How employee health habits cost you money

If you are an employer then you have probably been thinking about ways to reduce your health care costs.You may be trying to figure out why each year the cost of health insurance premiums and health care costs in general continue to rise so dramatically. The first place to look for answers is by taking a good look at your workplace. The reason for this is that it has been found through numerous studies that more and more employees are leading unhealthy lifestyles and it is because of these choices in lifestyle that our health care costs are constantly going up each year. But the good news is that despite your employee's bad health habits there is something that you can do to help lower these costs in the long run with your best bet being to implement a wellness program at your workplace. This will not only help you save money on health insurance premiums but it will also help improve your employees' lives because they will be made aware of how unhealthy their choices actually are.

Here are some of the increased costs that employers are going to face by their employees' health habits, whether it is smoking, weight, poor diet, lack of exercise or anything else that is considered unhealthy.

• Health insurance costs and claims-While this area may see the most dramatic increases it is important to keep in mind that this is not the only area affected by the poor health habits of your employees.


• Life insurance costs and claims-Unhealthy employees die sooner affecting your life insurance costs.


• Lost productivity-Unhealthy employees have been shown to have much lower productivity while at work.


• Absenteeism-Those employees with poor health will naturally miss more work causing a rise in absenteeism and lowering of productivity by not being at work.


• Maintenance costs-Smokers, obese and chronically ill employees will cause more wear and tear on buildings, equipment and other supplies leading to increased maintenance costs.


• Recruitment and retraining costs resulting from loss of employees, whether it is because of death or disability due to their health habit.This is one of the highest expenses for employers.Healthier employees tend to stay on the job longer and report feelings of increased job satisfaction which in turn lowers this cost for the employer.


• Worker's compensation payments and occupational health awards-Studies have shown that unhealthy employees have more accidents whether from complications from their health or a lack of experience due to a higher absentee rate.This in turn causes the employer's worker's compensation payments to be much higher. In addition more accidents can cause an increase in the associated insurance premiums.


• Disability retirements-Unhealthy employees are much more likely to require a disability retirement which in turn requires the employer to make disability payments for a much longer period of time.


• Litigation costs-Studies show that unhealthy employees are much more likely to sue if there is a problem in the workplace.


• Property damage plus the cost of having the related insurance-This can include everything from wear and tear on facilities to smoke pollution which then means more costs in cleaning and maintenance.These costs can easily escalate if the amount of unhealthy employees is high among any particular workforce.


• Illness among nonsmokers who are exposed to second hand smoke-Studies have now proven the validity of being afraid of secondhand smoke.Several illnesses have been conclusively linked to being exposed to second hand smoke even if you have never smoked.The costs of these illness is then passed on to the employer in a variety of ways.