Employee health, is it costing you money?

Whether a business is big or small they have employees. Employees are essential for a company to make money, but they can also be a source of concern when a business' employees are costing them money.When an employee uses their sick leave the company may most likely have to hire a temporary worker to take their place (this person may have to be trained), pay other employees overtime, or take the hit in their productivity for as long as the sick person is not coming into work. This costs a business money.

There are other ways that employee health can cost a business money; through health insurance, obese employees, and employees with an unhealthy lifestyle. This can be frustrating to employers. But when employers learn more about what may be costing their company extra money they can work on fixing the problem.

Health Insurance

Offering health insurance to employees costs a lot of money each year. Many employers probably wonder if it is actually worth it to offer this option to their employees. It is very likely that it is the right choice for the business. Though offering health insurance does cost a lot of money, it can be a tax deduction for the company. This can help reduce the amount of taxes that a business actually owes.

There are other ways that offering health insurance can help save a company money. Employees and their families need health insurance. If they are receiving health insurance through a specific company, it is likely that the employee will stay with the company that is providing their health insurance (especially if they have a family). This can help reduce the cost of training new employees because a company won't have to. Not to mention that the longer an employee stays at their job the better they usually become at their job. This should mean more productivity for the company.

Obesity and smoking

Having obese employees can actually cost a business more money. This may seem unfair, but it is true. Obese employees tend to be absent from work more often and file up to twice as many workers' compensation claims compared to people who are not overweight. An obese employee can cost a company more in productivity and health care costs each year than other employees because many times they are participating in other unhealthy practices such as smoking.

Employees who smoke also cost more money to the company. A business has to pay more money for a smoker's health insurance than a nonsmoker's health insurance. People who smoke also tend to have lower productivity and they are absent more often than employees who don't smoke. This all costs employers a lot of money each year, especially if they have more than one employee who is obese and/or smokes.

Healthy Lifestyle

When employees are sick, obese, they smoke, or are participating in any other unhealthy lifestyle practices it can cost a company a lot of money. Many times businesses have found that if they encourage their employees to live a healthier lifestyle the overall costs from unhealthy employees will decrease.

A company can offer a wellness program to their employees. Wellness programs can teach employees what foods are good for them to eat to help them be healthy and how to exercise. They can offer tips for how to be healthy in everyday life like take the elevator, walk during a lunch break, or bring healthy snacks to work. Employers can participate by proposing incentives for employees that lose weight, pass a health assessment, or quit smoking.

When an employer participates in helping their employees have a healthier lifestyle they will see a decrease in the number of days their employees call in sick, and increase in productivity, and a decrease in overall healthcare costs.