Health And Wellness In The WorkplaceHealth And Wellness In The Workplace

High rates of employee turnover and the costs of sick days are increasingly taking bites into organization profits. The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in total cost the average organization. Many organizations are finding the solution to these challenges by improving job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that give a reduction in these costs.

It has become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness program / fitness program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need. Senior Leadership’s goals/objectives for a beneficial wellness program must be viewed through the perspective of increased employee productivity, diminished absenteeism due to health related causes, improved employee morale, diminished utilisation of employer subsidised health benefits, enhanced group cohesion and success and a decline in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction. It is obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a positive influence on the monetary status of any organisation.

The benefits from an workers point of view can be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, lowered body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle work 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 beneficial a wellness program needs to achieve both management’s and employee’s goals and objectives, and this can be accomplished through a program that will provide the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and wellbeing, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the significant changes to their physical condition that can be applied in the context of their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Workplace Health Promotion Programs

Lowered Rates of Absenteeism – Dupont reduced absenteeism by 47.5% over six years for the participants of their company fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Reduced Health Care Costs – Steel case showed a reduction in healthcare claim expenditures of 55% for corporate exercise program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an average of $478.61 for participants vs. non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Health Promotion, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Lowered Turnover – Turnover among physical activity program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Company was 32.4 percent lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana found that its employer physical activity program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Health Promotion, March, April, 1991).