Who needs Corporate Health Promotion Programs? If you work in an office or a worksite or are a member of an organization who spends a considerable amount of time at work, you will benefit from a well-designed worker Corporate Health Promotion Program. Employees spend a minimum of about 200 hours a month at work – a considerable amount of time.

Furthermore, stress, distractions and the pressures of the job can take its toll on the worker, which makes it important that a Corporate Health Promotion Plan is implemented. Today, all across America, Canada, Europe and Asia, top Corporate Health Promotion Programs are being used to help improve worker conditions at work and reduce the cost of worker health care.

Some of the top Corporate Health Promotion Programs currently in use today include:

Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals

Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals is a top Corporate Health Promotion Plan currently in use globally. Organizations that begin it determine the safety and health concerns of workers by the assessment of appropriateness of the facilities and equipment against the needs of the workers.

It can, by way of example, guide the organization into determining how much air quality within an office room affects the users and then help the assessment team to come up with the measures necessary to correct the problem. Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals can also evaluate the level of exposure workers have to certain hazardous or dangerous materials and practices.

Immunizations

This isn’t always practiced in every country since there are regions where government sponsored immunization shots are available. However, it has also become an important component of the top Corporate Health Promotion Programs in many corporations in North America.

Immunization, flu shots, such as those used to combat flu, by way of example, are offered to workers for free.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) consist of a wide variety of services. It can range from providing educational resources to workers regarding health issues to sponsoring health services and medical care. In many corporations, medical and insurance have also become a staple part of their benefits system.

Weight Management Programs

This is another Corporate Health Promotion Plan that corporations use, particularly those that offer in-house commissary or cafeteria services. Instead of serving richer, high-calorie fare, cafeterias offer options for a healthier diet, usually in the form of low-calorie foods and sugar substitutes.

Employee Wellness Newsletters – Health Education Programs

One of the top Corporate Health Promotion Programs that corporations can begin is a self-powered tool using a newsletter to promote wellness, coupled with a visible campaign. The campaign may be done periodically and focus on a specific topic, such as tobacco use hazards, cancer, stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, safety in the worksite, etc.

The newsletter in itself can be an effective method to deliver information to workers or members of an organization but it is far from perfect. Some workers, by way of example, may not read the newsletter in its entirety or even pay attention to it. If the issues outlined in the newsletter are promoted through an active and highly visible campaign, it will be easier to maximize positive results.

Physical Fitness and Exercise Programs

Another top health promotion program for corporations is one that involves physical activities. Companies frequently sponsor physical fitness-related events such as marathons and organization sports initiatives to encourage workers to remain fit or lose excess weight. In mid- to large-sized corporations, corporations may even pay for gym memberships or in-house physical fitness facilities.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Incentives

Some of the top Corporate Health Promotion Programs implemented by corporations involve incentive rewards. This involves organization-sponsored initiatives that reward workers for achieving specific wellness goals. Participation in health campaigns and signing up for Corporate Health Promotion Programs are two of the most commonly rewarded schemes. Rewards can range from special recognitions to points (for bigger rewards) to specific gifts. In a few cases, cash may also be used.

However, incentive systems have had mixed reactions and levels of success. But it continues to be one of the top choices among corporations who are willing to modify it in order to fit their unique needs.

Group Activities

In many corporations, corporations take advantage of peer pressure in order to encourage workers to take part in Corporate Health Promotion Programs. This is currently one of the favorite worker Corporate Health Promotion Programs currently in use today and growing in popularity. Peer pressure is frequently leveraged to help promote competitions and to persuade workers to be active in organization-sponsored health fairs.

Wellness programming means different things to different corporations. Effective wellness initiatives can be as simple as bringing bushel baskets of fresh fruit into break rooms to encourage better eating. They can be as extensive as building fitness facilities onsite or paying for obesity treatments.

A driving factor behind the push toward wellness spans corporations of all types, sizes and cultures: that is, health care expenses are spilling over the corporate belt buckle. The annual cost of medical services in the United States is increasing at seven times the rate of inflation. And the rise in medical costs is one boom pundits expect our economy to sustain.1

This trend makes it increasingly challenging for corporations to maintain current levels of insurance coverage. In 2003, health care inflation forced 65% of corporations to increase workers’ share of health costs.

Seventy-nine% of large firms said they will increase workers’ share of health costs in 2004.2 But with lost benefits and increased financial burdens come lost morale and productivity.

Employers are searching for another way. While corporations cannot control many of the supply-side elements contributing to increasing health care costs—malpractice insurance rates, the nursing shortage—they can help curb demand. That’s why efforts are being redirected from illness to wellness.

The case for Corporate Health Promotion Programs is supported by an ever growing body of evidence demonstrating the high costs associated with controllable health risks:

• One research study reports that obesity raises health care costs by 36% and medication costs by 77%.
• Michigan officials estimate physical inactivity cost the state nearly $8.9 billion in 2002, a cost estimated to be largely borne by corporations through insurance premiums and lost productivity.
• The not-for-profit National Committee for Quality Assurance reports that the estimated average cost for postnatal care for women who did not receive prenatal care was $2,341 more than for women who had. And the indirect costs of unhealthful behavior can be just as high.

Information shows that healthier workers are more productive, spending more time at work and showing increased “presenteeism,” or productivity, while there. Further, healthier workers use fewer medical services. The five leading causes of death in the United States — heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes — are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyles. Clearly, encouraging healthful habits presents an opportunity to improve workers’ well being, reduce the need for health care services and help control costs.

Offering worker wellness benefits — large or small — represents an intersection between corporate social responsibility and responsibility to stakeholders. Between worker health and corporate health. It’s frequently the right thing to do for workers and corporations.

Research by Traveler’s Corp. shows a $3.40 return for every dollar invested in Corporate Health Promotion Programs. For many corporations, the choice to offer worker wellness benefits is easy—one where conscience and pragmatism align.

The challenge arises in selecting the initiatives that will deliver the most impact based on trends in your workers’ health risks and medical claims costs. From large corporations to the corner deli, organization owners welcome ways to boost productivity, reduce rates of absence and cut costs. Likewise, Corporate Health Promotion Programs can range from modest to elaborate.

In determining where to focus a organization’s limited resources, looking at benefits, costs and best practices is a good starting point. This section profiles six aspects of wellness and explores their benefits to workers and corporations.

physical fitness and nutrition initiatives have demonstrated effectiveness in delaying the onset of worker morbidity while enhancing self esteem, stress management and general feelings of well being. Although many physical fitness and nutrition initiatives are instructional in nature, they should go beyond educational initiatives by providing enabling supports for the adoption of healthy behaviors. Quality Corporate Health Promotion Programs encourage and facilitate participation in daily physical activity for all workers, and when possible retired workers and family menbers. This is accomplished through access to fitness facilities, (preferably on site) and properly supervised physical fitness classes. In addition a broad-based program will provide opportunities for Personalized physical fitness and nutrition prescriptions from certified experts. Commitment to the model is demonstrated through occupational food services and sales consistent with healthy nutrition. Specific initiatives to include: • Strength / Resistance training • Flexibility conditioning initiatives • Healthy cooking classes • Aerobic conditioning initiatives • Diet analysis and planning assistance • Physical rehabilitative initiatives • Weight/body fat control initiatives • Team and individual recreational sports initiatives • Physical fitness assessments and initiatives

Walking Corporate Health Promotion Programs are some of the most popular Corporate Health Promotion Programs. They set the bar for entry fairly low – most anyone can walk around the block or their building – and walking Corporate Health Promotion Programs also provides workers with a good way to break up the afternoon doldrums and interact in a casual, more social environment with other workers. Just leaving your desk for a few minutes every day for a walk can be a big stress reliever – and stress is the second leading cause of absenteeism, according to Corporate Health Promotion Plan statistics.

As a first step to beginning your Corporate Health Promotion Program, we recommend that you have a designer draw up an attractive map of your corporate campus or vicinity. Plan out and test a few short walks of varying distances, and using a pedometer and watch, figure out how long each walk is in time and distance. Have a little fun with your walking Corporate Health Promotion Plan by equating each walk with a common office activity of the same duration, like a writing a one-page status report or filling out a common form. Post the map in the office and make sure people know about walking Corporate Health Promotion Programs by using your office communication channels – newsletters, announcements, company meetings. Keep it fun by building weight-loss teams, setting up races or organizing healthy picnics and athletic activities around the walking Corporate Health Promotion Programs route.

Following are some other walking Corporate Health Promotion Programs tips from Tom Weede, author of The Entrepreneur Diet: The On-the-Go Plan for Fitness, Weight Loss, and Healthy Living:

Make sure to link the walking Corporate Health Promotion Plan to work objectives. Employees need to be reassured that these walks are part of their responsibility to be healthy and productive. They’re not personal errands that need to be compensated for by longer days at the office.
Keep healthy snacks in the office.
Reinforce the walking Corporate Health Promotion Plan message by regularly mentioning it during staff member meetings
Set up a health-related benefit that walking Corporate Health Promotion Programs participants can use for health-related expenses.

Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing means better heath risk assessment baselines and better security

“Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing” is a hot phrase these days, but it can help your staff members with health management, too. When the pundits talk about Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing, they’re usually referring to retinal scanners, fingerprint readers, and other high-tech security measures. However, if you trace the phrase “Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing” back to its roots, it refers to the measurement of unique human physical and behavioral characteristics.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs are of imperative importance to the modern business. As a result, Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing should be one of the tools in the arsenal of a forward-thinking organization.

Worksite Health Screening and Biometric Testings aren’t just a “feel-good” measure for your workers. Assessments of staff member health help your workers to prioritize their well-being, which results in happier, more productive workers. Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals also build your database of staff member biometric data. Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing, when handled onsite by our experienced professionals, is hassle-free and smoothly organized. The biometric data we collect then can be stored digitally for years or even decades, helping you and your staff members build better health risk assessment baselines that you can use to analyze staff members fitness and the efficacy of your company’s Health and Productivity Programs. Collected biometric data can even allow an staff member’s doctor to assess that individual’s health over many years, helping him or her spot trends and diagnose disease.

Employee Health Screening and Biometric Testing extends to a wide variety of health risk tests, including measurements of blood pressure, blood type, body fat, substance abuse, and susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. Collecting biometric data for security purposes – like fingerprints, facial recognition imprints, or hand geometry – can be dovetailed with our health tests to minimize workflow disruption.