Why employee health should be a primary concern

Companies have many tasks to be concerned about in order to stay in business.They must worry about cash flow, attracting customers, competing companies, bills, making sure they have a competitive staff, and many more.However, companies are realizing that they must now add employee health to the list of concerns.

One of the main reasons that companies should begin to make employee health a primary concern is that unhealthy employees are costing them money.These costs come in a variety of areas.

Obesity

Some costs are directly related to employees that are obese.Obese employees are more susceptible to diseases like arthritis and diabetes.These diseases can make certain tasks around the office more difficult or impossible.Suddenly, a company must pay two people to do what one competent healthy employee could do alone.Also, some especially obese workers may have a hard time performing certain tasks simply because of their size.This inability to perform costs the company money.

Smokers

Other costs are directly related to employees that smoke.Smokers cause employers to pay higher health insurance rates for their employees' health insurance.If they allow their employees to smoke in the building, they are paying a higher cost for building maintenance.Also, smoking causes employees to be more vulnerable to sickness which costs the company money in productivity.It also can make otherwise healthy employees more vulnerable.

Stress

Employees suffering from too much stress are also costing the company money.Employees who have not taken steps to control stress are more likely to make poor decisions.These poor decisions may come in a variety of areas.Maybe they will not think through a certain business strategy and lose the company money.Maybe they will buckle under stress and act unprofessionally toward a coworker, or worse, a client.Or, maybe the employee simply makes bad decisions when prioritizing his or her day, thus becoming less productive to the company.No matter what the effect, stressed out employees are costing companies money.

Avoiding the Doctor

Some employees find themselves too busy to make it to the doctor for routine checkups.This can be the cause for a loss in productivity.While some employees and supervisors may see not going to the doctor ever as an indication of good health, many employees must later deal with more serious illnesses because they avoided their routine visits.For example, many cancers can be treated and cured if they are caught early.But if an employee puts off going to the doctor to save an hour, they may find themselves having to take a leave of absence to fight a more mature cancer.The company could have lost one hour of work from the employee, but now they will lose weeks, months, or even years of work.

Companies may find it difficult to worry about their employees' health, especially with all of the seemingly more pressing concerns that are associated with running a company.But, companies that have unhealthy employees are paying for it in the long run.Companies that wish to save money and maintain productivity must find a way to help smoking, obese, stress-out, and under-concerned employees become healthier.Unless they make employee health a primary concern, they will find that they are losing in more ways than one.