There are a number of reasons why a Corporate Health Promotion Plan is beneficial.

1. Improved Morale – When the organizational culture begins to change as a result the Corporate Health Promotion Program, you and your staff members may actually begin to see and feel a new level of energy within the company. Ultimately, one of the most ambitious goals of any complete Corporate Health Promotion Plan is to attempt to influence the attitudes and actions of the company’s most valuable resource — its staff members.

2. Reduced Turnover – As we all know, staff member replacement costs can be quite high for any kind of business. The effort and expense associated with running employment ads, reading applications, checking references, interviewing qualified candidates, hiring and training a new employee can be a serious burden on any business. In light of the challenges that high staff member turnover pose, many companies are looking to Corporate Health Promotion Programs as an additional perk that can help to prevent staff members from jumping ship.

3. Increased Recruitment Potential – In the midst of a very tight labor market, companies are forced to pull out the stops in order to recruit new talent. In some instances, Corporate Health Promotion Programs can prove to be a very valuable tool in sealing the deal.

4. Reduced Absenteeism – When an employee misses work in a business setting, the entire company is forced to absorb his/her responsibilities. Even in the event of the occasional absence caused by things like colds and the flu, work can back-up and tensions can build.

Even worse is a long-term absence caused by a major health event that requires hospitalization and/or rehabilitation. By preventing certain types of illness caused by poor lifestyle habits, Corporate Health Promotion Programs can play an important role in decreasing rates of absenteeism.

5. Health Care Cost Containment – The majority of companies don’t create a Corporate Health Promotion Plan with cost containment in mind. However, cost containment for certain health problems should be considered a viable goal by many companies.

6. Improved Worker Health Status – One of the greatest advantages of a well-designed Corporate Health Promotion Plan is the promise of enhanced health. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests well-designed Corporate Health Promotion Programs can successfully impact such behaviors as tobacco use, high-risk alcohol use, seatbelt use and more.

(Adapted from The Health Promotion First Act prepared by David Anderson, Ph.D., StayWell Health Management)

Worker Lifestyles Impact Worker Health
• Approximately 40% of all deaths in the United States are premature (at least 900,000 deaths annually) and are due to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as tobacco use, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, misuse of alcohol and drugs, and accidents. Other contributors to early death include genetic predisposition (30%), social circumstances (15%), poor access to quality health care (10%), and environmental exposures (5%).
• Unhealthy lifestyle is the primary factor to the six leading causes of death in the U.S. – heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes – which collectively account for over 70% of all deaths.
• People with healthier lifestyles live an average of 6 to 9 years longer, postpone disability by 9 years and compress disability into fewer years at the end of life.
• The prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults rose to 30% in 1999-2000, a 33% increase from a decade earlier, and the prevalence of diabetes also rose by 33% during approximately the same period (1990 to 1998).
• About two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, 55% do not get enough physical activity, 26% are completely inactive,10 and only 25% eat recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables If diet/physical activity patterns continue worsening at their current rate, these behaviors will soon surpass tobacco use as contributors to mortality.
• Among young people, the prevalence of overweight has more than quadrupled in the past 20 years to 16%, daily participation in high school physical education classes has dropped from 42% in 1991 to 28% in 2003, more than 60% eat too much saturated fat, and almost 80% do not eat recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables.
• Lifestyle diseases disproportionately affect women, racial and ethnic minorities, the poor and seniors:
• The prevalence of diabetes among African Americans is about 70% higher than among white Americans, and the prevalence among Hispanics is nearly double that for white Americans.
• Women comprise more than half of the people who die annually of cardiovascular disease.
• Chronic conditions significantly limit daily activity for 35% of persons over 65 years of age.

Financial Impact of Lifestyle
• It is estimated that lifestyle-related chronic diseases account for 70% of the nation’s health care costs, which translates to over 11% of the entire U.S. gross domestic product.
• Two broad-based scientific reviews identified 83 peer-reviewed studies reporting that people with unhealthy habits have higher health costs.
• Research conservatively estimates that high health risks (high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc) account for at least 25% of total health costs.
• Recently published research indicates a direct relationship between modifiable lifestyle risks and decreased worker productivity, and relevant data suggest that the costs to corporations in lost productivity due to poor employee health may be substantially more than the direct health and disability costs.
• Unhealthy lifestyles frequently lead to chronic disease, many of which cannot be cured and require years or decades of expensive treatments. Below are estimated annual costs of selected chronic diseases and unhealthy lifestyles including obesity, tobacco use, hypertension, diabetes, stress, and inactivity.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs Improve Health and Yield Major Savings
• Comprehensive scientific reviews identified 378 peer-reviewed studies showing that Corporate Health Promotion Programs improve health knowledge, health behaviors, and underlying health conditions.
• Research studies have demonstrated that lifestyle modification may frequently be more effective and cost-effective than health intervention in decreasing morbidity and mortality.
• Several scientific reviews indicate that Corporate Health Promotion Programs reduce health costs and rates of absenteeism and produce a positive return on investment (ROI). The most definitive review of financial impact reported that:
• 18 studies indicated that these Corporate Health Promotion Programs reduce health costs, and 14 studies indicated that they decrease rates of absenteeism costs.
• 13 studies that calculated benefit/cost ratios all showed the savings from these Corporate Health Promotion Programs are much greater than their cost, with health cost savings averaging $3.48 and the rates of absenteeism savings averaging $5.82 per dollar invested in the Corporate Health Promotion Programs.
• Medical costs are expected to exceed 16 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 and to grow at 7.2 percent annually through 2015, when health expenditures will account for 20 percent of GDP:
• Per capita health costs in the U.S. are the highest in the world and more than double the median for OECD nations, yet the United States ranks 26th in terms of healthy life expectancy.
• Medicaid is the second largest item in the majority of state budgets, and its portion of the total budgets is increasing annually.
• Increasing health costs for U.S. corporations continue to outpace general inflation, averaging 12 percent per year for the past 10 years. This trend is causing a tremendous financial hardship on U.S. corporations.

Strong and visible upper management support for the Corporate Health Promotion Plan encourages health and is essential to securing necessary Corporate Health Promotion Plan resources (staff, time, and money) and implementing recommended changes.

1. Identify a Corporate Health Promotion Plan champion

In a small company, there may be a single leader who is the clear choice to champion the Corporate Health Promotion Program. In a larger company, look for an executive with the authority to influence others in the highest levels of the organization regarding the Corporate Health Promotion Program. The Corporate Health Promotion Plan champion need not be the fittest member of upper management. Rather, look for a Corporate Health Promotion Plan leader with the disposition to be a visible and vocal supporter of worksite policies that encourage healthy behaviors. Organizations with multiple sites can consider whether it would be useful to have an executive Corporate Health Promotion Plan champion at each site.

2. Find existing Corporate Health Promotion Plan allies

There may already be a number of individuals within your company who recognize the value of a Corporate Health Promotion Program. Think about who those individuals are in your company; consider areas such as occupational safety, union representatives, risk management, health officers, and human resources when looking for a Corporate Health Promotion Plan ally. Capture their stated support for the Corporate Health Promotion Program. Corporate Health Promotion Plan support could include contributions of staff time or expertise, financial resources, agreement to endorse/support policy and environmental changes, or agreement to participate in, and voice their support for, changes in the worksite that will help to build a culture of health.

3. Build a business case for the Corporate Health Promotion Plan

There is a reason that more and more corporations are finding a way to promote the health of the employees via a Corporate Health Promotion Plan and policies: A Corporate Health Promotion Plan makes good business sense. workers with healthy behaviors, on average, are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism)1 and incur lower health care costs than staff members with less healthy behaviors.2,3 As a result it would be foolish not to have a Corporate Health Promotion Program.

4. When developing a Corporate Health Promotion Plan use what you know about leadership styles and the decision-making process within your company

Every company is different. Build upper management support for the Corporate Health Promotion Plan in the way that makes the most sense for your company. Think about the following as you plan how to approach upper management for Corporate Health Promotion Plan support:

• What are the current priorities and pressures facing executives? How could a Corporate Health Promotion Plan and a healthier workforce support those priorities?
• How do the leaders rather receive data: written documents? verbal presentations?
• What types of Corporate Health Promotion Plan information are likely to influence decisions? Do they want data and Corporate Health Promotion Plan statistics specific to your company, or are state or national data sufficient? Are the leaders more influenced by internal factors or by what competitors are doing?
• Who would the leaders see as a credible messenger for this Corporate Health Promotion Plan information? Does someone from the risk management area carry more clout than someone from the human resources area?
• How do decisions get made in your company? Informal committee meetings? Formal or informal meetings between executives? Plan accordingly and you increase the odds that the Corporate Health Promotion Plan will become a reality.

5. Maintain Corporate Health Promotion Plan support once you have it

Once you have appropriate Corporate Health Promotion Plan support, ensure that you maintain it by regularly updating the leaders on the health of the employees and progress toward establishing a culture that encourages health. Ask upper management how frequently they want to receive Corporate Health Promotion Plan progress reports.

Source Information:
1 Bunn, JOEM, 2006, 48:10.
2 Foldes, Bland, An et al. Modifiable Health Risks and Short-Term Health Care Costs. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota internal research, submitted for publication.
3 Anderson, 2000, American Journal of Health Promotion, 15:1.