Posted by Health Handouts | Posted in Health Handouts, Health Tips | Posted on 30-04-2009
High rates of employee turnover and the expenditures of sick days are increasingly taking bites into company profits. The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these issues in total cost the average company. Many corporations are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that yield a reduction in these expenditures.
It has become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness program / physical activity program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need. Upper Management’s objectives for a advantageous wellness program must be viewed through the perspective of increased employee work rate, lowered absenteeism due to health related causes, improved employee morale, lowered utilisation of corporation subsidised health benefits, enhanced team cohesion and effectiveness and a decrease in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction. It is obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a positive influence on the financial status of any organisation.
The benefits from an workers point of view can be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, diminished body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle job related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social associations at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.
To be most beneficial a wellness program needs to achieve both senior staff’s and employee’s goals/objectives, and this can be accomplished through a program that will offer the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and wellness, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the necessary changes to their physical condition that can be applied in the context of their life and work.
The Bottom Line – Workplace Health Promotion Programs
Lowered Absenteeism – Dupont reduced absenteeism by 47.5% over six years for the participants of their employer fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).
Reduced Health Care Expenditures – Steel case showed a reduction in healthcare claim costs of 55 percent for corporate physical activity program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an average of $478.61 for participants vs. non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Health Promotion, Sept/Oct, 1991).
Reduced Turnover – Turnover among physical activity program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Company was 32.4 percent lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).
Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana saw that its company exercise program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Health Promotion, March, April, 1991).