April 2010

21 Apr 2010

Numbers Don't Lie

Smart business people make decisions for their companies that are based on numbers and facts, not fads.  A Duke University Health and Safety Surveillance study available in The Archives of Internal Medicine (2007;167:766-773) draws a line directly from a worker’s body mass index to the number of worker’s compensation claims they would file and how many days of work they would miss.  The higher the BMI (weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) the more lost workdays.  Workers that maintained a recommended BMI averaged about 14 lost workdays a year per 100 FTEs; workers classified as obese averaged 184 lost workdays per 100 FTEs for the same period.

As of this writing, most Americans receive health insurance from their workplace, which makes this information significant to you, the employer.  Your obese workers cost you over 21% more in health care costs than your normal weight workers.  Additionally, keep in mind that this study did not include issues such as absenteeism or presenteeism, although both certainly influence your bottom line.

A healthy body mass index is not a lifestyle choice any longer.  Your obese employees cost your company money.  That’s a fact.  Now, what are you going to do about it?  You’ve made the moves to make your workplace safer and greener, now implement the wellness programs you need to make your company leaner.

 

01 Apr 2010

Health and Wellness By Design

Organizational culture can occur through default or design. When creating a culture of health and wellness in your company, striving for the best in design is the ultimate goal. David Hunnicut, President of The Wellness Councils of America, interviewed dozens of wellness experts and speakers at the 2010 American Journal of Health Promotion Conference and discovered that the path to perfection has four guidelines:

1. Establish a broad base of senior leadership support

2. Engineer a health promoting environment with obvious options to be active, eat well and minimize stress

3. Strive to change the influential policies

4. Tap into every communication channel at your disposal

An appropriate culture of health can make a world of difference in the performance of your human resources. Are you designing what you and your leaders want, or are you accepting just what you can get?