By Jennifer Kluge
COO, Michigan Business & Professional Association
Does employees’ poor health matter? Yes, according to a Mayo Clinic Health Solutions study. The results indicate that companies should engage their employees to better manage lifestyle risks and common chronic conditions. Examples of high costs included:
• Depression costs U.S. employers more than $35 billion a year in reduced performance at work.
• On-the-job pain (including back pain, headaches and arthritis) costs employers nearly $47 billion a year in productivity loss.
• In one study, chronic conditions alone were estimated to cost The Dow Chemical Company more than $100 million annually in lost productivity for its U.S. work force — the equivalent of 6.8 percent of total lab costs for the company in 2002.
According to Mayo Clinic, the most prevalent lifestyle risk factors include:
• poor nutrition
• emotional health
• safety
• weight
To combat these risks, the study recommends designing a program for all employees: “For healthy employees, instill prevention and wellness education, self-care, and health advocacy. For those at risk, companies need to raise awareness of personal health risks and empower individuals with better information and resources to make treatment decisions and change unhealthy behaviors. Finally, for employees with chronic conditions, it’s critical to provide information that leads to better disease management.”
The study concludes with a survey by the National Business Group on Health/ Watson Wyatt which found that the best-performing employers in this arena held their average annual health cost increase to 5 percent, compared with a 15 percent increase for the lowest performers.
With those numbers it is clear that implementing prevention and healthy lifestyle programs can really pay off for businesses and their employees.
To view the complete study, visit http://www.hreonline.com/pdfs/05022008Extra_MayoCostOfHealth.pdf.
Related posts:
