Effective Wellness Programs For Reducing Absenteeism

An employee can help reduce the cost of health cost by doing several things. There has been an outcry from organizations due to the rising number of competitors with high expenses catering for health benefits during employment periods and on retiring. The employee can be of great help by being participative in the programs set by their employers to benefit more from other advantages far from health costs (Kerzner, 2013). Some of the choices an employee may consider to help control health costs are by boosting consumerism, use technology to manage benefits, and indulge in fitness and health programs.

ONO is a large auto-supply company that does a large volume of business with only eleven employees. Absenteeism seems to have increased over the last two years and has had a significant effect on ONO. The information in the text shows that ONO had lost 539 employee labor-hours or 67.375 days to employee absenteeism last year. Because there are only eleven employees, this equals out to 6.125 missed days per employee. This is actually less than the United States average of seven missed days per year. Is absenteeism at ONO a serious problem? Whether or not a serious problem, the data from ONO, Inc. suggests there is enough to warrant an investigation and a new strategy to minimize absenteeism. As

reduced absenteeism. Absenteeism is a result of employee boredom with their job as they don’t feel personally connected to the company. Empowered employee feels valued and challenged which results in job satisfaction consequently absenteeism decreases.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, with the intent of ensuring that most people in the United States have medical insurance. With this new healthcare system came the responsibility that individuals would have to take initiatives in an effort to stay healthy or at the least, increase their level of activity and health awareness, making them more responsible for their own wellness. The preventative care portion included in the Affordable Care Act is one of the fundamental items of the law and is a particularly meaningful, very positive attribute in health care reform for the American people. Wellness in the workplace has become an essential 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 achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. With the rising cost of healthcare, especially relating to people not taking care of their bodies, wellness in the workplace has become even more critical. Author Lori Breiner (2007) “believes wellness in the workplace has economic benefits for organizations, because if workers are healthy, they miss less time from work.” Breiner’s theory would suggest that better health increases productivity and profits in the workplace.

272). Absenteeism is a common problem in the workplace today, and it is a widespread concern in many organizations. Employees call out sick for a variety of reasons, but if it occurs frequently enough it becomes an obvious issue. Some staff members make absenteeism a habit, meaning they call out more than their peers. At this point, absenteeism results in disruptive work processes for other staff members and becomes financially draining to the employer (Sullivan & Decker,

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

The vast majorities of organisations have a written absence/attendance management policy, record their employee absence rate collect information on the causes of absence and provide one or more well-being benefits. Developing line managers’ capability to manage absence (2014: 56% of those that made changes; 2013: 33%)

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

Employers today come up against many obstacles regarding employee productivity. Some of those concerns include health related absenteeism and presenteeism.. Matke and others observed there is a shift in burden to employers due to Americas aging workforce that results in loss of productivity brought on by illness related absenteeism and presenteeism (Matke and others, 2013). A report by Berry, Mirabito, and Baun show that absenteeism and presenteeism account for lost productivity costs that are

"Where there's a will, there's a way" was an interesting article.Talking about good mental health in the work place ( Harrington, 2012). I didn't realize that mental illness was the main cause of workplace absences (Absence Management:Annual Survey Report 2011). But one out of five people admit to an absence not caused by a mental illness ( Harrington, 2012). Researchers are trying to figure out why some people are stronger then others, and why some people suffer from anxiety, depression, and post traumatic stress disorder (Harrington, 2012). ( "What does not kill me makes me stronger" (Nietzche, 1888) suggest that it is the event or the challenge that strengthens the individual, but research points more to the role of the individual responses).

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.

Historical data on the effect of employee wellness programs on productivity includes measuring absenteeism, workers’ compensation absences, short- and long-term disability outcomes, as well as

As companies and managers around the world continue to tackle this ever growing issue many western companies have begun to implement strategies to combat the symptoms of lost productivity caused by absenteeism, however, even within western cultures, these tactics don’t work as planned. Many factors play a role; however, some companies are gaining success from various tactics used to combat absenteeism and tardiness. In a world full of different motivations and cultural differences, it can be difficult for companies to have a full success; however, with careful planning and cultural understanding companies can begin to battle against this costly crisis in the workplace.

Whitaker (2001) states that ‘sickness is a complex phenomenon that is influenced strongly by factors other than health’ and when looking into absenteeism you cannot only look at the physical sickness side of things but need to look in depth to many other issues such as stress, work satisfaction, family deaths, family sickness and children dependency. We see that many of theses

In the article, there are six options what company can do to help their employees to stay healthy and at the same time cut their costs.