Workplace Wellness and Impact

Did you know?

♥ The World Health Organization has announced worksite wellness as one of the priority settings for health and wellness promotion in the 21st century. 

♥ Each decade, the Department of Health and Human Services identifies a list of health goals to strive for and improve the overall health of Americans. The program is known as “Healthy People 2020.” 

♥ Health care costs and expenditures are on the rise putting the workforce at jeopardy and the companies they work for.  

♥ Chronic diseases such as heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, strokes, and more than 40% of cancers would be prevented if people ate healthier, exercised, and stop using tobacco according to Making Health Care More Affordable:Estimated Savings from Care Coordination, Lifestyle Change, and System Redesignin Senator Obama’s Health Care Plan.

 ♥ Approximately 75% of all the money spent on health care is potentially preventable as reported by Amanda McGrory in the article 90% of Employers are Offering Wellness Program for BenefitsPro.

Wellness works for all types of employers whether the company is large or small.

Wellness Distribution and Impact

In the past, the focus of wellness programs has been on managing “sick” employees.  After all we all know being sick costs money. So if you could make the sickness go away then less money would be spent on health care right?   

Here’s the big idea, “manage the disease” of those employees who are already sick and then hope that they will become healthy again. This type of thinking suggests once the sick became healthy, the company would realize their return on investment (ROI).  This seems like a logical solution.  However, history has demonstrated this may be logical but is a bad idea.  

Here’s what happens. The people who are already sick stayed sick, the healthy people became sick and the company would not realize their ROI for three so years down the road, if ever. 

To save money on health care costs the focus needs to be on keeping every employee healthy. That way the sick get better and the healthy stay healthy.

The long and the short of it is …

it costs less money to focus on wellness than it does to treat disease and

everyone knows it.

Your partner in health,

 Wellness Consultant

C2 Your Health LLC

HealthE 4 Life Worksite Wellness

Is Your Company Forward Thinking?

Forward-thinking companies are busy implementing work site wellness programs and incentivizing their employees to participate.  More than ever, companies that step up to address healthy lifestyle solutions have been able to avoid significant expenses and  in many cases stop rising health care costs. 

If it's not already, wellness needs to be a part of your company's strategic plan alongside safety, insurance and retirement benefits. Employer sponsored wellness programs are not only important; it is urgent to minimizing and managing risk. Your insurance broker knows this and has most likely already given you a call asking what your overall health care plan is. No budget? If your company doesn’t have a budget for wellness don’t be shy; ask your employees if they would be willing to pay for a work place wellness membership or webinar if you provided work time to participate.  The above chart demonstrates how wellness successfully fits into the overall  management plan.  

According to AdvertisingSpecialty Institute Today, 90% of employers are offering some sort of wellness program to their employees hoping to reduce medical costs. However, only 10% of wellness programs are result-oriented which supports healthy lifestyle strategies to promote permanent lifestyle changes.  The other 85% of wellness programs are activity focused.  This accounts for the modest results from some programs and the slow development of a healthier employee population.  According to a study by Towers Watson and the NationalBusiness Group on health, effective wellness programs create healthy employees who stay with their company.  

So how about your company? Are a significant portion of your employees getting healthier? 
If not, let’s focus on what will create a healthier population in the workplace and 
we'll all feel better, look better and get more work done.

Your partner in health,

Learn Your Heart Disease and Diabetes Risks

PRESS RELEASE
AUGUST 17TH, 2012

C2 Your Health LLC Provides Heart, Diabetes Screenings &

Guidance to the Michiana Community at the Anytime Fitness Tailgate Health Fair

this Saturday, August 25th from 7am - 12 noon. Registration and payment in advance required
for screenings, the health fair is free. 

Click here to read all about it! 

Your partner in health, 

 

Bad Health is Bad for You and Bad for Your Business

The success of your business relies on your performance at work and at home.  As you deal with the unpredictable challenges you’re faced with every day; your life becomes stressed, messy and out of control.   Just take a minute to think about what your day might look like. Your work days begin with jumping out of bed to an alarm clock; have a jolt of caffeine; then fight your way through the traffic to get to work on time.  During your rushed day there are complicated decisions to make, pressure to get a lot of things done in a short period of time without enough help. At the end of every work day you hurry off to your car facing the rat race back to home filled with evenings of quick dinners, late night “bad” news, tossing and turning; sleepless nights just to start right back over again the next day!  No wonder you’re sick and tired!

People are sick.  It seems nearly every other day there’s a new national epidemic.  The latest? Childhood obesity, diabetes, obesity, insufficient sleep...what next?  Nearly 1/3 of Americans now have Metabolic Syndrome. What’s that you ask? If you would’ve asked me 30 years ago about Metabolic Syndrome I couldn’t have answered, because there was no such condition. You may not know you have it. Those of you with a big belly (abdominal obesity), exploding body weight (body mass index), high blood pressure, your cholesterol is too high (low HDL cholesterol) and have high blood sugar (pre-diabetic) it’s you. What happened? A lot of poor food choices, no exercise, not enough sleep and too much stress that’s what! ₁ This means 1/3 of us are already sick and the rest of us are looking forward to the possibility of developing diabetes, heart disease, and/or stroke. Just because you don’t have any of these symptoms you’re in the clear. Not a chance. For example heart disease doesn’t start with chest pain; it starts with that first French fry!    

Bad health is bad for business.  

The price of everything is going up and we as a population are getting sicker; a costly combination. With all these challenges it’s critical to include the wellness of your employees as a top priority for your business.  Encouraging your employees to make healthy choices and  take responsibility to improve their health is not enough anymore.

The time has come for companies to be the leader, show their employees way and give them the tools to become healthy it’s the only way to survive this tough economy. You lead by setting the pace, being the example and providing a supportive work environment to get healthy in.    

Bad health affects every size business and it’ll cost you big time. If you’re an entrepreneur you are your business.  Even one day of missed work can cost you big.  How many days of work can you miss due to illness before you close up shop?

Are you the employer of a large number of people?  Your company’s medical costs can add up to more money than your gross revenue.   We are all working people who are getting older and sicker.  Not only that, insurance companies are taking a serious look at the overall health of your employee population.   If your employees are too sick, not only will your rates go up but in some cases your insurance coverage will be canceled.

Bad health is bad for you. 

Poor health is frustrating, tiring and emotionally draining on you and on your family relationships.  Sickness will cost you with a lower paycheck, not able to get things done on time, and missing too much work.  You’ll be spending money on doctor visits, medications, diagnostic testing, procedures and emergency room visits. 

If your health is not a priority your sickness will be.  When you’re sick, trying to get better can become a full-time expensive and exhausting job. Think about whom you know who has heart disease, cancer or diabetes. It’s all consuming. Isn’t it?

Good health is good for you and good for your business.

Sometimes we forget every company is made up of individuals. By providing support, information, and education, the health and wellness of each individual is improved over the long run resulting in a permanent lifestyle change.  Each person is unique in their desire to become healthy, the way they embrace change and when the time is right for them.  Healthy and well is what we become, not what happens to us. 

Being healthy feels good, fuels you with energy, helps you focus, and makes you happy.  You wake up refreshed, ready to go and prepared for what the day has in store for you.  As a result of good health you get to grow your business, keep your job, possibly make more money, feel great about what you do and where you work!  

When you’re financially fit, enjoy a healthy, active body and have a healthy attitude what can’t you do?  

You’re on top of the world!

Your partner in health,

C2YourHealthNow.com  

HealthE4Life Worksite Wellness

Healthy Employees Do Cost Less

You might be wondering do healthy employees really cost less?

 It’s true they do.

What does good health look like to you? It’s looking your best and feeling good about you and those around you. You enjoy the full experience of a robust life.  When you are healthy you don’t think about what it would be like to not be healthy. 

If you have ever been really sick you know being unhealthy can be very expensive. Sickness eats up your time, energy, and paycheck. When you are sick, all you think about is being sick and how to get better. Being sick costs you in doctor bills, medical treatments, medications, and hospital visits.  When you are sick, you spend more money insurance premiums, co pays and sometimes your insurance coverage is even canceled sometimes. You use your benefits up too; sick time, vacation days and time off without pay.

Sickness can be financially devastating even if you are sick for a short period of time.

Being sick costs your company too. When you’re sick your company pays more money for insurance premiums because more of their money goes to sick care instead of making the company stronger and financially fit. When you’re sick, you get behind on the daily tasks that need to be done adding more work for you co-workers. 

For entrepreneurial businesses owners and smaller companies, the financial stress is greater when the operations of the company depend on you.  

So what do you do? Go to work when you’re sick? Did you know that costs money too? Going to work sick only spread those germs to your co-workers resulting in more sick time and medical bills. When you go to work sick, you don’t have your mind on your work so you are less efficient resulting in a work “slow down”. Working slow, being less productive, and doctor bills come at a pretty high price. What do you do?

Disease prevention and health promotion are the keys to living a long healthy life.  It’s not enough to know what to do to stay healthy; we need to recognize how neglecting our health sets us back. That’s where the work place comes in. At work we learn to be productive, help other people, and become engaged in a meaningful life. How about we learn how to be healthy from work too, then we can all join in making the world a healthier place.

The bottom line is prevention benefits everyone and healthy employees do cost less.

Always remember

“an ounce of’ prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Your partner in health,

Author of Prevention Benefits Work Healthy Employees Cost Less