Health Promotion Blog

Corporate Health Promotion Programs are crucial to improving the health of our nations. Most adults spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else, making it a excellent venue for promoting healthful habits. The worksite organizational culture and environment are powerful influences on behavior and this needs to be put to use as a means of assisting employees to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Benefits to Corporate Health Promotion Programs include:
• Weight reduction
• Improved physical fitness
• Increased stamina
• Lower levels of stress
• Increased well-being, self-image and self-esteem

Employers can also benefit from Corporate Health Promotion Programs. According to recent research, employers’ benefits are:

• Enhanced recruitment and retention of healthy employees
• Reduced healthcare costs
• Decreased rates of illness and injuries
• Reduced worker absenteeism
• Improved worker relations and morale
• Increased productivity

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report revealed that at worksites with physical activity programs as components of their Corporate Health Promotion Programs have:

• Reduced healthcare costs by 20 to 55%
• Reduced short-term sick leave by six to 32%
• Increased productivity by two to 52%

Thanks to modern medicine, life expectancy for Americans has continually increased. How much we enjoy these additional years, however, depends greatly on how we have lived our lives. If our quality of life is to remain high so that we can fully enjoy these extra years, we must practice good eating habits, be active and refrain from using tobacco products.

Benefits of Corporate Health Promotion Programs: Easy to Find

Employer’s are learning that Corporate Health Promotion Programs is an effective way to increase productivity, improve worker health, lower healthcare costs and reduce absenteeism.

A report published in 2003 by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) highlighted how important it is for employers to incorporate Corporate Health Promotion Programs as part of their corporate strategy. The report asserts that chronic diseases which are largely preventable place a heavy toll on corporation, including lower productivity and higher health 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 United States could be prevented through lifestyle changes in diet, physical fitness, cancer testing and “especially” tobacco use. A well-designed Corporate Health Promotion Programs initiative serves the best interests of employees and employers alike.

Benefits of Wellness Progams: Return On Investment

Ron Goetzel, a nationally recognized expert in the field 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 Corporate Health Promotion Programs, an employer can expect an average return on investment of approximately $3 for every $1
invested ($300 to $450 savings per worker per year).  Goetzel says, however, that these returns are not typically found until two to three years into the Corporate Health Promotion 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 people after they get sick, rather than a ‘health care’ system which focuses on keeping healthy people 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 businesses that offer comprehensive programs to promote worker health and grants for small corporation.

Benefits of Wellness Progams: Getting Started

Implementing a Corporate Health Promotion Programs can be accomplished with simple, low-cost strategies.

• Offer incentives for participation.
• Establish a wellness informational campaign.
• Schedule wellness seminars on diabetes, nutrition, physical fitness and cholesterol.
• Establish programs such as fitness, sleep diary, smoking 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 Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

A successful Corporate Health Promotion Program can boost corporation morale, enhance productivity, reduce organizational conflict, attract superior workers and lower the rate of worker turnover. The case for starting a Corporate Health Promotion Program is well worth the effort.

Introduction to Corporate Health Promotion Programs

Risky health behaviors by workers cost a company. Changing those behaviors can save the employer money and raise the worker’s productivity.

Because work gives an worker a stable environment and support system, Corporate Health Promotion Programs can have a great impact on lowering high-risk behaviors. This impact results in lower health claims cost, less absenteeism, and less short-term disability.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs can include:

Awareness Rasing Programs: Health and wellness newsletters, health topics covered in payroll stuffers, healthy emails.

Health Risk Assessment: Employee health screenings, wellness fairs, health rist assessments.

Educational Programs: Lunch & Learn wellness seminars, guest speakers at staff meetings.

Skill Building: Healthy cooking demostrations, activity challenges, CPR instruction opportunites, stress management classes, weight management classes.

Interventions: Massage, smoking cessation, and skills to help you get the most out of your doctor visit.

Physical environment: Healthy items in the vending machines and cafeterias, clean air practices, ergonomics, bike racks, flex time, welllit stairways.

Assessment: Worker needs assessment, baseline Corporate Health Promotion Program evaluation measures, ongoing Corporate Health Promotion Program evaluation of overall effectiveness.

Why Make available Corporate Health Promotion Programs

The typical employer spends about $8,000 a year on an employee’s healthcare. This includes health insurance, disability and worker’s compensation. As these costs climb, health insurance is expected to rise at least 10 percent per year.

A 1999 study showed that companies using Corporate Health Promotion Programs had a return on investment (ROI) from $1.49 – $13 in benefits per dollar spent. The amount depended on the nature of the Corporate Health Promotion Programs used. (S. Aldana, American Journal of Wellness, 2001; 15:296-320)

One study showed that a “stop smoking” component to Corporate Health Promotion Programs can save between $404 -$40,829 per employee, depending on the age and sex of the worker.

The Corporate Health Promotion Programs at Traveler’s Company included a self-care book, a newsletter, single-topic brochures, and videotapes. The Corporate Health Promotion Programs saved the company $7.8 million in employee benefi t costs, decreased doctor visits, and it reduced absenteeism by 1.2 days per worker per year. The estimated Corporate Health Promotion Programs ROI was $3.40 per dollar spent.

In 1998, the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) reported a study of 46,026 workers from six large corporations for three years. Workers with an inactive lifestyle had 10 percent higher costs; workers with depression had 70 percent higher costs.

Benefits of Corporate Health Promotion Programs

Increased Productivity – The Canada Life Assurance Company realized a 4 percent increase in productivity after establishing an employee fitness program.

Increased Job Satisfaction – According to employee opinion surveys conducted by the Silverstone Group about thier Corporate Health Promotion Programs, workers’ morale increased, which helped support a more creative work environment.

Improved Recruitment & Retention – In the midst of a tight labor market, Corporate Health Promotion Programs could be a important tool to draw new recruits.

Decreased Absenteeism - Canada Life Assurance Company’s absenteeism dropped 42 percent among workers in the Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

Decreased Workers Comp & Disability - In one year, Boeing Company’s number of back injuries decreased by 34 percent. Six million dollars was saved by tracking injuries as they occurred.

Managed Medical Care Costs - Golden, Colorado Adolf Coors Company’s Corporate Health Promotion Programs returned $6.19 for every dollar spent.