Posts from — July 2010

The costs of healthcare have been rising more than 10 percent annually for several years. A substantial amount of the money spent in the healthcare system treats expensive illnesses and illnesses.

• Approximately 95 percent of the $1.4 trillion that we spend as a nation on health goes to direct medical services, while about 5 percent is allocated to preventing disease and promoting health.

• Potentially, 50% to 70% of all diseases are avoidable as they’re associated with modifiable health risks.

• In an effort to optimize worker health, reduce preventable healthcare utilization and enhance work performance, and in turn lower healthcare costs and improve worker satisfaction and retention, many corporations are developing, or are interested in developing, Wellness Programs for staff members.

The advantages of corporate wellness are well documented. More than 120 research repeatedly show themes such as improvements in health outcomes coupled with high returns on investment (ROI). Some major findings include the following -

• Savings of $3.48 in lowered healthcare costs per dollar invested.

• Savings of $5.82 in reduce absenteeism costs per dollar invested.

• ROIs of at least $3 to $8 per dollar invested within five years of program implementation.

• Lifestyle behavior change programs -  $3 to $6 ROI within 2 to 5 years.

• Self care, decision support programs -  $2 to $3 ROI within a year.

• Disease management programs -  $7 to $10 ROI within a year.

By offering health betterment programs, businesss are not only providing an additional service for workers, but they are also gaining financially. Furthermore, the impact of a health betterment program goes beyond decreased health care cost and ROI.

A health betterment program can affect productivity, absenteeism, morale, recruitment success, turnover, and medical care costs.

* Source -  Rees, C., and Finch, R. (2004). Health Improvement -  A robust guide to designing, implementing and analyzing  worksite programs. National Company Group on Health, 1 (1), 1-7.

According to the American Journal of Wellness, “Wellness is the science and art of assisting individuals  change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health.

Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle change can be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, change behavior, and develop environments that support good health practices.

Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest impact in producing lasting change.”

Wellness Program -  Action Steps

The process of building a Wellness Program involves -

• Identifying the current health status of your workers

• Determiningthe appropriate programs and interventions to offer

• Promoting and starting the programs

• Building in motivational incentives

• Measuring the impact

• Revising programs based on analysis outcomes

It could even include developing policies and procedures that support staff member participation in wellness activities at your worksite (such as flextime).

Steps to Beginning a Wellness Program

• Conduct an organizational assessment

• Obtain management support

• Establish a wellness committee

• Obtain staff member input

• Create objectives and objectives

• Design and implement program activities

• Choose incentives

• Evaluate outcomes

One of the ways the government plans to improve the nation’s health is through comprehensive Wellness Programs.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help employees live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior change programs.

Truly, among the objectives of Healthful People  2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to elevate the proportion of employees that participate in a robust Wellness Program at their worksite to 75%.

5 Ways to Assess and Improve Your Employees’ Health

Emotional health is a state of wellness that comes from understanding and acknowledging our emotions and locating appropriate ways to express them.

As employees, we often bring emotional problems from our childhood or current family life into the workplace because we haven’t dealt with them effectively outside of work.

This can seriously damage workplace relationships and lead to poor performance and negative feelings all around.

A lot of tools and techniques exist for assisting us improve our emotional health. Some of the most common are given below, with real-life case histories illustrating their use.

If an unpleasant mood or feeling persists over a length of time, do not hesitate to seek out a certified professional. Wellness programs usually have professional support already in place as part of their services.

1. Coaching/Counseling -

Among the hallmarks of emotional health is the willingness to ask for help when we need it.

Confidential specialist help, the coaching and counseling provided by worker assistance or wellness programs, can provide an external source of strength and insight for “working out” emotionally-based problems in lieu of “working them in” to your job.

2. Self-help Groups -

Self-help groups are designed to aid individuals  in emotional situations in which they feel alone. the purpose of these groups is twofold -  to allow individuals  to safely feel and express their emotions, and to help break their isolation at work and/or in society at large and reintegrate them into society with the support of a peer group.

The classic self-help group is Alcoholics Anonymous, but thanks to technology, it’s possible to connect with others that have common health challenges, no matter how unique the situation.

Individuals  are taking benefit of tele-conference groups and social web sites, such as sparkpeople .com and revolutionhealth.com. Wellness programs often have such groups available through web-based or telephone support. Progressive corporate wellness provider

Exan Wellness, for example, offers teleconference cell groups and moderated wellness forums for interacting with others in a supportive, confidential and anonymous environment.

People  with shared challenges get together and discuss the emotional challenges they’re facing at work or in other areas of their lives and work through change together.

3. Journaling -  Journaling is often advised by counsellors as a way to help identify and process emotions. Individuals  record their emotions in writing as they experience them, in whatever form they wish.

By assisting the writer gain greater emotional clarity, journaling can help in making more emotionally informed decisions. In much the same way, letter writing enables individuals  to identify and process the emotions they feel about others.

The letter doesn’t have to be sent or its contents shared -  it simply provides a place for the expression of feelings.

An 18-year-old “army brat,” Brent has always done well at school, academically and athletically. But in his last year of high school, something seems to have happened to him. He’s lost all interest in school, becoming moody and withdrawn.

Brent describes to his guidance counselor all the times he’d to move when he was growing up. Each move wrenched him from his friends and forced him to play the role of the “new kid on the block.”

The counselor suggests that Brent write letters to the friends he’s missed over the years telling them how he felt. Lastly, he’s a chance to say a proper goodbye.

4. Assess Your Emotional Health -  Businesses that seek to boost employees’ interpersonal skills, or emotional intelligence in the workplace are more successful, as reported by ground-breaking journalist Daniel Goleman.

And emotional intelligence is the buzzword in workplaces these days. Some wellness programs have information about emotional intelligence, or emotional health assessments. Seek out more information about emotional intelligence for better corporate wellness.

5. Friendships/Support Systems -  Friendships allow people  to feel supported in their emotional journeys. at the same time, they give people  an opportunity to develop their empathetic skills.

These skills are also important for workplace health. When we’re empathic with fellow workers, we help them resolve negative or unhealthy emotions. New friendships are made through hobbies, classes, clubs, or even through web-based groups.

Many individuals  are locating emotional satisfaction by connecting or re-connecting with friends through Facebook and other social websites.

Sometimes workplace stress that is not dealt with in a healthful manner can be brought home. A 36-year-old mother of three, Sarah, wants to be a good wife, a good mother, and a success at her job.

One day, drained after a long day at work, she shouted at her rambunctious kids and threatened to hit her youngest son. Her behavior horrified her. to make matters worse, she believes she is a failure at her job as well as at motherhood. She watches with jealousy as younger peers advance much more rapidly up the corporate ladder despite having less experience than she has.

On the advice of a counselor, she decides to take time out for herself and take a course for amateur painters. It does not take long before she strikes up a friendship with a single mom in the class.

She once led a life very similar to Sarah’s before managing to achieve a better balance between work and family. Her new friend becomes a much-needed sounding board for Sarah and offers her perspectives on her life that she had not considered before.

25 percent Jump in Company Interest in Worker Wellness

Corporate wellness for their workers, companys are discovering, is good for the health of their businesses as well. Wellness programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity and poor work quality.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 U.S. corporations indicated a significant paradigm shift in how corporations view health benefits for their employees.

Of those surveyed this year, 88 percent are committed to instituting long-term health care assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their employees, with the goal of increaseing the health and productivity of their workforce. This represents a 25 percent increase in interest in wellness programs over 2007.

A strong offering of wellness programs to meet the demand has resulted. Health assistance providers have broadened their programs with tools that address general lifestyle factors, physical, social and psychological health factors.

Programs look to predict chronic illness in their workers and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Companies also demand a way to measure the effectiveness of their health care spending.

Self-care is our motive, says Vic Lebouthillier, president of progressive wellness provider Exan Wellness.”We really believe giving workers tools to help them manage their own health, and promoting the benefits, while giving individuals  resources to reach out for help is the key to successful lifestyle change.

Corporations are also telling us they need a cost-effective way to deliver wellness programs. the kind of program we have created over years delivers the highest healthcare return on investment.”

Combining corporate wellness promotions, web-based assessments and health trackers, web-based health information, telephone conferences and self-help groups, and access to a broad variety of health experts, is behind the success of the Exan program. “Having web-based statistics about employees’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line - ROI” says Vic Lebouthillier.

Corporations are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of healthcare benefits to develop holistic programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their employee populations, drive employee behavior change and eliminate barriers to healthcare, says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.

Nevertheless, in a separate survey of 30,000 employees, 74% said that, although they felt their business had an obligation to help them understand how to use their health benefits program, only 12% felt the business had any right to tell them how to be healthy.

Based on these results, employers need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their employees as well as the company. It’s a win-win situation.

Corporations and staff members did find common ground when it came to future healthcare. Both surveys indicate that 95% of staff members understand that their taking care of their health today will impact future healthcare payments.

A similar percentage also understand the important of early detection and avoidance when it comes to saving on healthcare costs.

Cost is important for most corporations as well. Over 80% of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts did not involve shifting responsibility for health care onto workers.

Although 64% of corporations have shifted costs to their workers, only 17% plan to do so in the next 3-5 years. In like manner with health reimbursement accounts, 20% now offer these, but only about 5% plan to use them in 2008.

These survey results indicate corporations are getting more proactive in helping their employees to change behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously good for the well-being of employees, but also for the well-being of the corporations they work for.

Almost half the businesses surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to increased productivity and lower absentee rates. Over 60% plan to institute programs that help staff members change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle.

Nearly of these businesses will also use data and measurements to ensure their health care strategies meet their health care objectives?

It is clear to virtually every American (particularly those of us in business) that health care costs are skyrocketing out of control.

No one doubts that either the market will solve the problem OR the government will impose one on us. Managed care has failed from either a cost containment or quality of care perspective.

Businesses have reached the point where the cost of providing health insurance is almost as burdensome as government regulation. It’s time for some new thinking on healthcare and its impact on corporation and vice versa.

Corporate wellness as an operational perspective in lieu of merely window dressing is one way to deal effectively with rising health care costs.

The Insurance Problem

The first step in correcting the problem is to realize that an employee’s health is their own responsibility. Expecting businesss to provide unlimited health insurance coverage is simply unrealistic and unreasonable.

It’s time for corporations (on a broad scale) to reconsider their role in providing health insurance coverage. Instead of providing complete coverage for all employees through group plans, companies should start to shift the burden of health coverage to those covered.

Here is the approach. Give catastrophic medical insurance as a group benefit to all employees with a big enough deductible (say $5000 per employee) to make the cost inexpensive for the company.

Then, allow staff members to buy their own medical insurance policies (based on their own needs) and pay for them through payroll deduction with pre-tax earnings.

There are numerous insurance companies that sell individual plans on this basis. Everyone wins. Employees can tailor their coverage to their own needs and circumstances using their own doctors. Businesses win by stopping the endless cycle of rising costs and ever-changing plans.

And when individuals become responsible for the cost of their own insurance, they become more attentive to their own health.

Besides, if an employee is interested in working for you ONLY because your corporation offers great insurance benefits aren’t they telling you they’re going to cost you more money in the future?

Develop a “Wellness Culture”

Our current “sickness culture” perpetuates the health care crisis and hastens the demise of market-based solutions. By illness culture, I mean our focus on medical problems in lieu of on having a healthful workplace and performance culture.

So, what would a “wellness culture” look like? First, instead of compensated sick days, employees might  be rewarded at year’s end with an attendance bonus.

Workers would be reimbursed for successful completion of use of tobacco cessation and weight-loss programs. Businesses would invest in corporate memberships at local health clubs so every staff member can participate.

Workers would be offered in-house wellness programs on a selection of issues ranging from ergonomics to stress management. Lastly, corporations would commit to hiring and retaining healthful workers.

Simply put, healthy employees cost less and are more productive than unhealthy ones. Applicants ought to be screened for health habits and practices that limit their productivity and increase the likelihood of future expense.

While this may seem harsh, it rewards those workers whose personal lifestyle and habits ensure the best Return on Investment by the business committing to hire, train and pay them.

Be open to “alternative and complementary” approaches

Studies published in major medical journals reveal that person who use “alternative and complementary” health modalities (including chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga and massage) are typically healthier, better educated, take fewer medications and miss fewer days from work than the average American.

Since these person look for ways to stay healthy without drugs and surgery, they end up being a net benefit in terms of attendance and productivity. Old prejudices in this area must be discarded in order for businesses to improve productivity and increase profitability

Conclusion

Healthcare costs are increasing at a staggering pace. Managed care is an terrible failure. Corporations are buckling underneath the pressure of providing health coverage to their employees.

American competitiveness in the market is sagging. These times call for amazing solutions. It’s time for American companies to consider some out-of-the-box solutions to the healthcare crisis.

Corporate wellness is an approach that is timely, achievable and reasonable given the alternatives. All choices should be considered while we still have a chance.

Research spanning more than a decade has consistently shown wellness programs to be financially effective and that every dollar invested on a wellness program can return $2.30 and $10.10 by decreasing absenteeism, sick day usage and by decreasing insurance costs.

Also it is noted that there are marked improvements in employee performance and productivity in organizations that implement a wellness program.

Healthful organizations enjoy increased employee morale and an improved ability to attract and retain key people . Also, workers are more alert and productive.

For example, Coca Cola reports that they save nearly $500 a year per worker once they implemented a fitness programin which 60 percent of their workers participate.

Coors Brewing Corporation announced that staff members who participated in their wellness programs reduced their absentee rate by 18 percent.

Workers enjoy their share of benefits from wellness programs too. A healthy lifestyle affects every part of a person’s life, including their work environment.

Wellness programs lead to fewer injuries, less human error and a work environment that is more harmonious and relaxed. Additionally, workers who work at a company that starts a wellness program know that their organization is concerned about their wellness.

Workers often report a reduction in their stress levels due to wellness programs.

As staff members feel better, more relaxed, more valued and more human to their company; they enjoy an increase in productivity. This increase in productivity, while beneficial to the corporation, is also essential to the worker as it increases their own sense of self worth and confidence levels.

Employees who feel successful and who feel that they accomplish objectives are overall happier and in a better frame of mind.

The benefits of wellness programs, both tangible and intangible, are evident. It’s a wise move for a business to begin a wellness program, particularly when they incorporate some form of mental health aspect into it.

This also has social benefits as domestic violence and child abuse is shown to be decreased in areas where wellness programs are implemented. These days, an organization can nearly not afford to have some sort of wellness program to offer to their workers.

Some of the top wellness programs currently in use today include -

Health Risk (Assessment|Appraisal}s

Health Risk (Assessment|Appraisal} is a top wellness program currently in use globally. Organizations that implement it determine the safety and health concerns of staff members by the assessment of appropriateness of the facilities and equipment against the needs of the staff members.

It can, for instance, guide the organization into deciding how the air quality within an office room affects the users and then help the assessment team to come up with the measures necessary to correct the problem. an HRA can also evaluate the level of exposure workers have to certain hazardous or hazardous materials and practices.

Immunizations

This is not always practiced in every country since there are regions where government sponsored immunization shots are available. Nonetheless, it has also become an important component of the top employee wellness programs in many organizations in North America.

Immunization shots, like those used to combat flu, for instance, are offered to workers for free.

Worker Assistance Programs

Staff Member Assistance Programs consist of a wide variety of services. It can range from providing educational resources to employees regarding health issues to sponsoring health services and medical care. In many corporations, medical and insurance have also become a staple part of their benefits system.

In-house diet and nutrition drives

This is another wellness program that organizations use, especially those that offer in-house commissary or cafeteria services. Instead of serving richer, high-calorie fare, cafeterias offer choices for a healthier diet, generally in the form of low-calorie foods and sugar substitutes.

In-house wellness newsletter and campaign drives

One of the top wellness programs that organizations can implement is a self-powered tool using a newsletter to promote wellness, coupled with a visible campaign.

The campaign might  be done periodically and focus on a specific topic, like use of tobacco hazards, cancer, stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, safety in the workplace, etc.

The newsletter in itself may be an effective means to deliver information to staff members or members of an organization but it is far from perfect.

Some staff members, for instance, might not read the newsletter entirely or even pay attention to it. If the issues outlined in the newsletter are promoted through an active and highly visible campaign, it will be easier to maximize positive results.

Exercise and exercise

Another top wellness program for organizations is one that involves physical activities. Companies often sponsor exercise-related events like marathons and business sports programs to encourage employees to remain fit or lose excess weight.

In mid- to large-sized corporations, corporations may even pay for health club memberships or in-house exercise facilities.

Wellness Incentives

Some of the top wellness programs implemented by corporations involve incentive rewards. This involves company-sponsored programs that reward staff members for achieving specific wellness-related objectives.

Participation in health campaigns and signing up for wellness programs are two of the most commonly rewarded schemes. Rewards can range from special recognitions to over time obtained points (for bigger rewards) to specific gifts. In a few cases, cash might also be used.

Notwithstanding, incentive systems have had mixed reactions and levels of success. But it continues to be among the top choices among businesses who are willing to modify it for fit their unique needs.

Peer Pressure

In many organizations, corporations take advantage of coworker pressure in order to encourage employees to participate in wellness programs. This is currently among the favorite staff member wellness programs currently in use today and growing in popularity.

Peer pressure is often leveraged to help promote competitions referring to corporate wellness and to persuade employees to be active in company-sponsored health fairs.

Wellness is a great concept. It brings happiness into health and encourages a truly holistic approach to life. Wikipedia defines wellness as a healthy balance of the mind-body and spirit that leads to an overall feeling of well-being.

It sounds like exactly what every one is looking for. But when you begin to talk about corporate wellness, or corporate wellness, all life goes out of the concept. Total solutions, disease management (DM) and health testing do not inspire visions of enjoying life and living it to the full.

They begin from the assumption that ailment is here to stay and needs to be discovered, managed and controlled but can never be healed.

The wellness industry is growing phenomenally fast. Wellness guru, Paul Zane Pilzer, has labeled it the next trillion dollar industry. But wellness has two different faces.

On the one hand there are the small corporations - people  working from home or in small centers selling all kinds of wellness products and services at a speed of growth that is escalating rapidly.

On the other hand corporate wellness is also exploding but in a very different direction.

The baby boomers who are driving the well-liked wellness revolution have been described as the first generation to refuse to accept the inevitability of death.

They’re actively looking for ways to prevent aging, stay healthy into old age and enjoy themselves more than ever before after retirement. This is a radical departure from current notions of old age, which are often dominated by pictures of sickness, frailty and suffering.

The businesses have been largely forced to take on wellness. This is partly through legislative pressure, with many countries introducing laws to make businesses liable for stress-related sickness in their workers.

It is also financially motivated, as research has repeatedly shown the gigantic costs of absenteeism (and increasingly of presenteeism as well).

Whereas the baby boomers are actively looking for new solutions and new lifestyles the corporations are struggling to organize largely traditional and mainstream health systems, like physicians, nurses, insurance and screening systems.

The problem is that the traditional health system doesn’t have solutions for the problems that people  are handling.

Nobody ever went to see a physician to get happy, because a physician does not have any clue how to make people  happy. and many stress-related medical problems are described as chronic conditions, which means that they last for a very long time - or maybe for the rest of your life - because there’s no medical cure.

Counseling is a common offering in corporations for emotional problems, but whilst it could provide a useful pressure valve it is not a powerful treatment for stress, unhappiness or depression.

Imagine walking into a company where the workers are happy, healthful, full of inspiration, fit, love working, have meaningful family lives, active social lives, and enjoyable relationships at work and in their community.

That kind of corporation would be a pleasure to work in and bound to be successful because people  would be working to their optimum capacity.

So can we develop a system of true wellness that will serve the development of the corporations and their staff members and will pay for itself because of the benefits that both sides will gain?

First of all we’ve to face the fact that we cannot place all the responsibility into the hands of the current health system. Absenteeism, stress, depression, the very roots of the wellness revolution, have not been solved by the current system.

If they’d been we wouldn’t have this revolution, we would all be much more well. So we need to look elsewhere for solutions.

We also can’t rely on makeshift feel-good wellness offerings, like the on-site massage team which visits the office once a month or the wellness day that raises awareness for a little while but leaves most people  unaffected. They are easy to organize but have little or no real effect on worker wellness.

Corporate needs are different than individual needs and many of the new small wellness companies that are springing up simply do not have the capacity to serve the corporate market.

Notwithstanding it’s in the best interest of both companies and employees to find and develop systems of wellness that really work - that benefit individuals  to be happy, handle stress, love working, and to have enough energy to go home at the end of the day and enjoy their family and social life.

So far the corporate world has hijacked the concept of wellness and turned it into a modern version of occupational health. It is time to elevate the vision and find out how to make truly healthy, happy workplaces where people  thrive.

High rates of employee turnover and the costs of sick days are increasingly taking bites into corporate profits. the high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in sum cost the average business.

Many companies are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that yield a reduction in these costs.

It’s become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness/fitness program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need.

Management’s goals for a productive wellness program ought to be viewed through the perspective of increased staff member productivity, decreased absenteeism due to health related causes, improved staff member morale, decreased utilisation of employer subsidised health benefits, enhanced team cohesion and effectiveness and a decrease in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction.

It is obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a positive impact on the financial status of any organisation.

The benefits from an staff members point of view may be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, decreased body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle job related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social connections at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.

To be most productive a wellness program needs to achieve both managements and employees objectives, and this may be accomplished through a program that’ll provide the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and well-being, and the advantages of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that’ll allow them to achieve the necessary changes to their physical condition that may be applied of their life and work.

The Bottom Line - Wellness Programs

Reduced Absenteeism - Dupont lowered absenteeism by 47.5% over six years for the participants of their corporate fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Lowered Healthcare Costs - Steel case showed a reduction in medical claim costs of 55 percent for corporate fitness program participants over non-participants over a six year period - an average of $478.61 for participants versus non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Wellness, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Decreased Turnover - Turnover among fitness program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Business was 32.4% lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment - Blue Cross and Blue Shield  of Indiana found that its corporate fitness program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Wellness, March, April, 1991).

The Partnership for Prevention was formed to encourage Fortune 1000 companies to consider making workforce health a CEO issue and adopt strategies to promote avoidance and wellness.

After several years of double-digit rate increases for health insurance, corporations are realizing that one of the best ways to slow the cost increases is to have workers take more responsibility for both costs and health choices.

A majority of corporations surveyed feel that the best way for reducing costs is financial incentives to encourage workers to adopt healthier lifestyles.

Nearly 100 percent of companys surveyed say that health costs will be a critical or significant concern over the next five years, as reported by a recent survey by United Benefit Advisors.

More companys are adopting higher deductible health plans with HRA’s or HSA’S, wellness programs, and expanded disease management (DM) programs to control ever-increasing health care costs.

Failure to deal with these issues could be disastrous for an company. Wayne Sensor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alegent Health recently stated, “I think that we have built a healthcare machinery we can’t afford. I think we are choking the economic engine of America.”

In his October 2005 newsletter, Dr. Andrew Weil stated, “I think rising health- care costs are becoming the major economic issue in our nation”. Obesity costs California corporations billions of dollars each year.

Projected costs for 2005 may reach 28 billion dollars for direct and indirect health care costs, employee’s compensation, and lost productivity. California has experienced one of the fastest growing rates of obesity of any state.

As reported by California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe, “The obesity epidemic is more than a public health crisis, it is an economic crisis.” What is frightening is that most individuals  don’t even realize that they are obese, which is defined as only 20% above normal weight.

There is a excellent need for additional education on weight and resulting illnesses, and the workplace is an ideal venue. Wellness education and programs can lead to a meaningful return on investment and, if structured properly, can produce results in a very short period of time.

Although many employers have attempted some form of wellness program in the past, results from those efforts have been disappointing.

In many cases, the healthier employees participated for incentives, such as fitness club memberships, but those who needed it most didn’t take benefit of the program in a meaningful way.

Businesses are looking at ways to encourage more workers to buy into the wellness movement.

A recent webinar hosted by Human Resource Executive Magazine and presented by Carlson Advertising Group titled, “Healthier Employees; Healthier Bottom Line -  Engaging Workers is the Missing Link in Managing Healthcare Costs,” drove this point home.

This session provided actionable advice on how businesses are achieving higher impact with their wellness investments by focusing on worker engagement. It also highlighted how you can create an Economic Engagement Model to forecast the potential impact for your organization.

Corporations can simply no longer ignore the issue of their employee’s unhealthful lifestyles and must act to engage them in a meaningful wellness program to reduce health care costs, absenteeism and lost productivity.

Workers also benefit as they derive better health and greater satisfaction in both their personal and professional lives. the alternative is being caught in a non-competitive position and severely impacting the bottom-line of the corporation.