Benefits Of A Strong Wellness Program

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 to make sure that most people had medical insurance. With this new healthcare system came the responsibility that individuals would have to take initiatives to try to stay or get healthy. The preventative care portion included in the Affordable Car Act is a big item and very important in health care reform and very positive for the American people. Wellness in the workplace has become a very important issue to help reduce companies medical cost, and to help employees get on track to know their numbers, get healthy, and have a positive healthy mental attitude. Many employees do not understand or know how to get healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. With the rising cost of healthcare relating to

Xxx utilized wellness programs to promote healthy behaviors (McCarthy & Klein, 2010, p. 3). These wellness programs reduced the need for expensive acute and specialty care.

Workplace wellness programs are currently unreflective of the multidimensional and holistic nature of the wellness construct. There exists an opportunity for health promoters to move toward models of workplace wellness promotion that more

Prochaska, J. O., Butterworth, S., Redding, C. A., Burden, V., Perrin, N., Leo, M., Flaherty-Robb, M., & Prochaska, J. M. (2008). Initial efficacy of MI, TTM tailoring and HRI’s with multiple behaviors for employee health promotion. Preventive Medicine, 46,

While it is clear that Pitney Bowes is a pioneer with employee health there are still areas that can be improved as they continue to strive for innovation and improvement. Pitney Bowes has around 12,000 ‘dispersed employees’ based over 600 client sites averaging 39 years of age and who tend to earn a lower income than employees at their corporate facilities. This group of people being dispersed is inherently going to be detached from the culture of health within the organization. This is especially problematic because this group of employees tends to represent the people who need help the most. Critelli explains, “It is critical to our bottom line that we find a way to bring them in to our culture of wellness” (Porter & Baron, 2009, p. 18). You hear that ‘attitude is everything’ from the time you are a child, this is no different in the corporate world. Pitney Bowes’ programs will continue to thrive and the health of

Direct Observation during access to food. Settings varied but study was conducted over 28 days.

Health promotion and wellness are important factors in an individual’s ability to maintain health throughout life’s stressors. Increasing resilience, reducing risk and promoting general wellness are three main components of promoting health of an individual.

Wellness in the workplace needs to be taken seriously by all employers, and employees. There has been evidence that making sure employees eat healthier leads to lower call out rates and more savings on health plans. In an article in Employee Benefits magazine it states that “Wellness management does not need to be complicated, or costly. A few simple steps could help to mitigate long-term problems, such as introducing early intervention activities that red flag cases identified via an absence reporting mechanism, the proactive management of musculo-skeletal conditions and stress, introducing a smoking cessation program or running regular health wellbeing days. “Workplace wellness as a concept has been used extensively in recent years by management in business and industry, health professionals, fitness experts, and others. This is a policy that should be implanted in all jobs. Wellness may not

This will allow for increased spending in other areas of our company, creating a more productive budget. In addition, participation in the Wellness Program will provide employees that are able to work more often and more efficiently. This will undoubtedly increase productivity and decrease turnover. With 39,000 employees in the United States and 30 foreign nations, it is imperative that we maintain healthy and productive employees. Because of these significant benefits, it is crucial that we maintain and improve participation in the program. However, there are several concerns that may hinder such participation: 1. Despite Whirlpool’s guarantee of confidentiality, many employees do not trust the company with such private information. a. Employees have expressed their fear in the use of the information. They are concerned that their health status may negatively affect their position in the company. b. Although it is assured that no records are kept, employees fear the leak of private health information to their peers. If information was leaked, they fear the effects on their reputation and social standing within the company. 2. In order for the new addition to our program to be successful, it is important that we stress the benefits to our current employees. a. If our employees do not

Research indicates that employers can increase employee retention, increase employee productivity, and reduce employee healthcare costs by implementing a workplace wellness program.

Setting the stage for starting a workplace-based wellness program will be the most difficult part. The program can be achieved by getting upper management support and forming a wellness/health services unit to help plan, promote, implement and maintain the program.

After all, healthy employees are generally more productive and happier. Now you're trying to figure out just how to offer the wellness program. You need to create a great package with benefits your employees truly want and need.

Health and wellness in the workplace is crucial to business success. Increasingly, it is recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on people’s health. When people are satisfied with their job, they are more productive and tend to be healthier. When employees feel that the environment at work is negative, they feel stressed. Stress has a large impact on employee mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity. Companies that promote healthy lifestyle habits for employees to improve their health, often take the success of the company to heart and are likely to be absent less often for health related reasons.

According to Hareyah (2009), healthier employees will spend less time away from work; this can be the result of an effective wellness program. Sick employees who continue to present themselves at work can have a negative effect on employee morale. A company wellness program can improve the overall health and wellbeing of your employees. This can contribute to a decrease in presenteeism, and effectively increase employee morale. An ill employee can also cause other employees to fall ill, when they would otherwise not have fallen ill to begin with. Employee wellbeing and employee productivity are strongly connected. Hareyah (2009) also states that an effective employee wellness plan can “decrease stress, improve concentration,

“Optimal health” and “wellbeing” is a primary focus within the Eudaimonistic Model according to Edelmann, C. & Mandle, C. (2013). Furthermore, our 2020 program goal is to create a healthier workforce by increasing the proportion of worksites that offer four options (Walk Wisconsin, nutrition education/NuVal system, The Healthy lunch club, and weekly nutrition and health challenges) for employers to implement at their workplace that target nutrition or weight management program, to improve employees directly connects to the Eudaimonistatic Model, by “exuberant well-being indicates optimal health” as evidence of “physical, social, psychological, and spiritual aspects of life and the environment” (2013). Together employers as well as employees achieve numerous positive outcomes including: employee satisfaction, retention, engagement, and team empowerment, to continue to make a difference on not only themselves, but also through professional affirmations.