Posted by Employer Wellness | Posted in Employer Wellness | Posted on 02-07-2010
It’s absolutely essential for companies to begin a wellness program for their workers. as health care prices soar, every time an employee becomes ill, this costs the company even more.
While not all healthcare issues and illnesses can be prevented, it’s common knowledge that risk factors like obesity can increase disease. So it would be in any corporation’s best interest to encourage employees to adopt healthier lifestyles.
An employee wellness program benefits the employee by teaching and encouraging a healthier lifestyle. It also benefits the business by creating educated staff members who understand that diet and exercise are not simply about losing weight and looking slim, but they are related to physical abilities and mental wellness.
An worker who feels better is more likely to be a productive part of the company.
According to the CDC, the total hospitals reporting stated that in 1996, 31 billion dollars were spent on cardiovascular disease that was directly related to adults who were overweight or obese.
And for those adults with employee health benefits, their corporations also suffered from a loss in productivity, time paid for sick days and the overall costs due to rising healthcare prices for corporations.
Unfortunately in the USA, wellness attitudes often discourage employees from taking healthier measures. Rather than providing quick, healthy snacks such as fresh fruit or vegetables with dip, places of employment seem to be only providing vending machine snacks such as sugary soft drinks and non-nutritious snacks like potato chips and cookies.
A lot of people do not even realize that it’s just as easy as and more filling to eat a banana than a bag of cookies.
With the current state of the economy and corporations closing daily, it’s important for corporations to search for methods to cut costs and to assist their employees in becoming healthier and more productive.
A wellness program is a first step in creating long term physical and mental health goals for all employers.