Wellness Services

Benefits of Nutrition Programs

Nutrition directly impacts nearly every aspect of physical and mental health. A healthy diet can help protect against such conditions as heart illness, diabetes, arthritis, stroke, certain cancers and depression. Obesity, which is one of the most common conditions linked to diet, affects a record number of American Citizens.

The American Journal of Health Promotion estimates the cost of obesity to USA organization to exceed $12.5 billion in health care, sick leave, and life and disability insurance.

Furthermore, one study reports that obesity raises healthcare costs by 36 percent and medication costs by 77 percent.  To offset the health risks of obesity and poor diet, many organizations have committed to helping staff ensure proper nutrition and undertake weight control programs.

Popular nutrition programs –  

o  Give workforce with educational materials or courses on proper nutrition provided by a registered dietitian.

o  Offer onsite Weight Watchers meetings or other weight management programs.

o  Provide nutritious and health conscience meal choices in the cafeteria and vending machines.

o  Clearly post nutrition information for all cafeteria and vending machine items.

o  Make available low cost, healthful, take-home dinner options for personnel and their families.

o  Draw attention to healthful consuming habits by providing token incentives, such as pencils or ID holders, for achieving five fruits or vegetable servings a day for a week.

Nutrition programs in action

While many companies address weight control through fitness initiatives, companies are increasingly focusing on nutrition through separate programming. Recognizing the productivity boost and lowered medical expenditures that come with maintaining a healthy weight, many companies may help pay for obesity treatments for staff.

For  instance, to increase the health of dangerously obese employees, drug maker Wyeth reportedly pays for stomach-shrinking surgeries that carry price tags of up to $40,000.

A 2003 Society of Human Resource Management study shows that 24% of corporations offer losing weight programs. In Ohio, Honda offers an onsite, registered dietitian who provides individual or group consultations on weight control. Body fat analysis and BMI  measurements are available to employees at any time.

At Grange Insurance’s Columbus headquarters, the cafeteria chef analyzes meals and provides personnel basic nutrition information, including Weight Watchers points.

Many corporations partner with the American Cancer Society to offer nutrition information through the “5-ADay” program, which provides businesss free signage and educational materials about the importance of consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

The program also offers a fruit and vegetable “frequency card” that gives workers a free portion of fruit or vegetables after he or she’s purchased a preset number.

Benefits of Fitness Plans

Exercise decreases weight, decreases risks of heart attack and stroke, assists to control blood pressure (BP) and diabetes, and improves mood. Studies increasingly show that exercise might also help reduce the occurrence of certain types of cancer.

Scientists at the Centers for Illness Control and Prevention (CDC) lately documented another major advantage –  exercise improves the health of the nation’s medical care expenditures.3 According to the CDC, physically active person incur $865 less annually in healthcare costs than inactive people .

Dr. Michael Moore, vice president and chief medical director at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, maintains that exercise is the most effective tool in health maintenance. “When you could prescribe exercise in a pill, it’d be the number-one prescribed treatment in the world,” he said.

In step with Dr. Moore’s prescription, almost one-third of U.S. businesses help staff members pay for gym memberships, as reported by an Associated Press report. Subsidizing gym memberships is just one way businesses encourage active life choices.

Well-liked fitness-forward initiatives –  

o  Start a corporation softball or volleyball league.

o  Compile and distribute information about opportunities to join athletic groups in your community.

o  Provide partial or complete reimbursement for workout facility memberships.

o  Hold aerobics, karate, yoga or other kinds of fitness courses on-site.

o  Give extended lunch hours for staff members who commit to lunchtime fitness plans.

o  Introduce an on-site workout facility that is free, or available at a nominal cost, to staff members and their families.

o  Conduct on-site health fairs that include fitness demonstrations and promote fitness activities and resources.

Health Promotion program means different things to different organizations. Effective health promotion programs could be as simple as bringing bushel baskets of fresh fruit into break rooms to encourage better consuming. They could be as extensive as building fitness facilities on-site or paying for obesity treatments.

A driving factor behind the push toward wellness spans companies of all types, sizes and cultures –  that is, health care costs are spilling over the corporate belt buckle.

The annual cost of medical services in the United States is rising at seven times the rate of inflation.  And the rise in health costs is one boom pundits expect our economy to sustain.1

This trend makes it increasingly challenging for corporations to maintain current levels of insurance coverage. In 2003, healthcare inflation forced 65 percent of businesses to elevate employees’ share of health care costs.

Seventy-nine percent of big firms said they’ll increase workers’ share of healthcare costs in 2004.2 But with lost benefits and increased financial burdens come lost morale and productivity.

Corporations are searching for another way. While companies cannot control many of the supply-side elements contributing to rising health care costs

When it comes to working wellness into your workforce, you want someone who knows the ins and outs of wellness, and who can counsel personnel and provide main care – all within the context of the current regulatory and legal environment.

AAOHN’s survey announced that more than half of employees (61 percent) want to receive wellness information from a health care professional, such as a consultant or an on-site occupational health nurse (OHN), compared to pamphlets or pamphlets (18 percent) or HR staff (15 percent).

OHNs can develop, implement and evaluate components of work site wellness programs such as screening programs, exercise/fitness courses, stress management, use of tobacco cessation, nutrition and weight control programs, in addition to chronic illness management programs.

Plus, OHNs can help workforce navigate through complicated healthcare programs and may even serve as a triage point between workforce and their personal healthcare providers.

Workers might refrain from seeing their health care provider when it means time away from work, inconvenient parking, waiting time in the office and co-pays.

In situations where staff members are under treatment for chronic conditions like heart disease, onsite nurses can routinely monitor risk factors such as blood pressure or cholesterol on a regular basis.

It is often easier for an worker to ask an onsite nurse for information about symptoms or prescription medication than it’s to schedule a follow-up visit to an individual health care provider.

Benefits realized by companys include enhanced employee morale and retention, a recruitment advantage, increased productivity and lowered time away from work.

In companies with a safety department, the OHN can evaluate and address work-related health issues, including participation in workstation examinations to correct potential ergonomic problems, and proactively addressing muscle strains by developing stretching programs and involving workers in leading stretches.

Health Promotion Programs are excellent for waistlines and your bottom line

In today’s hectic world, most of us are spending more time at work, and have increasingly less time to look after our health. for a long time, corporations have understood the benefits associated with keeping staff members well – increased productivity from reduced absenteeism and reduced disability claims.

For these reasons, coupled with the fact that many businesses realized double-digit health care costs last year, businesses ought to consider Health Promotion Programs as a way to keep staff healthful.

But just how important are these wellness programs to employees? Precisely how often are they willing to participate in wellness programs designed to positively impact their wellness? Who do workforce trust to provide them with important information about their health?

Answers to these questions and more were lately garnered from a study  commissioned by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Inc. (AAOHN).

The AAOHN survey questioned 500 workforce nationwide about their perceptions of Wellness Programs. More than three-quarters of all participants indicated these wellness programs are a good way to improve their overall health, and almost 60% consider these offerings an incentive to remain with their current corporation.

Worker retention and turnover impact the bottom line, so building health promotion programs into the work site culture is a valuable way to help retain talented workers further to enhancing personal health and worksite productivity.

Health Promotion wish list

Staff Members appear to have their own agenda when it comes to their health. With new pressures resulting from an unstable economy, national security threats and work/balance issues, it is not surprising that 85% of survey respondents cited stress management as a priority topic for work site wellness.

In addition to stress, other preferred topic areas include health screening programs (84 percent), exercise/physical fitness programs (84 percent), health insurance education (81 percent) and disease management (DM) seminars (80 percent).

In addition to lifestyle and personal health issues, those asked expressed concern about work-related health issues, including strains and injuries resulting from lifting or task-oriented muscle repetition, exposure to harmful substances, personal injury, vision changes because of computer work and workplace violence.

Beginning a Wellness Program

With such a wide range of health concerns, a key goal for companys is locating a way to proactively address the health needs of the largest number of workforce, and effectively change unhealthy behaviors, promote wellness and ward off illness and illness.

Printed materials such as flyers, posters, fliers or flyers present an easy solution. But it’s important to remember that different people  require different formats for learning.

A good rule of thumb –  provide information in a variety of learning formats like videos, pamphlets, health-related quizzes, display boards, lunch and learn presentations and reimbursement or incentive programs.

This assumes you have overcome the first hurdle – getting individuals  to sign on to a health promotion program. While survey respondents indicated health promotion programs are important, just six out of 10 (60 percent) announced that they participated in the health promotion programs at their companies.  The other 40 percent cited lack of interest and lack of time as deterrents.

This points to the need for a extensive, structured health promotion program using a creative approach, with an incentive for participation and effective health promotion program advertising.

By investing in an organized health promotion program headed by a licensed healthcare professional like an on-site nurse, corporations can give workforce the access to the medical information they want, and increase participation and generate interest at the same time.

The result – staff members become savvier health care consumers who feel more in charge of their personal health.  And healthier staff members make for a healthier bottom line.

Wellness programs are designed to help enhance the overall health and awareness of health related issues of workers in the worksite.

Despite the fact that these health promotion programs are set up to help person set, work toward and maintain healthful lifestyle options, they sometimes fail.

There are five primary reasons health promotion programs are unsuccessful.  The first reason is because of lack of employee interest. It is very important when presenting a new health promotion program to personnel that every effort is made to communicate the all encompassing benefits of the health promotion program to the organization and to the individual.

Next, health promotion programs can fail because of lack of staff resources. When a health promotion program is introduced but there are few resources to offer with the health promotion program, it’ll be difficult for an employee to want to take advantage of it.

As part of the previous reason for failure of a wellness program, inadequate funding also can set a wellness program up for failure. With little money to promote a wellness program, it could be difficult to spread the word about the benefits of a wellness program.

An all too frequent reason that wellness programs do not reach optimal success is because the wellness program and its coordinators fail to engage high risk employees. When high risk employees have the majority of the health issues in a workplace, they should be the most targeted individuals for a wellness program.

To see 100 percent participation is the optimal goal, but to engage those with the most severe health concerns is a huge priority.

Lastly, the inability to enlist the support of upper-level management is a meaningful reason why wellness programs might not be successful. Without the endorsement, support and flexibility that upper-level management can offer a wellness program, it is far less likely that it’ll actually succeed.

Health promotion programs succeed for just as many reasons as they fail. With engaged and aroused employees, obtaining wellness goals is attainable and promising.

Company wellness involves many aspects of the workplace and can look dramatically different based upon the shared wellness vision.

Health Promotion efforts can also be uniquely tailored to women and men, old and young or to special health needs. Health Promotion in the workplace must be a top priority regardless of gender, age or special needs.

Living healthy requires time and attention and often special wellness activities designed by a wellness committee can help reach certain health goals.

Most wellness programs allow for each worker to dictate the goals and activities that’ll make up their wellness goals.

Often, the employer will jump in with health promotion programs or incentives.  As when sponsoring a competition, some employers will pay workers for reaching losing weight goals.

Other wellness ideas could include special benefits or compensation for reaching health goals. It could be difficult to gage what’ll motivate some workers, but knowing that most workers don’t want to pay more for healthcare is a good begin.

A solid wellness program is a surefire way to reduce health care costs, lost vacation time, and other miscellaneous medical testing.

With a unified wellness committee taking staff members opinions into account, there must be goals set up across the board that will help focus and monitor healthcare goals for all involved staff members.

Some workforce may pick to focus on specific health concerns while others may want to improve their overall health through diet, exercise and stress relief techniques.

When some workforce seem adamant about admitting health concerns, it could be helpful to reaffirm confidentiality with each employee.

Other staff members might find it helpful to join a group or a partner in working toward health care objectives. Studies have proven that working on any kind of goal with another individual increases the percentage of completion and success.

Company health promotion can come in any shape, form or timeframe. It is more imperative that you have resources in place for workforce to ensure a balanced and healthful lifestyle.

Wellness programs encourage people  to start taking steps toward health care avoidance by teaching healthy decision making. These wellness programs are designed to decrease health care costs, decrease rates of absenteeism, and increase productivity.

It is believed that many diseases in America are avoidable by proper medical screenings and small changes toward a healthier lifestyle.  The most valuable resource a company has is its workforce.

By investing time and money into them, the company would reap the benefits of having more focused and healthier workforce.

For an employee, wellness programs can lead you towards living a healthier lifestyle and becoming a much healthier person. Depending on what a business offers you are able to learn how to reduce stress, keep your sugar levels in control, and even lose weight.

The support you will receive from your coworkers will help you reachyour health goals. From consuming a healthy lunch together to forming a racquetball tournament, you will create a feeling of friendship between coworkers.

Social influences are a major part of a healthy life style. You will be getting encouragement from coworkers as well as stimulating others around you to live healthy.

For employers, these health promotion programs proved to have a considerable return on the investment put into them.

The small amount of funds it costs to start these wellness programs and continue with them is insurmountable compared to what they save with increased productivity and lowered costs spent on sick time and insurance premiums.

Having company support is a good begin to living a healthier lifestyle. No matter what the approach, Health promotion programs can help make a positive change in your job, life and the community.

Starting these health promotion programs is just one way employers around the U.S. are building a healthier and more productive workforce.

Around the United States organizations everywhere are beginning health promotion programs. There are a few advantages to offering employee health promotion programs.

These health promotion programs vary in intricacy, from only offering information to staff on staying healthful to offering a business gym and nutritious meal plans.  The bottom line of health promotion programs is that healthful staff are happy staff, and they are what make a business run.

As an employee, health promotion programs have a few wellness benefits including assisting you live a healthful lifestyle. Depending on the wellness efforts your organization has put into place you can learn how to reduce stress, keep your sugar levels in control, and even lose weight when desired.

The support colleagues will give each other will help in bettering employee health. Social influences are a major part of a healthy life style. You will be getting encouragement from colleagues in addition to stimulating others around you to promote wellness in the workplace.

There are a few barriers to health promotion programming in the worksite. Aligning cultural touch points will aid in the effort to promote corporate health promotion. From resource commitment to rewards and recognition it’s the job of the corporation to support a healthy lifestyle as much as possible.

Hiring wellness specialists that have a shared wellness vision with the corporation’s senior management is another option to promote wellness in the workplace. They can give wellness coaching and advice on how to live healthy and make healthy decisions.

Staff Members are a company’s most valuable assets and it’s crucial that you develop opportunities for personal health management, with an emphasis on shared responsibility. A healthful workforce is vital to the growth of the American corporation and in the long run is fundamental for the progress of the American economy.

While many organizations have amazing health health promotion programs, others do not. Sometimes it isn’t the employer who determines that a health promotion program would be beneficial, but the staff themselves are the ones requesting such an office benefit.

With the correct steps, personnel have often been very successful at changing the environment of a worksite.

When an worker or group of workforce wishes to begin a health wellness program within the company, she must first talk with other workforce to see if there is a mutual interest.

Often times, many people  are thinking about implementing something, but no one has taken the first step. A team could  be formed with those interested, and information could  be collected from other staff members about their needs and interests.

When one is considering the proposal of a wellness program to her corporation, not only must the requests be made clear (like a request for a lunchtime yoga class) but the logistics must be known before presenting it to the boss. Some of the questions that must be considered include –  

o  Where will the class be held?
o  Who will teach the class?
o  How’ll the instructor be paid?

Unfortunately, there are businesses where companys do not see the benefit of health health promotion programs until they’re presented to them in a clear manner. Workers themselves need to be proactive.

If there’s stress, fatigue, and unhealthful snacking because staff are overwhelmed and feeling easily replaceable, then the corporation may  be in too distant of a position to realize that the staff are unhappy.

Rather than continue to complain and be frustrated with the current situation, staff need to be the ones to make the first step in creating a health promotion program that’ll enable everyone to learn more about how to take care of themselves.