Do healthier employees make for a better workplace?
By Gina Smith
Earning for a living is the primary purpose of employment for us. We all have different jobs. Some of us work indoors; some of us work out of doors. Mostly you can find nine to five timing. Some work in the day, some work at night. What may people who study these things know for sure is that a healthy person is a better employee.
The big question arises, is it cost effective?
One huge corporation, Amway, has 3,900 local employees. The company says that for every dollar it spends on fitness for employees, it gets two dollars back in savings. How do they justify that? One visible result was that the medical claim of the persons who took part in the fitness program went down by 8 percent. Many of them become slimmer and fitter. A lady employee claimed that in 18 months, she reduced 85 pounds. This has given her an abundance of energy which naturally had reflected in quality work and increased production for the company. It is an recognized fact that such workforce oriented fitness program take as long as three years to start giving returns. They say it takes time for employees to learn new behaviors.
It is also come to notice that the health expenditure of those employees who do not take part in such fitness program rose up to 23 percent.
Another company, Flexco, located in Illinois, has established a program to encourage employees to eat better and exercise. This program become very successful and the company was able to gain an amount close to a hundred thousand dollars just by reduced premium costs. That definitely affects the bottom line. In addition, the company helps pay the employee deductibles.
As an incentive, the employees earn wellness points when they join this program. This will help them reduce their expenditure on health costs by about 850 dollars. This acts as an incentive for the employees to get enrolled in this. This would also ensure that the employee joins it willingly and not by way of any force.
This program can be incorporated in the overall strategy of the firm. This would benefit the company in many ways. They have healthy people who are willing to stay healthy and combine that with the goals of the company. This makes for a better working environment overall.
Often employees are unhappy when they are asked to undergo tests for this, but it often helps to diagnose certain deceases before they become bad.
These two examples show that it makes a lot of sense to encourage employees to stay healthy, whether you do it through the company or you encourage them to do it on their own. Some companies even offer free membership to their employees in fitness centers and health groups. Healthier employees is an essential part of making a business profitable and successful. This also makes the workplace more congenial.
The big question arises, is it cost effective?
One huge corporation, Amway, has 3,900 local employees. The company says that for every dollar it spends on fitness for employees, it gets two dollars back in savings. How do they justify that? One visible result was that the medical claim of the persons who took part in the fitness program went down by 8 percent. Many of them become slimmer and fitter. A lady employee claimed that in 18 months, she reduced 85 pounds. This has given her an abundance of energy which naturally had reflected in quality work and increased production for the company. It is an recognized fact that such workforce oriented fitness program take as long as three years to start giving returns. They say it takes time for employees to learn new behaviors.
It is also come to notice that the health expenditure of those employees who do not take part in such fitness program rose up to 23 percent.
Another company, Flexco, located in Illinois, has established a program to encourage employees to eat better and exercise. This program become very successful and the company was able to gain an amount close to a hundred thousand dollars just by reduced premium costs. That definitely affects the bottom line. In addition, the company helps pay the employee deductibles.
As an incentive, the employees earn wellness points when they join this program. This will help them reduce their expenditure on health costs by about 850 dollars. This acts as an incentive for the employees to get enrolled in this. This would also ensure that the employee joins it willingly and not by way of any force.
This program can be incorporated in the overall strategy of the firm. This would benefit the company in many ways. They have healthy people who are willing to stay healthy and combine that with the goals of the company. This makes for a better working environment overall.
Often employees are unhappy when they are asked to undergo tests for this, but it often helps to diagnose certain deceases before they become bad.
These two examples show that it makes a lot of sense to encourage employees to stay healthy, whether you do it through the company or you encourage them to do it on their own. Some companies even offer free membership to their employees in fitness centers and health groups. Healthier employees is an essential part of making a business profitable and successful. This also makes the workplace more congenial.
About the Author:
Thanks you so much for reading. The author is a fitness nut and personal coach. I also, I contribute to the site ssay.