employee health and wellness

The University of Michigan published a unique study that reported a substantial return when a company invests in corporate wellness.  What set this study apart from the rest was that it considered all costs involved with implementing a long-term employee wellness program, such as menu changes, employee recruiting, and marketing.

For the nine year study, researchers at the U of M followed a midwestern utility company and discovered a net savings of close to $5 million after offering a corporate wellness program that not only aimed to take care of sick employees, but also kept the rest of the employees and their families healthy and on the job.

According to Alyssa Shultz, research area specialist intermediate, the midwestern company spent $7.3 million on their wellness program over the nine years.  After determining various medical and pharmaceutical costs and employee time off, Shultz reported a savings of $12.1 million.

“One of the advantages of the study is it shows that a sustainable program will give you savings,” stated Dee Edington, a research scientist in the University of Michigan school of Public Health.

Sunday, March 21, was a significant day in history.   The House of Representatives passed President Obama’s massive healthcare overhaul legislation.  There’s a lot of conflict and controversy surrounding this bill, but one thing is certain: health and wellness are officially no longer a “lifestyle”.  That vote says that in the United States of America, fit healthy bodies with healthy partners and families are going to be the only acceptable lifestyle.  Investing in your employees’ fitness and wellness will be critical.  The political fight is long from over, but the aroma in the air is hard to miss.  It’s a spirit of wellness.

According to the Director of the C.D.C, Thomas Frieden: “Obesity, and with it diabetes, are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country, and they’re getting worse rapidly.”  This statement is backed up by numbers published in a study in the journal Health Affairs.