Category — Health And Wellness In The Workplace

Workplace Wellness Initiatives at the corporate level are beneficial, right? Wellness statistics clearly show that such Workplace Wellness Initiatives are not only cost-effective for the corporation but can assist the staff member in developing a healthier lifestyle. With the increasing cost of health care, Workplace Wellness Initiatives simply make sense. So where does the problem come in? Let’s examine the topic from both perspectives.

Workplace Wellness Programs: The Good
• A sampling of ROI for Workplace Wellness Programs: Bank of America: 600 percent; General Motors:370 percent; Pepsico: 300 percent; Citibank: 465 percent; and the Washoe County School District leading the pack at a whopping 1,560%. (Campbell,J., Wellness Improvement Experts, www.wellnessimprovementexperts.com, Albuquerque, New Mexico.)
• Companies with Workplace Wellness Initiatives have realized a 28% reduction in sick leave, a 26% reduction in adjunctive health care costs and a 30% reduction in disability and workers compensation costs. (Health Affairs, Volume 21, No.2, March, 2002.)
• The Washoe county School District in Northern Nevada realized a $15.60 ROI for each dollar spent due to a 20% reduction in rates of absence. (Hardy,A. (2005). At the Top Of The Class. WELCOA’s Absolute Advantage Magazine, 5(1), 14-20.)
• Workplace Wellness Initiatives provide the structure, encouragement, incentives and ongoing support that many people need in order to make lifestyle changes.
• Employees also realize returns on their efforts. FiServ, a financial services technology corporation, gave workers who filled out a health risk assessment a significant discount on their health insurance premium. (Holland, Kelley, The New York Times, July 22, 2007.)

Workplace Wellness Programs: The Bad
The flip side of the argument centers on basic human rights. Do we want/need our employer to tell us to eat our veggies or lose 30 pounds? Some organizations are doing just that and at least one lawsuit has resulted because of it.
• Three hundred organizations have requested assistance from a national employment and labor law firm to institute more aggressive Workplace Wellness Programs.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)
• Clarian Health, based in Indianapolis, Will start reducing staff member paychecks by $10.00 for every staff member who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of greater than 29.9 because not enough workers were utilizing their wellness services.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)
• Scott Rodrigues filed a suit against his prospective employer, Scotts Miracle-Gro, because he believed the corporation’s antismoking policy violated his civil rights. The corporation has a policy against hiring workers who smoke and Mr. Rodrigues’drug screen was positive for nicotine.(Holland, Kelley, The New York Times,July 22,2007.)
• staff member advocates are concerned that health discrimination may not be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)

Penalizing workers by hitting them where it hurts the most,their pocketbook, does not appear to be a favorable approach to molding human behavior.
Such tactics may result in increased resentments and retaliation, primarily in the form of rates of absence and presenteeism (decreased productivity on the job.) Voluntary, incentive-based initiatives, such as the one in the Washoe County School District, can and do produce results. A positive attitude on the part of management along with an opportunity for workers to have a stake in the decision-making may yield the greatest dividends to both employer and staff member.The motivation and resolve needed to change unhealthy lifestyle habits can best be derived from the basic tenets of encouragement, respect and support.

Getting Started - Secure management support
• Justifications for having a Health Fair
• Health Risk Assessments (HRAs)
• Help for high-risk population: smokers, obese workers
• Early detection of diabetes, heart disease risk factors (high cholesterol, high blood pressure)

Health Fair Participation - Identify your audience
• Employees only, whole family, retirees?
• Community involvement? Theme?

Health Fair Time Line
• Set a date and time Allow 4-6 months of planning time

Health Fair Planning
• Identify health-related screenings, tests, other activities you’ll offer Identify educational literature and other learning opportunities Health Fair will provide Include any “fun” activities, or food/beverage needs for the fair

Health Fair Location & Logistics
• Consider location big enough to accommodate the largest volume of workers at “peak time” periods
• Determine how booths/stations will be set up

Health Fair Vendors
• Target relevant health/safety-related community and corporate vendors to provide services, educational materials, incentives and giveaways

Health Fair Marketing
• Determine marketing tools to be used to inform workers/members (posters, mailings, e-mail)
• Determine any incentives or giveaways that will be included in the fair or used to promote participation in the fair

Health Fair Scheduling
• Coordinate timing and events with staff and/or volunteers

Health Fair Personnel
• Schedule appropriate experts Physician or similar health care personnel to provide patient consultation for review of blood draw lab results
• Nurse(s) to administer immunizations
• Administrative/all-purpose individual to facilitate paper work, finger sticks and to provide general assistance
• Pharmacist or pharmacist assistant if appropriate Dietitian for nutritional counseling suggested personnel designated for health fairs

Footnotes

1 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation via Reuters Health E-Line.
2 Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, (9/11/03)
3 www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/press/archive/lower_cost.htm
4 “Is Stress Nibbling Away at Your Bottom Line?” By Stephen Alper, Nov. 15, 2002.
5 Health Promotion in the Workplace, Michael P. O’Donnell, page 415.
6 http://www.bmpcoe.org/bestpractices/internal/dayto/dayto_6.html

According to Gordian Health Solutions, the effectiveness of Workplace Wellness Initiatives in improving health and reducing health care costs is directly linked to incentives: the more substantial the incentives, the higher the success rate. Incentives can range from tokens of achievement, such as t-shirts, water bottles and sports equipment, to more substantial financial awards, such as cash incentives or copay vouchers for the successful completion of a program.

Nationwide Insurance is seeing results from a small incentive program initiated by one of the corporation’s on-site nurses. To promote lunchtime walking, the staff member has informally launched a “shoelace program” modeled after the karate-belt color system. Employees progress through the color scale until they reach “black-lace” status. The reward system has resulted in more workers making commitments to walk during their lunch hour.

At the high end of the reward spectrum, some organizations pay cash to workers who meet wellness goals. LuK, Inc. offers workers $250 for kicking the tobacco habit and remaining smoke free for 12 months. For logging fitness points that add up to 10 miles a month, workers are eligible for health assessments, which can result in reward amounts of up to $225.

The most effective motivator, according to Gordian research, comes through linking participation in Workplace Wellness Initiatives directly to insurance premiums. Doing so clearly demonstrates to workers the positive effects of wellness on their own health care costs. frequently, the first step in linking wellness programming to insurance coverage is lowering deductibles for wellness care or eliminating deductibles altogether. By adding this benefit, organizations can promote workers to undertake routine screenings and other procedures to respond to health problems before they become chronic. Early detection benefits both patient health and employer health costs.

Incentivizing Workplace Health and Wellness Plan participation with health care credits

More frequently, organizations are going beyond increased wellness care coverage and looking to demonstrate the importance of wellness by linking participation to workers’ bottom lines. Worthington Industries has recently rolled out a program that allows workers to eliminate their portion of the insurance premium by enrolling in a Healthy Choices Workplace Wellness Program.

During the first year of the Healthy Choices program, workers and their spouses complete Personal Health Assessments and medical screenings to determine their levels of health risks. Nurses, dietitians and physical fitness specialists are available to help moderate- and high-risk members develop individual action plans for enhanced health through the use of educational materials, behavior modification, telephone help from third-party program health coordinators, and formal health management initiatives. By completing the assessments, workers earn their full premium credit. Because some plans at Worthington require no staff member contribution, a cash award takes the place of a credit in those cases.  During year two of the program, the wellness bar is raised slightly. To continue to receive the wellness credit, members in the moderate- to high-risk category will be needed to work at setting goals with third-party health coordinators.

Year three raises the bar again, requiring members to show progress in meeting goals and to continue to work with health coordinators to reach goals.

After year three, Worthington Industries workers will be on the wellness track. The corporation believes that will mean a healthier workforce and cost savings for workers and the corporation. The well being of Worthington workers is the foundation of this program, and both workers and the company are expected to benefit from the long-term advantages of the Healthy Choices Workplace Wellness Program.

While Worthington has taken a broad approach to wellness, other organizations have found success in offering incentives in specific areas. Longaberger, for example, offers a discount on health care policies for workers who do not use tobacco. An individual staff member who doesn’t use tobacco saves $7 per bi-weekly pay. For tobacco-free workers with family coverage whose families are also tobacco-free, the savings increases to $14 per pay.

The next step: Penalizing harmful behaviors

As it stands, health care is the only type of insurance that doesn’t focus on penalizing for behaviors that put the insured party at risk. With health care costs increasing so dramatically, that could soon change. Just as an accident likely raises auto insurance premiums, increasing premiums for those who engage in unhealthy behaviors is a possible next step in employers’ attempts to manage health care costs.

Reports that workers would support this type of action are stacking up. One Ohio employer conducted an informal survey that indicated workers would consider it a morale boost if health-conscious workers were relieved of some of the burden of subsidizing care for workers who engage in behaviors that adversely affect their health. Whether or not this type of program gains popularity, one thing is sure: the need to control the rise in health care costs is becoming ever more pressing.

The Last Step: Getting Started

Whatever the strategy, from offering workers health resources to providing incentives for healthy behaviors, organizations have a real opportunity to improve morale and productivity, reduce rates of absence and control health care costs through wellness. The first step is committing to taking one, no matter what size effort is appropriate for your corporate.

Small steps lead to big strides.

Preventing injuries is a high priority for organizations, especially in factory settings such as Honda. That’s why the corporation offers several initiatives—including line-site process evaluations —to identify potential hazards and help reduce the chance of injury. As part of an early intervention program, Honda workers who are feeling pain can receive a massage of the affected area during work time.

Stretching initiatives are another effective tool in injury prevention. According to the Best Practices in Manufacturing Web site, Dayton Parts, Inc. (DPI) in Harrisburg, Pa., conducted research that revealed approximately 80 percent of all manufacturing injuries occurred within the first two hours of each shift. After starting a program that required production workers to stretch for 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of their shifts, they saw a dramatic reduction in injuries.

While the DPI Workplace Health and Wellness Plan costs about $75,000 a year to operate, in conjunction with other corporation initiatives, it has helped bring the annual cost of workers’ compensation from $700,000 to $200,000 per year.6

To help prevent lengthy absences and reduce workers’ compensation claims, Honda instituted a work recovery program. Through the program, workers who have had an injury can work in a modified job—getting better. Employees in the program spend their work days receiving physical conditioning to increase overall fitness, physical therapy to restore functionality, health education and nutrition counseling. The program is based on data that shows fewer work days are lost when an staff member stays connected to the work environment.

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, www.ohiobwc.com, provides a “10-Step Business Plan” as a guide for organizations in providing Workplace Wellness Initiatives that aim to reduce injuries. The plan includes information on safety and health initiatives to prevent occurrences of on-the-job accidents, including:

Staff member involvement - To ensure the success of any Workplace Wellness Program, workers must participate in the safety and health-management process. This can be done through safety and health audits, accident investigations, or by forming safety and health involvement teams, focus groups or committees.

Orientation and training plan - Conduct orientation and training sessions to educate workers on the corporation’s safety policies. These sessions should include procedures for the safe use of machinery and tools, chemical hazards and how to prevent contact or exposure, specific job/task safe practices, and hazard recognition and prevention.

Communication - Open communication keeps workers informed and provides suggestions and feedback on the effectiveness of the Workplace Wellness Program. Through memos, bulletin boards and staff meetings, important safety and health information can be conveyed throughout the corporate, keeping all management staff and workers knowledgeable about the corporation’s safe practices.

The corporation plan also outlines incentives for post-injury procedures, including:

Medical treatment and return-to-work practices - arly return-to-work strategies help injured or ill workers return to work in a timely manner. Companies should start a disability management policy to help injured or ill workers obtain quality medical treatment, making their transition back to work quick and effortless.

Timely notification of claims - Corporations should document worksite injuries immediately after they occur and promptly send that documentation to a claims handler. Quickly providing claim information demonstrates care and concern for the injured staff member, prevents delays and confusion with the claim process, and reduces the potential for abuse or needless litigation.

Record keeping - Internal documents should be kept to record work-time injuries and to assess the success of the corporation’s safety efforts. Business audits, surveys and injury or illness reports can all be used to analyze which safety practices and policies have proven successful, and what areas of health and wellness need improvement.

Wellness programming means different things to different organizations. Effective wellness initiatives can be as simple as bringing bushel baskets of fresh fruit into break rooms to encourage better eating. They can be as extensive as building fitness facilities onsite or paying for obesity treatments.

A driving factor behind the push toward wellness spans organizations of all types, sizes and cultures: that is, health care expenses are spilling over the corporate belt buckle. The annual cost of medical services in the United States is increasing at seven times the rate of inflation. And the rise in medical costs is one boom pundits expect our economy to sustain.1

This trend makes it increasingly challenging for organizations to maintain current levels of insurance coverage. In 2003, health care inflation forced 65 percent of organizations to increase workers’ share of health costs.

Seventy-nine percent of large firms said they will increase workers’ share of health costs in 2004.2 But with lost benefits and increased financial burdens come lost morale and productivity.

Corporations are searching for another way. While organizations cannot control many of the supply-side elements contributing to increasing health care costs—malpractice insurance rates, the nursing shortage—they can help curb demand. That’s why efforts are being redirected from illness to wellness.

The case for Workplace Wellness Initiatives is supported by an ever growing body of evidence demonstrating the high costs associated with controllable health risks:

• One study reports that obesity raises health care costs by 36 percent and medication costs by 77 percent.
• Michigan officials estimate physical inactivity cost the state nearly $8.9 billion in 2002, a cost estimated to be largely borne by organizations through insurance premiums and lost productivity.
• The not-for-profit National Committee for Quality Assurance reports that the estimated average cost for postnatal care for women who did not receive prenatal care was $2,341 more than for women who had. And the indirect costs of unhealthful behavior can be just as high.

Information shows that healthier workers are more productive, spending more time at work and showing increased “presenteeism,” or productivity, while there. Further, healthier workers use fewer medical services. The five leading causes of death in the United States — heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes —  are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyles. Clearly, encouraging healthful habits presents an opportunity to improve workers’ well being, reduce the need for health care services and help control costs.

Offering staff member wellness benefits — large or small — represents an intersection between corporate social responsibility and responsibility to stakeholders. Between staff member health and corporate health. It’s frequently the right thing to do for workers and organizations.

Research by Traveler’s Corp. shows a $3.40 return for each dollar invested in Workplace Wellness Programs. For many organizations, the choice to offer staff member wellness benefits is easy—one where conscience and pragmatism align.

The challenge arises in selecting the initiatives that will deliver the most impact based on trends in your workers’ health risks and medical claims costs. From large organizations to the corner deli, corporation owners welcome ways to boost productivity, reduce rates of absence and cut costs. Likewise, Workplace Wellness Initiatives can range from modest to elaborate.

In determining where to focus a corporation’s limited resources, looking at costs, benefits and best practices is a good starting point. This section profiles six aspects of wellness and explores their benefits to workers and organizations.

When it comes to working wellness into your workforce, you want someone who knows the ins and outs of health promotion, and who can counsel workers and provide primary care - all within the context of the current regulatory and legal environment.

AAOHN’s survey found that more than 50% of workers (61 percent) want to receive health and wellness information from a health care professional, such as a consultant or an on-site occupational health nurse (OHN), compared to pamphlets or brochures (18 percent) or human resources staff (15 percent).

OHNs can develop, begin and evaluate components of work site Workplace Wellness Initiatives such as screening initiatives, exercise/fitness courses, Stress Management Programs, smoking cessation, nutrition and weight control initiatives, as well as chronic illness management initiatives. Plus, OHNs can help workers navigate through complicated health plans and may even serve as a triage point between workers and their own health care providers.

Employees might refrain from seeing their health care provider when it means time away from work, inconvenient parking, waiting time in the office and co-pays. In situations where workers are under treatment for chronic diseases like heart disease, on-site nurses can routinely monitor risk factors such as blood pressure or cholesterol on a regular basis.

It’s frequently easier for an staff member to ask an on-site nurse for information about symptoms or prescription medication than it is to schedule a follow-up visit to a own health care provider. Advantages realized by organizations include enhanced staff member morale and retention, a recruitment advantage, increased productivity and decreased time away from work.

In organizations with a safety department, the OHN can evaluate and address work-related health issues, including participation in workstation evaluations to correct potential ergonomic problems, and proactively addressing muscle strains by developing stretching initiatives and involving workers in leading stretches.

Good for waistlines & your bottom line

By Sandra Simpson, APRN, BC, COHN-S, manager in Occupational Health Services at a Fortune 500 corporation in Memphis, Tenn., and a member of the board of directors of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN). For a copy of the AAOHN wellness survey, visit www.aaohn.org, or call (800) 241-8014, x0.

In today’s hectic world, the majority of of us are spending more time at work, and have increasingly less time to look after our health. For a long time, organizations have understood the benefits associated with keeping workers well - increased productivity from reduced rates of absence and lowered disability claims. For these reasons, coupled with the fact that many organizations realized double-digit health care costs last year, organizations should consider Workplace Wellness Initiatives as a way to keep workers healthy.

But just how important are these initiatives to workers? How frequently are they willing to participate in initiatives designed to positively impact their health and wellness? Who do workers trust to provide them with important information about their health?

Answers to these questions and more were recently garnered from a study commissioned by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Inc. (AAOHN).

The AAOHN survey questioned 500 workers nationwide about their perceptions of Workplace Wellness Programs. More than three-quarters of all members indicated these initiatives are a good way to improve their overall health, and nearly 60 percent consider these offerings an incentive to remain with their current employer. staff member retention and turnover impact the bottom line, so building Workplace Wellness Initiatives into the work site culture is a valuable way to help retain talented workers in addition to enhancing personal health and worksite productivity.

Health wish list

Employees appear to have their own agenda when it comes to their health. With new economic pressures, national security threats and work/balance issues, it’s not surprising that 85 percent of survey respondents cited Stress Management Programs as a priority topic for work site wellness.

In addition to stress, other preferred topic areas include screening initiatives (84 percent), exercise/physical fitness initiatives (84 percent), health insurance education (81 percent) and disease management seminars (80 percent).

In addition to lifestyle and personal health issues, those asked expressed concern about work-related health issues, including strains and injuries resulting from lifting or task-oriented muscle repetition, exposure to harmful substances, personal injury, vision changes due to computer work and worksite violence.

What you should do

With such a broad range of health concerns, a primary goal for organizations is finding a way to proactively address the health/wellness needs of the largest number of workers, and effectively change unhealthy behaviors, promote wellness and ward off disease and illness.

Printed materials such as brochures, posters, fliers or pamphlets present an easy solution. But it’s important to remember that different workers require different formats for learning. A good rule of thumb: provide information in a variety of learning formats such as videos, pamphlets, health-related quizzes, display boards, Lunch & Learn presentations and reimbursement or incentive programs.

This assumes you’ve overcome the first hurdle - getting workers to sign on to a Workplace Wellness Program. While survey respondents indicated health and Workplace Wellness Initiatives are important, just six out of 10 (60 percent) reported that they participated in the Workplace Wellness Initiatives at their organizations. The other 40 percent cited lack of interest and lack of time as deterrents.

This points to the need for a comprehensive, structured Workplace Health and Wellness Plan using a innovative approach, with an incentive for participation and effective program marketing.

By investing in an organized Workplace Health and Wellness Plan headed by a qualified health care professional such as an on-site nurse, organizations can give workers the access to the health information they want, and increase participation and generate interest at the same time.

The result: workers become savvier health care consumers who feel more in charge of their own health. And healthier workers make for a healthier bottom line.