your efforts might best be directed initially to areas in which cost-effectiveness can be more quickly documented. These would include smoking cessation, high blood pressure control and programs dealing with alcohol abuse. If you are primarily concerned with morale or occupational issues, and long-term savings, your efforts could be directed initially to promoting physical fitness activities or a safety education program, for example. In determining the needs and interests of employees, it is suggested that you consider: • age, sex and ethnic backgrounds, • health problems, • special risks, if any, • type of work and • geographic and seasonal aspects. Personal health profiles, varying in complexity and cost, are now being offered to employers by various organizations. The purpose of these appraisals is to help individuals recognize their health risks and adopt healthier life styles.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 34 March/April 1985 The appraisal calls for employees to fill out a questionnaire on their physical status and life-style factors. Individual characteristics are then measured against the "average" risk for the same age and sex. In general, health risk appraisals focus on serious risks that contribute to disability or premature death, and which can be modified by altering behavior patterns. As such, these appraisals can be used as a health education tool and as an adjunct to physical examinations. Fitness programs can be cost-effective. Some also result in long-term savings. When evaluating the needs of employees, you should determine their interest in a given program by surveying their preferences. Employee involvement is directly related to program effectiveness. You can motivate employee interest with an educational campaign on a particular health concern before a program is installed. Some programs will have varying levels of difficulty in getting underway and being funded. Realistically, companies aren't going to be able to do everything, but every company can do something. Wherever feasible, several small companies might jointly finance a program for all their employees. Cost savings Data on cost savings are as yet limited. In large part this is because there has not been time for wellness program results to be developed. Still, evidence indicates that quite a bit can be said about what these savings may be. New York Telephone anticipates a total annual savings of $24 million when its programs are fully implemented. Experts project savings of about $600 per year for each individual who stops smoking. Burlington Industries has cut employee absenteeism due to back problems from 400 days to 19 days. These and other data being accumulated at varying locations underscore the potential of employer intervention in the health needs of workers. Health promotion should be viewed as complementing worksite programs to control the utilization of health care services. For as proper self-responsibility for health is fostered among employees, the demand for costly medical care should over time be diminished. In Japan, a survey of 200 businesses found that nearly three-fourths schedule group calisthentics during the workday, two-thirds have tennis courts, half have built or leased gyms for employees, and one-fourth provide swimming pools or weightlifting equipment. American corporate fitness programs lag far behind. Yet... interest in wellness is growing rapidly and for good reason. No one knows better than . . . the employer what it costs in health benefits, absenteeism and decreased productivity when one of your employees becomes ill. Many programs were initially designed with the health of key executives in mind. Now, however, the trend is to expand these activities to reach employees at every level. Economic consideration aside, there is a less tangible benefit for any employer as a human being — the opportunity to contribute to the priceless gift of good health. In a recent interview, Mrs. Barney Clark, the widow of the first artificial heart recipient, was quoted as saying, "I feel that his lungs more than any other thing had to do with his ultimate death. He said many times, 'I wish I hadn't smoked.'" Timely intervention to reduce all such risk factors that lead to premature death or disability among the work force should be a priority commitment of the business community. And whether this commitment takes the form of a major investment in elaborate exercise facilities, or simply a "no smoking" policy or snack machines that dispense fruit, the message to the employee is the same: "We care about your well-being."
Illinois Parks and Recreation 46 March/April 1985 |
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