the better blog

When you create a culture of wellness inside your organization, your employees will bring that information home. When that home has children, the importance of this transfer of knowledge increases exponentially as a healthy, fit child is more likely to realize a happier, more fulfilling life. 

According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, a child’s weight has been directly shown to affect their financial future. The study states that “adults who have been overweight since high school are more likely to be unemployed or on welfare than those who gained weight gradually during their 20’s and 30’s.”  The connection between diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease has been very well documented, but this study draws a very clear line from childhood obesity to a failed economic adult life. This association also illustrates the importance of addressing the wellness of children as soon as possible, and we believe that parents are in the best position to achieve this goal.

Giving employees the culture, information and tools necessary to bring a healthier lifestyle home to their families will help the long-term outlook for their personal health, the health of the company and the future financial security of their children.

We all know exercise is a crucial component of any company’s corporate wellness and fitness culture.  But how exactly does physical activity affect your company’s health risk management investment?

According to a statement published by the American Heart Association: “Regular physical activity using large muscle groups, such as walking, running, or swimming, produces cardiovascular adaptations that increase exercise capacity, endurance, and skeletal muscle strength.  Habitual physical activity also prevents the development of coronary artery disease and reduces symptoms in patients with established cardiovascular disease.” The article goes on to say that this most likely applies to the reduction of the risk for diabetes, depression, obesity, and breast and colon cancer. 

However, long term meaningful health and fitness may require more than a daily visit to the gym.  Human bodies are designed for and require movement.  Our muscles are made to plant and harvest, hunt, play with children, and run from predators.  Today, we sit on our way to work, ride elevators to our offices, and often, our primary social and professional networkings take place via texts and emails where the only parts of our bodies that move may be our thumbs.

A July 2010 New York Times article cites a study that surveyed a group of well educated, upper class men.  Most of these men had a steady workout routine.  They also typically spent about 23 hours a week watching television, driving, or in otherwise sedentary activities. The study found that these men had a 64 percent greater chance of succumbing to heart disease than men who spent less than eleven sedentary hours a week.  

So how do your hardworking employees counter long hours at their desks that may actually be bad for their health?  Move. Pace during the conference calls.  Stand up and stretch while the computer reboots.  Deliver messages to coworkers in person rather than by email.  Encourage actual conversation rather than instant messaging.  Walk to the break room and pour a cup of green tea.

Regular activity throughout the day is another piece in the wellness puzzle that protects your best investment: your employee’s health.  

Almost 60% of women ages 18-64 use the internet to look up health information.

How this female population uses the web to improve their health is unclear.  Additionally, the effectiveness of online behavior change programs in the workplace is still unproven.

What is clear, however, is that after visiting a health portal, these web surfers are very likely to embark on a program to exercise and lose weight. They prefer both online and offline information about wellness. They respond to incentives, especially cash in excess of $250 and reductions in health insurance premiums. They will use the web as a catalyst to schedule a preventative exam or reduce stress. The better educated they are, the more likely they are to track their progress via the web. And, as is the case with most critical changes in any behavior, spousal support goes a long way to ensure success.

The web is a great place to start, assess, and track healthy behaviors for college-educated women in the workplace. Keeping them motivated to sustain a healthy lifestyle takes offline support by a trusted partner, some cash, and the confidence in knowing that their information is secure.

According to the Mayo Clinic, starting a fitness program may be one of the best things an individual can do for their health. 

The latest Surgeon General’s report supports this as well.  In case you’ve lived in a cave for the past few years, you’ve already heard that regular physical activity reduces the danger of succumbing to heart disease, the leading cause of death in our country.  And for you CFO's out there, an active fitness participant can cost your organization up to $1,250 less in health care costs per year according to a 2008 study in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease. Wellness can also reverse the effects of hypertension, diabetes, and certain cancers, as well as reduce hospital admission rates significantly for these same conditions. Numerous studies also confirm that exercise can not only prolong your employees’ lives, but can also stave off depression, anxiety, and other emotional issues. 

What might not be as obvious as the fact that exercise is good for you and your employees is that like all things, exercise should be done in moderation.  Nothing breeds success like success, and for those who need exercise the most this means starting out with a low to moderate level of physical activity. Walking is a great example of a level of activity that for most employees is a safe and simple platform for better health.

Whatever program for physical activity your company offers in their wellness palate, it should be based on both common sense and solid science.  A moderate exercise program is one that your employees will be able to enjoy and stay engaged in for a long healthy lifetime.   

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines health as: “1 a : the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially : freedom from physical disease or pain b : the general condition of the body <in poor health> <enjoys good health> 2 a : flourishing condition.”

A conversation about how to keep your company’s bottom line in good health is incomplete if the condition of your employees’ minds and spirits are overlooked.  If an employee isn’t sleeping, is depressed, anxious, or addicted, and they don’t have access to the tools that empower them to fix themselves and their loved ones, then your health and wellness plan may be fatally shortsighted.  When people are hurting emotionally, they may become a liability to your company, as well as to themselves.

These days, stress levels are off the charts.  Employees struggle because they don’t have the same breathing room as in the past; they may be singlehandedly performing jobs that used to require two or three people in half the time.  Everyone is plugged in 24/7.  Human beings are amazingly resilient, but also extremely fragile.  When something happens that affects hearts and heads, people need support, information and education to cope.  That’s a truly comprehensive wellness picture.

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.

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?

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.

Do your part to lower the federal deficit. Be a part of the solution, not more of the problem.

Is this possible?

Absolutely, according to Dr. Jarett Berry, a Cardiologist at The University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas as published in the Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Health & Wellness Section of the Wall Street Journal.

You can be an asset and not just another liability contributing to the demise of the Federal Medicare (and most likely your home State’s Medicaid) bank.

Get moving now.

Although healthcare costs are front and center in the debate, the single largest expense for most companies comes in the form of payroll. If that is true for you, then it makes sense that increasing employee productivity has the greatest potential for improving your bottom line. Achieving even single digit improvements in your team's ability to do their jobs will improve their quality of work and their capacity for innovation. To enable your team to perform with intention to excel and attention to detail, increasing their physical capabilities through exercise and sound nutrition is a proven foundation for success. To create a successful wellness strategy for productivity, make sure it includes these foundations of a healthy lifestyle.