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Health and wellness in the workplace
Health wellness programs in the workplace research paper
Health wellness programs in the workplace research paper
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Health and Wellness
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.
Companies have started to focus more on the physical appearance of their employees. Companies in Colorado have started to offer group discounts, free club newsletters, wellness and nutrition courses, and also office fitness classes. A general manager at a Colorado athletic club advised that this company involvement has been good for business. In an article by Lisa Marshall, she quotes the manager saying that “We try to be a resource, to come along side them and help them in an area where they may not have the expertise.”(vol. 35 p51) An estimated 40% to 50% of health club members take part in the club through some employer suggestion. Marshall also states that “health care costs spur companies to invest in preventive programs, and lifestyle guidance.” With more companies taking part in wellness in the workplace it has been determined that money will be saved on preventing illnesses. Some companies help employees with the stress of trying to stay healthy. They do things like having a nutrionist come by for free one-on-one consultati...
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...workplace there would be a lower call out rate and absence rate due to preventable issues. If more employees were to take part in wellness practices there would be a higher rate of productivity in the company. Wellness is defined differently in some regions, but it is widely agreed that wellness means being in a healthy state and needing no medical attention. Health and wellness in the workplace is a vital part to a company’s success, and all employers should be made to participate in some type of wellness activity to promote more productive workers.
Work Cited
Lindahl, Ellen. Hudson Valley Business Journal, 11/26/2007, Vol 18 Issue 48, p21
Marshall, Lisa Colorado Biz 35.9 (Sept2008):p51 (5)
Terlep, Sharon Wellness in the Workplace. Employee Benefits Magazine.Sep/Oct2005.EBSCO host Vol.277 Issue 5, p84-88.
This is an essay written in the MIT Sloan Management Review that presents the correlation between businesses and the issue of obesity in order to persuade businesses to take action in regards to preventing the issue. Therefore, its target audience is anyone who currently works in business or plans to do so in the future. In this review, the author begins by citing four internal and external reasons for which businesses should care about obesity: self-preservation, public criticism, employee productivity, and opportunity. The author proceeds by providing an idea as to how businesses can assist in reversing the trend. In order to do so, he analyzes what he considers to be the two sides of the obesity problem: physical activity and food consumption.
Employee wellness programs, also known as a “worksite wellness program”, are programs that are designed to promote and support the health, safety, and well being of a company’s employees. Wellness programs are meant to improve the health of the staff, their morale, and in turn also help improve their productivity. There are many components that make up employee wellness programs, for example; Health Screenings, Health Fairs, Fitness classes, Smoking cessation classes, and even wellness issue workshops. Employers have begun adopting these programs in hopes of helping their employees while they are at an age when health interventions can still help transform their long-term health choice. This paper will focus on trends found between employee weight and productivity, and the impacts these could have on a business overall.
Myers & Sweeney (2008) states, the wheel of wellness is a model that is gear towards the individual’s well-being in which body, mind, and spirit are linked as one so that the client and professional can live life to the fullest within social and natural norms. In addition, resilience for professionals is to know how to cope and come out of a stressful situation without any kind of remorse. Furthermore, prevention is to prevent disastrous of one’s life. For example, an individual needs to re-evaluate his or her life on a daily basis. According to Venart & Pitcher 2007 [Myers & Sweeney (2005] states, Wellness is an aftermath and a system, a primary aspiration for existing, and a way of life.
campaign and technical assistance to promote the benefits of worksite health promotion. A new CDC
While the strain on the health care system is evidently a major issue, poor health of employees also has been proven to negatively affect the overall performance in the workplace. Alternatively, good health in the workplace has been proven to reduce absenteeism, reduce the costs of disability and dru...
Engaging employees and families in healthy work programs, regular check-ups and illness prevention strategies are smart investments.
With the health care costs reaching high number there is no wonder we have a large number of absenteeism. So many wait to the last possible painstaking work day to decide to see a doctor about their aliment, and all of that could be prevented. Preventing oneself to have to take time off from work is one way to keep costs low. There are so many areas that need to be addressed when it comes to what is going to slow us down as a company. According to estimates by Dr. Jaime Claudio(1991), a corporate wellness consultant for Health Plus, a provider of health-care insurance, a comprehensive eating awareness and weight- management program designed to improve long-term habits could generate an 80% reduction in the incidence of potential problems caused by obesity in the workplace. These problems include hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and diminished work efficiency. Obesity is not the only eating disorder that is a problem, there is bulimia and anorexia. Smoking, drinking, substance abuse, and stress are problems that are brought into the workplace and stop productivity. We have to be aware of issues that are there but are not usually thought of as an illness.
6). Workplace health promotion designed to improve lifestyle, and ultimately enhance health, the ability to function, and productivity (Rongen, Robroek, van Lenthe, & Burdorf, 2013, p. 406). Over the years, various theoretical models have evolved to “articulate variables involved in health behavior to predict participation and engage would be non-participants” (Galloway, 2003). Health Belief Model was one of the first theories of health behavior developed in 1950s by a group of social psychologists, who sought to explain what motivates public to participate in programs designed for wellness promotion and disease prevention (Nursing Theories, 2013). According to this model, preventative behaviors depend on the individuals’ beliefs, including their vulnerabilities to the disease, the effect of the disease on their lives, and the effect of health activities on reducing the disease severity and susceptibility (Sharafkhani, Khorsandi, Shamsi, & Ranjbaran, 2014, p.
The negative effects of stress in the Canadian workplace and the resulting impact on the economy are on the rise. As a result, many companies have recognized the need for and benefits of providing programs which focus on employee wellness. This paper will discuss stress in the workplace by evaluating the employee wellness program/s of one healthcare provider company.
If one wants to live an enjoyable, fulfilling life they must know what it truly means to be well. Living a wellness lifestyle means incorporating all aspects of what it takes to flourish as a human being. It goes beyond the health of the physical body and incorporates the important social, emotional, and spiritual factors that play a part in every person’s life in one way or another. Knowing how to act correctly, control our feelings, channel our frustrations, and improve in each dimension of wellness will lead to a satisfactory life. Spiritual, physical, emotional, nutritional, and social wellness define the biggest components of life and thriving in them is vital.
However, statistics from the world bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that United States has the highest spending on health care, where treating people with chronic diseases accounts for 86% of our nation’s health care costs. When people have access to health care, they live healthier lives and miss work less, allowing them to contribute more to the economy. Having healthy employees will reduce the cost of health care and will increase the productivity as David Rektorski, owner of truck dealership Hino of Chicago says, “ The healthier the [Employees] are, the better chance I have of [my employees] coming to work.” (qtd in the Chicago Tribune). Having healthy people, improve the economy of the country, and reduce health expenses. It seems that it is better to prevent people from developing a chronic disease than pay for that
Human resources will need to place emphasis on employee wellness my initiating programs that “include work-life balance processes, stress management, and therapy programs, and facilitating an open dialogue about mental health and illness to remove much of the stigma that plagues the conversation and ailments (Guppta, 2016).” By utilizing flexible work schedule options, demanding jobs with high-stress levels are possible because employees’ free time does not have to be sacrificed.
According to the text, wellness is defined as an "integrated and dynamic level of functioning oriented toward maximizing potential, dependent on self-responsibility." It involves both preventive health behaviors and a shift in thinking and attitude. Wellness is a lifelong promise to oneself of growth and achievement in each of the seven dimensions: emotional, spiritual, physical, occupational, intellectual, environmental, and social. It means a lifetime of ongoing change and always striving toward higher levels healthy and successful living. This means, ultimately, that one must live a life that caters to each of those dimensions both individually and collectively. Not living a healthy lifestyle, can have damaging effects on both health and life, and not only yours but the people that are around you. An unhealthy lifestyle means more illness and more expenses to treat those illnesses. This means a bigger burden on an already challenged and over-budgeted healthcare system. Poor health also means more time lost at work, less quality recreational time, and shorter lifespans. Not to mention, the onset of major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Throughout our healthy brains, healthy bodies course so far, we have learned time and time again about the strong and important relationship between our brains and our bodies. Health and wellness is not one single thing, it is a collection of practices, attitudes and ways of being in the world, which help us cultivate the best form of ourselves. Finding and understanding the ways in which we can best take care of ourselves, and then applying them, gives us the opportunity to improve our physical, cognitive, mental and emotional wellbeing. Embodying our healthiest selves helps not only us, it helps those around us by providing a positive example about how to exist within our own bodies, and exist within the world. Throughout this paper, we will
Another large debate in the issues and impacts of obesity is the responsibility of employer’s. Especially for those whose obesity comes from a sedentary lifestyle. Or perhaps need the preventative measures of keeping obesity at bay. A hot topic on the rise is whether or not employers should be mandated to give employees a work-out period in their schedule. The employers could offer employee’s incentives for utilizing resources (a company gym, discounted memberships, and dietician, walking a company track) and by using the resources keep costs low. Though initially it could be costly to take on the responsibility to offer extra incentives to employee’s it could offer long term potential savings. (Villareal, Apovian, Kushner, and Klein 2005) Those whose companies offer various programs and actively engage in them express more happiness, productivity, a greater quality of life, and overall better health. Better health allows for employee’s to serve their employers better. They use less sick pay, keep insurance premiums low, and are more likely to be in tune with their daily job. So while the initial cost may be high, the long term financial gain of a happy, healthy, productive team is hard not to invest in!