Healthier Employees…Smoother Daily Operations

The ever-increasing cost of health care seems to be a permanent fixture in the news these days. Most of the time, the coverage focuses on the direct costs of drugs, procedures, or insurance premiums. But there are also indirect costs of poor health – such as reduced productivity, absenteeism, and low employee morale – which affect small businesses disproportionately. Wellness programs, inexpensive and quick, can help your company avoid these pitfalls.

"If a Fortune 500 company has 150 people a day out sick, there are still thousands of workers to cover for them," says David Hunnicutt. "But if you’re a small company with six employees, and two are out, you’ve just lost 33% of your workforce." Hunnicutt is president of the Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA), a nonprofit group that shows companies how wellness programs can enhance their profitability.

Absenteeism is just one of the indirect costs of poor health that often gets overshadowed in the news by dollar amounts for drugs or health insurance. Yet it, along with other indirect costs such as reduced productivity, low employee morale, turnover, and presenteeism (employees coming to work when they’re ill), have a major impact on smaller companies.

The good news is that small businesses have several advantages when it comes to dealing with these problems:

• The smaller the company, the easier it is to change the workplace culture. And changing workplace culture is precisely what a sound wellness program is about.
• In addition, smaller organizations can be much more personalized with their approaches.
• Small businesses have fewer layers of management, so decision-making is faster, and communication is easier.
• Even modest improvements in the health of a small company’s workforce can have a dramatic impact on your work cycle.

In short, there are inexpensive, easy ways to significantly improve your company’s productivity, attendance, morale, and retention by focusing on improved health and wellness.

Starting a workplace wellness initiative can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be a major, complex undertaking. Most important is that employees can see that the company leadership values and supports the wellness efforts – often by participating. Consider what other employers have done:

• Lowered the cost of healthy snacks in vending machines – subsidizing the lower prices by raising prices on junk foods.
• Began a run/walk club, where employees run or walk a course around the office building.
• Held lunch-and-learns (lunchtime seminars), inviting a nutritionist or pharmacist to give a short presentation on healthy eating habits or choosing the right over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
• Invited a masseur to the office once a month, giving employees the opportunity to purchase 15-minute massages for $10.

Your health insurance provider may also be a good resource as many offer a variety of wellness programs to their participants.

Wondering about offering incentives to reward healthy behaviors? There are two rules you need to keep in mind to avoid discrimination concerns, according to Brian Lerner, an attorney with Washington, D.C. law firm Hogan & Hartson. A program should reward participation, not results. And alternatives should be available for individuals in special situations – for example, those for whom it may be unreasonably difficult or medically inadvisable to meet the standard for a wellness initiative.

The benefits of an inexpensive, simple wellness program can be immediate. A survey of 1,197 employees and 630 retirees of small and midsized businesses, conducted by The Principal Financial Group in late 2006, revealed that 51% of employees said wellness benefits encourage harder work and better performance. 55% said having a wellness program in place makes them more likely to stay with their current employer. Jerry Ripperger, Principal’s director of consumer health, noted that "employers who encourage a healthy workplace and provide employee health programs find those employees are absent less often and show greater job satisfaction."

Sources:
"Healthier Employees Can Lead to a Healthier Bottom Line," The Associated Press.
"Companies Turn to Wellness to Reduce Health Costs," Samar Srivastava, Reuters.
"Wellness Programs for Employees," Coeli Carr, Small Business Review.
"Shape Up Your Company With a Wellness Program," Philipp Harper, Microsoft Small Business Center.
"University of Southern Maine Institute Connects Health and Productivity," Matt Wickenheiser, Portland Press Herald.
"Employee Wellness Programs," Gaebler Ventures.

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