Workplace Obesity: The Facts

Workplace obesity has become one of the fastest growing health care problems in America. It is well known that America is considered one of the, if not “the”, heaviest countries in the world. This is largely in part due to fast food, un-healthy snacks and a very sedentary lifestyle. However, what many people are not aware of is that the rate of obesity in our country has doubled in the last 30 years and this weighs heavily on a company’s bottom line.

According to a new report from The Conference Board, Weights and Measures: What Employers Should Know about Obesity, obese employees cost private employers an estimated $45 billion annually. Here are some of the report’s findings:

• Obesity is associated with a 36% increase in spending on healthcare, more than smoking or problem drinking.
• 34% of adult Americans fit the definition of “obese”
• Obesity related health problems are costing American companies billions of dollars annually in medical expenditures and work loss.

Workplace Obesity: How Employers Can Help

With the increase in obesity and employer costs associated with it, it is more and more imperative to establish a way to assist employees with their healthy living choices. Wellness Programs can help employers help their employees. By providing assistance with health screening, health risk assessments and by conducting employee wellness surveys; wellness programs allow the employer non-invasive ways to communicate their concerns about their employee’s health.

EmployeeWellness.com suggests establishing a Walking Wellness program to assist your employees in meeting their weight-loss goals. Walking Wellness is a program designed to get your employees away from their desk and get them outside for a little exercise. Keep it fun by having contests, setting up weight-loss teams and having organized healthy picnics.

If you have any questions about how to get your employees moving, and therefore saving them and your company money, please feel free to contact one of our wellness experts.

Is It Necessary to Incentivize Corporations to Initiate Wellness Programs?

Corporate incentives may seem like an effective way to get employees excited about employee wellness - but is it wise?

Our opinion at Employee Wellness USA is that if it helps and encourages employers to understand the importance of maintaining a healthy workforce, not only for the welfare of its employees, but as well as the welfare of the corporate bottom line … then, yes, it could be necessary.

Tax Breaks as an Incentive for Corporations to Offer Wellness Programs

In 2007, two senators decided to band together to create the “Healthy Workforce Act.” This act is designed to encourage businesses to keep employees healthy and prevent disease. The senators believed that having a country focused on “well care” versus “sick care” would decrease the overall costs of healthcare for everyone. They decided to start with the America’s workforce.

The legislation, introduced by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, states that companies would receive a corporate incentive - a fifty percent tax credit - if they offer to their employees a wellness program that meets the following criteria:

1) A health awareness and education component, which could include health risk assessments and health screenings.

2) A behavioral change component – such as counseling, seminars, or self-help materials to empower employees to lead healthier lifestyles.

3) A supportive environment component – including offering meaningful incentives to participating employees, such as a reduction in health premiums or allowing employees to engage in walking wellness during the workday.

4) The creation of an employee engagement committee – which would tailor the wellness program to the needs of the workforce at a particular company.

If this legislation gets passed, many organizations will be scrambling to offer employee wellness programs in hopes of receiving the corporate incentive. Why not get ahead of your competition and start now? Contact our workplace wellness experts to get your corporation on the road to becoming healthy. We offer free consultations and are happy to answer any questions you have regarding our wellness services. At EmployeeWellnessUSA, we believe that encouraging your employees to be physically active, eat better and learn how to prevent disease benefits everyone.

Workplace Wellness: An Attainable Goal

Was workplace wellness on your company’s new year’s resolutions list? Here we are a little over midway into the third month of 2008, the time when resolutions start to falter if they haven’t lost momentum completely. Has your workplace’s wellness resolution fallen by the wayside? If so, there are still ways to get back on track.

One workplace wellness tip comes to us from the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, reported from the Jersey Shore. Rod Shirk, the YMCA’s chief financial officer, participated in the organization’s first executive wellness program, which registered his cholesterol as higher than normal. That prompted him to get a physical, which showed high levels of a prostate-specific antigen that often indicates prostate cancer. The outcome? His doctors caught a life-threatening illness just in time.

All thanks to a single health management program.

So of course, Shirk is a huge proponent of workplace wellness programs. He says, “For us here at the YMCA, if we are telling people to be healthy, we had better set a good example for our staff.”

Workplace Wellness Decreases Health Care Costs

Though cases like Shirk’s dramatic cancer save are the most desirable effect of workplace wellness programs, it isn’t the initial draw for workplaces. They do it to lower health care costs, and there’s no doubt that workplace wellness programs do just that. Corporate wellness statistics show that programs return anywhere from $2.30 to $10.10 per dollar spent on wellness. “Health care costs should go down as people think about changing their diets and getting more active,” Shirk says.

The workplace wellness savings aren’t just in the health insurance department. Human resource departments report that wellness programs also reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

Still, companies have been loath to invest that elusive workplace wellness dollar despite the well-documented returns. A Principal Financial Group and Harris Interactive survey found that only 10% of small- to medium-size employers have made on-site health screenings - like the one that saved Shirk’s life - available to their employees.

Don’t Let the Other Guys Hog the Workplace Wellness Glory

Fears of ballooning costs and complexity keep companies like yours out of the workplace wellness game, but we at EmployeeWellnessUSA hope that you won’t leave your competitors to reap all the benefits of improved employee wellness. Feel free to browse our information on health management resources or simply contact our workplace wellness experts for a free consultation. We don’t believe better corporate wellness should hurt. Let us show you how we can help make it painless. Your employees will thank you.