Exercise and wellness programs, information, tips and resources

Exactly how can our business increase participation in the corporate wellness program?

Having a corporate health promotion program in place can improve morale, improve fitness and health and increase productivity in the worksite. Now that you have taken the steps necessary to begin a corporate health promotion program, how do you get your staff members interested and willing to participate?

By implementing healthy eating habits, exercise and offering incentives, your workers will not only sign up for the health promotion program, but they will stick with it.

Does your business have an onsite health club that personnel have access to? When not, offering free or discounted health club memberships to a local health club may be an effective method for getting personnel to exercise. Whether the health club is on or off-site nevertheless, allowing personnel to use the facility during work hours, such as on their lunch break, will increase the likelihood that they will exercise.

Rewarding employees’ achievements is another way to keep them aroused and living a healthy lifestyle. Establishing company objectives like collectively walking a certain number of miles, supports team building. Offering incentives like gift cards, certificates of achievement, and even a day off work can be effective ways to keep participation levels up.

Since there will likely be less sick days being used because of illness, your company may  be able to afford to offer a day off pass as an incentive. These incentives do not have to be expensive, just valuable to the staff member.

Providing a healthy lunch once a week for personnel participating in the corporate health plan, is a excellent way to promote healthy eating. Offering an incentive of healthy, delicious, free food is one way to reward personnel for their efforts while supporting their new healthy lifestyle.

Having a corporate health promotion program in place will provide long term benefits to both the organization and the staff. This is one corporate plan that is definitely worth your time and money!

Why should our organization host a corporate wellness fair?

Do you work in your company’s HR department? Are you looking for events to plan for your organization this year? When so, it’d be a great idea to look into hosting a corporate health fair. Corporate health fairs are valuable to both the corporation and the staff member because they promote overall health, awareness and prevention.

What kind of providers are at a health fair?

There are lots of vendors to pick from when bringing a corporate health fair to your corporation.  The most popular vendors include dentists, massage therapists, chiropractors, nutritionists and the American Red Cross. These few popular vendors are a part of a long list available to attend health fairs.

How do we pick which providers to include in the wellness fair?

While most providers are excellent for all workers, there are some providers available for companies with a specific demographic. for  instance, when your organization has a lot of pregnant women or women of child bearing age, it might be a good idea to have a provider namely talking about prenatal care.

When there are a lot of smokers at your organization, you might want to have the American Lung Association present. Attempt to choose providers that meet your employees’ needs. Remember that hosting a corporate wellness fair is meant to be beneficial to them.

When should we hold a wellness fair?

Anytime is a excellent time to host a wellness fair. However, you may want to consider not scheduling around holidays or busy seasons so that you can maximize participation. Another excellent choice is having the corporate wellness fair on a weekend and making it family friendly. Corporate wellness fairs help keep everyone healthful, thus increasing work productivity.

Not only does hosting a corporate health fair promote health, it also builds camaraderie between colleagues, bettering team building and communication in the office. It’s a win-win for both the corporation and the employee!

Health promotion programs have been shown to lower rates of absenteeism, employee turnover rates, and health care costs. It is a key piece of a company’s success.  The results of these wellness programs lead to higher productivity, which in the end leads to a more profitable business.

In order for these wellness programs to run properly and produce results they must have a clear operating plan with an attainable and measurable goal.  The wellness programs must also encourage all personnel to lead a healthy lifestyle while at work and at home.

Health promotion programs have been introduced to organizations all over the United States to make staff members healthier and in turn happier. Businesses which implement these health promotion programs do so to varying degrees. Some simply offer literature about how to live a healthful lifestyle and reduce stress while at work.

Some businesses offer health screenings and health risk assessments for free during the year to help staff understand what is going on with their health and what they can do to improve it.

At the top of the list, there are the corporations which providefree, on-site fitness clubs and aerobics programs to be used during lunchtime breaks or after work. No matter what’s offered it would be a waste not to take advantage of these health promotion programs.

It requires cautious planning and thought to begin health promotion programs. Once a health promotion program is put into place it is very crucial to reassess and analyze it a few times in order to reach the primary goal -  healthier staff members.

All the health promotion programs that are put in place must be evaluated after a determined time frame to help the business understand what needs to be changed or kept in place to maintain corporate health promotion.

Everyone knows today that working in corporate America may be a stressful situation. It seems that workforce are expected to work longer hours and spend more time away from home. Long commutes and big amounts of work are taking its toll on American office employees. Something should be done; company wellness is a good way to begin to help all those stressed out employees.

Starting corporation wellness programs can help develop a healthy culture. There must be an incentive program set up to drive interest to wanting to be more health conscious. Making good decisions that affect health now and in the future must be rewarded as individual’s goals are met.

There are a number of health promotion program ideas that a company health promotion program can help plan for. Some ideas include giving out maps of walking or jogging trails located near the workplace. It is a good idea to post a steps collected map on the workplace wall where all staff can log their steps or miles.

Be certain to help encourage walkers, joggers,, and those who enjoy other forms of exercise to form exercise groups to meet before work, at lunch, or after work.

In a company environment, relationship development is also an area where aligning cultural touch points are necessary. Be certain to work culture affects health practices.

Workers will either form personal relationships in a bad way, like tobacco use in the break room, or they’ll form relationships doing something more physical like going for a round of golf for relaxation and developing friendships with fellow employees. Be certain to work should be done to create healthy venues to create professional friendships and relationships.

There are so many good benefits for a corporation selecting  to make corporation wellness a priority. Staff Members who participate in health promotion programs are more likely to be the best staff members.

Peer relationships in the workplace are important to creating a healthy lifestyle culture that lasts.  As an added bonus, overall job satisfaction is better when workers are feeling well and healthy while doing their work.

Employee health promotion is among the most crucial investments which a corporation will make. Organizations which commence health promotion programs are not simply investing in the physical health and wellness, safety, and psychological health of their employees, but they are likewise taking preventive steps by building a much healthier atmosphere.

By commencing a wellness program, corporations can increase the overall productiveness and can reduce costs on healthcare costs. All too often, corporations are concerned about the true wellness Return On Investment (ROI) however the reality is that by encouraging healthier life choices, corporations are creating healthier workforce who’ll work more diligently and miss fewer days of work due to illness.

It’s crucial that companies not merely supply company wellness options for their employees, but that they also maintain ongoing knowledge about wellness and safety techniques. Companys need to keep up to date on health statistics and stay conscious of ways to motivate specific wellness issues like tobacco cessation or weight reduction.

It is often helpful for a business to consult with doctors who take part in medical CME so that they are current with how they may assist their workforce in maintaining wellness.

Additionally, if a organization maintains an onsite gym, it’s necessary that the organization employs person who’ve received the appropriate training and certification, which makes up the gym management, to assist personnel with exercising safely.

While organizations may establish a extensive wellness program with a lot of choices, an incentive wellness program is usually necessary to encourage employees to actually participate in the programs.

Whether one is building a employee health promotion Chicago or a employee health promotion small-town Nebraska program, the issue that companies often have in common, is the lack of motivation of staff to actually participate. Providing incentives for staff, like a free lunch or gift cards, might  be simple enough rewards to encourage staff to take part in employee health promotion.

Do you know the fastest-growing reason for employee assistance program use since 2003?

It isn’t for substance abuse or depression. Actually, it’s financial in nature. Over the last five years, there’s been a announced 69% jump in worker employee assistance program (EAP) use related to personal financial concerns.

The trend is not all that surprising in this era of salary freezes, high deductibles and cost-sharing of benefits premiums.

Statistics show that, for the first time since the Great Depression, the typical American has negative savings â.” in other words, debt exceeds income â.” in a typical month.

Many personnel are racking up high credit card debt, make the problem worse.

Troubling trends

Here are some ominous numbers from a recent employee survey -

o  27% of respondents said they were “one major setback away from financial disaster”

o  22 percent say they were “worse off than last year, with less take-home income and more debt”

o  40% say their company is “insensitive to their employees’ financial needs,” and

o  only 6% said they felt comfortable with their current financial situation and ability to manage their debts.

The majority of personal-finance related EAP use arises from concerns over debt management, household refinancing and/or failed investments.

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Authorizing employees to bring camera phones to work can carry hidden legal risks.

But should you tackle this issue aggressively or trust your personnel to do the right thing?  Every corporation wants to create an environment where personnel feel trusted by management. But there’s also the need to stay protected legally, and it isn’t always easy to balance the two.

The cell phone issue is especially delicate since most employees carry them nowadays, and improper use at work is a non-issue for the vast majority. But there are always a few bad apples in every bunch.

Growing number of complaints

There has been an explosion of lawsuits â.” and complaints to senior level management â.” about personnel taking inappropriate photos at work with their cell phone cameras.

Most cases revolve around embarassing or expliclit photos of colleagues (sometimes but not always posted on the Internet or e-mailed to others in the office). Nonetheless, a handful of lawsuits have arisen from staff taking photos of confidential documents or other internal information.

As most benefits and HR veterans would tell you, the most valuable benefit an organization can offer its workforce is a worksite where they feel trusted and valued. Contrarily, it only takes one “joke” gone too far to stir up a hornet’s nest of trouble.  And no company is immune from this risk.

Three options

One step every business ought to take is circulating a memo or having a face-to-face meeting with staff members about the need to restrict camera phone use at work, says labor lawyer William Hannum.

This is the time to answer questions and make clear that the policy is a matter of a legal concern, not a case of Big Brother watching over employees’ shoulders. for added legal protection, you may want to develop a formal camera phone policy to be written worker handbooks.

Some employers have gone so far as to take the step of banning camera phone (or personal cell phone) use at work and prohibiting people  from posting personal photos or videos from business computers.

Nevertheless, these policies are difficult to enforce and run the risk of alienating the majority of personnel who use the devices responsibly.

As an alternative, several firms that have not banned camera phones have had staff members sign a policy that gives managers permission to review photos or videos on the phone when there’s a complaint. If you go down either of these routes, remember -

o  The policy should be enforced consistently

o  your policy must specify specific steps for filing and analyzing  a complaint, and

o  The policy should obviously specify the disciplinary steps for violations.

The enforcement aspect is namely tricky. In cases where the phones are corporation property, businesss obviously have the right to control non-work use â.” which includes requiring workers to turn over the contents stored on the phone in cases of suspected abuse. Workers have no legal expectation of privacy in such cases.

Notwithstanding, there’s a slippery slope when the phone is an employee’s property.  As a rule of thumb, businesss generally have the right to inspect the contents as they pertain to alleged inappropriate behavior within the worksite.

Where it gets tricky is dealing with behavior that takes places on the employee’s private time, but overlaps with the worksite (e.g., staff go out socializing at a bar after work, and potentially embarassing camera phone photos get spread around the worksite). Legal experts caution companys to tread very carefully in these cases.

Where does your business stand?

Does your organization have â.” or is considering a policy on staff member camera phones? Do you think such policies are workable or even appropriate?

In my conversations with attendees at the SHRM conference in Chicago, HR and benefits managers appear to be divided on the issue.

In a value-based plan, the idea is to reward personnel for seeking treatments that promote wellness.

The more clinically viable the treatment, the less an employee pays out of pocket for it.

Example -  Women over 40 and younger workers with a family history of breast cancer pay less for a each year mammogram than workers for whom the test isn’t as necessary.

Value-based plans often work better than high-deductible plans when used in combination with standard wellness program features such as health risk appraisals.

Five target areas

According to the May 2008 issue of Simply Well, there are four quality-of-care criteria that have emerged as key benchmarks of the quality of care - health care management, preventive screenings and treatments, member service and access to care.

Areas of care that are of particular concern -

o  Employees’ dependents receiving appropriate and timely childhood/adolescent immunizations

o  Breast cancer screenings for female medical plan enrollees, ages 52 to 64

o  Diabetic workers receiving hemoglobin A1C and LDL-C testing

o  Members receiving proper referrals and treatment for mental health issues (e.g., main care doctor refers a patient to a professional to ensure proper prescription and management of an anti-depressant medication)

o  Pregnant employees receivig time and appropriate prenatal and postpartum care, and avoidance of antibiotic treatment in adults with acute bronchitis.

The quality of care for a lot of of the aforementioned issues can suffer when staff members foot too much of the bill out of their own pockets.

The hope for value-based plans is that personnel get some cost relief and obtain treatments that’ll reduce costs in the long run.

As scary as they seem at first glance, complying with HIPAA’s privacy rules may be relatively painless.

Contrary to common belief, the rules â.” with a few key exceptions â.” apply only to a fraction of the medical information Benefits handles.

As long as the business remains legally “hands off” of employee’s private medical information, you can dodge most of the HIPAA bullet.

For health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) privacy purposes, your firm is considered “hands off” even when you obtain de-identified personal information, aggregate claims data and routine enrollment info.

Bottom line - When your organization’s heath plans are fully insured and the claims administered through a TPA, the insurance corporation â.” not your firm â.” bears the brunt of the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) privacy compliance responsibility.

One major exception -  medical cafeteria plans. In most cases, you have two compliance choices -

o  Process reimbursement requests first through your TPA, with the TPA making sure the claim qualifies underneath the terms of the cafeteria plan before your firm reimburses it, or

o  Develop a written cafeteria plan privacy policy, issue a notice to employees, appoint a privacy officer and amend your plan documents.

Rarely affects FMLA

A lot of individuals  â.” including healthcare providers â.” misunderstand how health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) affects medical certifications for FMLA leave.  The key - health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) only applies to personal information that filters through your health plan, not certifications acquired from a doctor.

Under FMLA, you’re permitted to obtain the minimum information you need to approve and administer leave. Likewise, health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) doesn’t apply to most workers’ comp, return-to-work notices or disability claims.

Even so, it pays to be careful how you ask for and use the information. Other state and federal privacy laws often protect the same types of info individuals  assume falls under health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA).

Following procedures

The health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) privacy rules are heavy on paperwork and procedure.

But as long as your firm follows  the info-gathering process spelled out in your health plan documents, the HIPAA privacy rules should present few major obstacles.

Many firms are still missing an opportunity to trim some health plan expenditures.

Generic versions of high-cholesterol drug Zocor have been on market for two years now, but a fair share of company drug store plans have yet to make the switch.

If your PBM gives generic Zocor favored status on the formulary, now’s a good time to remind employees -

o  most individuals  on cholesterol-control meds will get the same therapeutic value from generic Zocor as from the label brand and the more potent â.” and still patented â.” Lipitor

o   they are able to save $10 to $50 (or more, depending on your drug plan design) on their co-pay by switching, but

o   they ought to ask their physician first. People  with cholesterol levels over 200 and/or family histories of  ultra-high cholesterol may  be better off staying on Lipitor.

Reason -  It takes four times the amount of a Zocor-type medication  to equal one dose of Lipitor.