Employee Health and Fitness

The cost of smoking

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:05:00 -0600

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) published a study done on smoking. It found that 85 percent of employers would like to implement a smoking cessation program to improve their healthcare costs. Smokers have been hearing about the bad part of smoking for years, yet many of them continue to purchase the "cancer stick". This is because smoking is an addiction and a lifestyle choice. Some people smoke because they need to smoke to be socially accepted. Others smoke because they have been doing it for so long that they wouldn't know what to do if they weren't smoking.

The cost of a wellness program and the benefits of implementing one

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:05:00 -0600

More than 80 percent of employers have some type of wellness program at their facility. The goal of a wellness program is to help employees lose weight, quit smoking, or improve their health in some way. Employers are losing billions of dollars a year in
lost wages, health care costs, and production costs.

The concerns of airborne illnesses

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -0600

Airborne illness are all around us. You can get sick from being in your home all day long, even if you think it's clean! One area that is of deep concern is our offices. Airborne illnesses are ramped in public places, like offices. People come into work all the time carrying germs and infections diseases. If someone is sick and they live in the same home with them, they can easily spread this airborne illness to everyone in the office. How can you cut down on the number of airborne illnesses in the office? Here are some tips that may help:

Smoking cessation incentives

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -0600

The consequences for lighting up a cigarette far outreach just the physical outcomes. In the business world smoking is becoming a focal point when it comes to the finances of the company too. Approximately 21 percent of the United States population smokes or uses tobacco. Further, the prevalence of smoking in recent years has held steady throughout the nation and although almost 70 percent will tell you they want to quit, smokers pay more for health insurance and by some accounts, cost the economy over $97 billion a year in lost productivity. Smokers not only impact their health, they impact the health of everyone around them. People that live with smokers are exposed to harmful second-hand smoke and this causes 1 in 5 deaths in the United States. Sadly, smokers are killing their loved ones and they don't even realize it.

Secrets to make your wellness program successful

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:55:00 -0600

A successful wellness program is made by your employees. You can do everything in your power to implement it, but it is up to your employees to actually spend the time participating in the program and make it a success. Employees can accomplish big things if they participate in a wellness program. Some companies have reported that their employees have lost over 50 pounds per person! This is a huge achievement for anyone, especially for an entire company.

Reducing smoking in the office

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:55:00 -0600

Smoking is costing employers millions of dollars a year, and it's not just for the employees that smoke. Their non-smoking co-workers often have to suffer because of their lifestyle choices. One of the biggest problems for a healthy co-worker is second-hand smoke. What is second-hand smoke? Second-hand smoke is a mixture of two different types of smoke: side stream smoke and mainstream smoke. The side stream smoke is the smoke that comes directly from the cigarette and the mainstream smoke is the smoke that is exhaled by the smoker.

Reducing sickness in the office

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:55:00 -0600

Each year, employers lose about 22 million days of work due to sick leave. Most people use their sick leave for doctors visits, family emergencies, and illnesses. While sick leave is a great benefit to offer your employees, you also have to deal with the lost production costs that come as a result of sick leave. If you have to hire another person to come in and work to cover the shift of the sick employee, you are looking at an even higher cost. Of course the best thing for everyone is to reduce sickness in the office so you don't need to worry about losing employees to sick leave. Here are some tips on how you can reduce sickness in your office:

Reasons why you should help employees to quit smoking

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:50:00 -0600

As an employer, it is a given that you want good things for your employees. But sometimes you need to see how your bottom line can be improved by helping out your employees. There are plenty of reasons why, even as a business person, you should help your employees to quit smoking. By getting your employees to quit smoking you can actually save your business money! According to a recent study, each adult employee that you have who smokes is costing you $1,760 in lost production and $1,623 in extra medical expenses. Now, what you may have thought was a personal issue, had turned into a matter that has some real financial consequences. By helping your employees to quit smoking you will see a return on your investment far greater than these medical expenses. An employee who is able to kick their habit is more likely to show increases productivity and loyalty to your business. Everyone wins!

Promoting fitness using non-food related incentives

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:50:00 -0600

Every year almost 22 million days of lost work are accumulated in the United States. Employees coming to work sick have an effect on everyone and hours of productivity can be lost when illness spreads around the workplace. To combat the sting of losing so much money to healthcare costs and lost productivity, employers are implementing wellness programs based on incentives to get their employees to get healthy.

Penalizing employees that smoke

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:45:00 -0600

There has been an increase in the number of employers that are cracking down on employees that smoke. This is due to the overwhelming healthcare costs and lost production costs caused from employees that smoke. When you have employees that smoke, they are instantly at risk for a number of different healthcare problems like lung cancer. If you are considering penalizing your employees that smoke, be prepared for some backlash that will come with your decision.

Most underestimate cost of poor employee health

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:40:00 -0600

As a business owner you may realize that poor employee health is not doing anything to improve your bottom line, but most business owners underestimate just how costly poor employee health can be. According to a major study published this week in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM), "poor health among workers is far costlier to U.S. employers than they realize, impacting their profitability and undercutting the nation's overall productivity." This study took place over the course of several years and included more than 150,000 workers as the reference sample. The big eye opener for employers, who were shown the results, was that the costs of employee health were not in medical and pharmacy costs but in health related factors that impacted the productivity of their employees. In fact, health related productivity costs were recorded on an average ratio of 1 to 2.3. Or in other words, for every $1 of medical and pharmacy costs is matched to $2.3 of health-related productivity costs.

Lowering health insurance premiums with employee wellness programs

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:40:00 -0600

Employees are one of the most important aspects of any business regardless of the size. Many companies believe and live by the rule that their most important assets and customers are actually their employees. This philosophy can really go a long way when it comes to building employee trust and confidence in a business but can also just improve the business overall. When you invest in your employees' health, you are going to get more commitment and performance from them in general.

Losing weight at work

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:35:00 -0600

Healthcare costs are on the rise and most of it can be directly related to obesity. People that are overweight are costing their employers millions of lost production dollars. A person that is overweight is twice as likely to take more time off work and they visit the doctor more frequently than their healthy co-workers. To combat the obesity problem in America, several employers have started to implement programs to help their employees start losing weight and get in shape.

Losing money to sick leave

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:30:00 -0600

Businesses are losing lots of money on sick leave and many of them don't realize it. Paid sick leave is a great incentive to offer your employees and studies have found that it increases job satisfaction. Employees like having sick leave because they can get a day off work to care for their loved ones that have fallen ill or they can care for themselves if they have fallen ill. While sick leave is a great benefit, there are several people that abuse it. Several employees will treat sick leave like paid time off and they will use it as they please. To combat this, you can start asking your employees to provide documentation of their illness like a doctor's note. This may sound like you are a teacher, but sometimes you have to be a micro-manager if you want to cut down on sick leave abuse.

Keeping employee weight at a healthy place

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:30:00 -0600

There are few individuals who will tell you that they are perfectly happy with their weight and see no room for improvement. Nevertheless, most individuals who are unhappy with their weight do little or nothing about it. There are many excuses for not keeping your weight at a healthy place. For most people the excuse is that there is just not enough time in the day. Leaders in the work place and business owners have a great opportunity to provide their employees not only with opportunities to live a healthier and more weight conscious lifestyle while at work, but also after it is time to clock out.