Recreation, Wellness, And Leisure

When we observe the demographics of today¡¦s society, we notice that there is quite a change in the average age, as well as life expectancy. In 1993, the average life expectancy rose to an amazing 75.5 years, with women living an average of 79 years and men living an average of 72 years (Hawkins, 1996, p. 4). With this gradual rise in age, the idea of therapeutic recreation for the aging population has taken on a significant role. Therapeutic recreation uses recreation and leisure activities to meet the needs of people in order to improve their quality of life. These needs include social, physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual. The experience of engaging in recreation is perceived to have therapeutic benefits. Engaging in

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.

Allow employees to register for company-sponsored recreational programs, such as soccer, softball, bowling, jogging, walking and other sports.

Therapeutic recreation is a treatment service designed to restore, remediate and rehabilitate a person’s level of functioning and independence in life.

Communication of wellness activities is important in the workplace. In order to get employees involved in the wellness programs that a company has to offer, many times wellness teams in addition to promoting a regular fitness routine, they will hold a variety of competitions that could include weight loss competitions for a certain period of time. Other competitions may be available for employees who cannot exercise due to physical complications. Wellbeing in the workplace can also include preventive care webinars, stress management seminars; financial 401K planning for the future, smoking cessation, community opportunities and getting involved in charitable events. Some companies are bringing chair massages into the workplace. Some employers believe it makes employees happy, is a stress release, and spiritual uplift.

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.

Best health practices and worksite wellness program is about engaging with employees to understand what they want, taking a tactical method about looking at health holistically. According to Lacoma, (1999 -2014), these worksite wellness programs are intended to help the workers upgrade their health and maintain healthy lifestyles. This package includes exercises, variety of care and treatment for various illnesses (mental and emotional health), healthy food, on time check up reminders, outlined health checks assessments, consultations and therapy. Moreover, Engelman (2012) determined that many of the conditions impacting workers were preventable and requires increased amounts of education, screening, encouragement and benefits to help understand how these affect the quality of their lives. These shifts gained prominence during the 1990s from increased research, about the importance of prevention and the advantages it can provide employers inside the marketplace.The recent Affordable Care Act workplace wellness provisions on implementation and expansion of employer wellness programs serves a great means to offer great opportunity of improving the citizen 's health and also control health care spending. The effectiveness and benefits of such programs should be evaluated to encourage opportunities to support healthier workplaces (Kisberg, (2014).

It has recently come to my attention that there are talks of cutting the wellness program here at Dynamic Wellness Center. Should this program be cut there will be a direct negative impact on the employees within the company. With the shift in the composition of the work force our company will need to stay up to date with competitors in attracting qualified employees. The following summarizes what factors prompt the need for a Workplace Wellness Program, the results are program is obtaining, and ways the program can improve and become more cost effective.

Most adults may spend more time during the day at work than anywhere else. Therefore, it may be important for worksites to be more conducive to employee health and is an excellent place to promote health and wellness. According to the Wellness Councils of America, more than 81% of businesses with more than 50 employees have some type of health promotion program in place [1]. Employee wellness centers have been shown to provide numerous benefits for employees including: weight reduction, increased physical fitness and stamina, and decreased stress [2]. Recent research has also discovered that employers benefit from such programs by experiencing reduced healthcare costs, increased productivity, reduced

Health and wellness in the work place is a vital part to a company’s success. Employees who are healthier and more productive are less likely to call out from sickness. There are not many companies that have affordable health care coverage for employees. More companies should make healthcare affordable for their employees and their family. Research has been done on how effective health and wellness programs can be in the workplace. Throughout the reading these points will be discussed. The effectiveness of health and wellness in the workplace will also be spoken of. Health and wellness activities in the workplace will be a positive move for companies and employees.

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

There are a vast number of types of workplace wellness programs. In general, workplace wellness programs encourage people to take steps to prevent the onset or worsening of a health condition or sickness and to adopt lifestyles that are healthier. Businesses may implement many types of workplace wellness programs, from onsite gyms to simple workplace wellness newsletters. While some corporations have instituted very comprehensive workplace wellness

6.0 Preliminary Project RequirementsThe main features of the Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project will be to inform employees about health issues and allow them to: 1. Register for company-sponsored recreational programs 2. Register for company-sponsored classes and programs to include weight loss, stress reduction, smoking cessation and other health related issues. 3. Track data on employee participation. 4. Offer incentives for employees to join programs and do well. 5. Other features as they are suggested by our employees and health insurance providers, if they add value to our business.

The Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project is assigning from Manage Your Health, Inc. (MYH). This intranet project provides an application on the current Intranet to help employees improve their health.

At the beginning of this course leisure was a topic I did not give much thought to and I felt like I did not have the time to spare to put much thought into. To me, all leisure meant was having free time to do whatever it is that I wanted to do. But after analyzing my life I noticed that I had surrounded my life with solely work and school and my “free time” was anytime I spent watching television and anytime I slept. However, after taking this course I learned that leisure meant more much than that. Now leisure to me means, as Richard Kraus states, leisure is “time which is not devoted to work or work-connected responsibilities or to other forms of discretionary or unobligated time,” (Olson et al., 2003, 12). The “time” in which Kraus