logo
Wellness In The Workplace
June 2009
More In This Issue
Sign Up
Quick Links

The "Twip" of the Day

Are you "Following us on Twitter?" If so, you'll see that we're adding a "Twip" of the day. Yes, it's corny, but the information we'll provide in 140 characters or less, isn't. Follow us, and encourage your employees to follow us as well -- we think you'll find the information interesting and helpful. Here's the first Daily 'Twip': Taking the stairs for a total of 2 minutes, five days a week gives you the same calorie-burning results as a 20 minute walk.

wet carpet
Are You Investing in New Carpet and Ignoring a Leaking Roof?

Employee wellness is now a very big issue. Ignoring it means big costs.

We all know health care costs are escalating, but did you know that medical and pharmaceutical costs account for only 25 percent of an employer's total health costs. The other 75 percent: absenteeism, presenteeism, workers' compensation and short and long-term disability costs. In other words, health-related productivity costs are four times greater than an employer's medical and pharmaceutical costs.

The real success of a wellness program is best measured in the long term. Therefore, management must take a long-term leadership role. Applying online health risk assessments and office-based screening isn't the most effective approach to ensuring enthusiastic participation - because it doesn't touch people in their daily lives. The thing about wellness is that it's maybe the one area where upper management joins all employees in a common struggle, working toward a common goal. This means engagement and it means commitment.

A survey by HR consulting firm Hewitt Associates found that today, 33 percent of employers plan to increase their focus on wellness programs, making a long-term commitment to improving the health of employees and their families. The alternative is dropping health care benefits (something 19 percent of all companies say they plan to do in the next three to five years). And this opens up that "can of worms" that will eat away at attracting new employees and the retention of existing employees.

There's more. Employers are shifting more than just costs to employees as they try to contain and cut health care costs-they're shifting responsibility and they're doing it through, you guessed it, wellness programs. And, employees are responding.

A recent study by Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm that helps organizations improve performance through effective people, risk and financial management, found that those organizations focusing more on employee health and wellness (prevention and wellness programs), were able to reduce overall costs by up to $1,500 per employee. By emphasizing wellness programs that address core causes of health costs and lost productivity, organizations realize reductions in health care spending.

Median premiums for employer sponsored plans in 2008 averaged $751 per month per employee. In 2009, corporations will spend on average $796 per employee per month, a 6 percent increase. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, health insurance premiums for single workers rose 74 percent for small businesses from 2001 to 2008.

Given today's economic uncertainty, every dollar counts. Health care costs easily become a massive drain on your budget, including costs related to lost productivity. An investment in your most important asset, your human capital, pays tangible, enduring benefits. You count on your employees -- but at the same time, they are counting on you.
light bulb
Sometimes All It Takes Is a Simple Idea

And, often simple ideas will lead to big change.

While we hope you will consider LoneStart Wellness when you look at workplace wellness programs, we know many employers are currently attempting to address health care costs on their own. Here are eight ideas we've borrowed from the LoneStart Team Esteem Challenge you may find helpful.

  1. Offer a lunch and learn program to cover wellness issues once a month.
  2. Encourage employees to take micro breaks every 90 minutes, just enough time for a short walk and stretch, just not to the vending machine.
  3. Post "health-wise" communications around your work environment (posters and flyers) to remind employees that long-term wellness is all about starting with small choices, not large changes.
  4. Talk to your cafeteria service provider and ask that healthy choices be labeled to make it easier for employees to make better choices and move toward better nutrition.
  5. Look at vending machine options, and try to aim for at least a 60 percent ratio of "healthy choices."
  6. Offer a coupon or small incentive to any employee who wears their walking / athletic shoes on Friday -- and uses them to participate in a group "bag lunch and walk."
  7. Organize corporate teams of interested employees at all fitness levels for the walks, runs, and biking opportunities in your community -- they offer employees a chance to have fun together outside of the workplace.
  8. Create a recipe exchange -- of healthy recipes. Then expand it to a monthly contest of the most popular healthy recipe.

An effective employee wellness program recognizes that wellness is a lifelong journey and that participants must be engaged in the active process of making choices that will enhance their quality of life. The LoneStart Wellness Team Esteem Challenge (and the suggestions presented here), have been designed to provide employees with the support they need to engage in behaviors that will develop and sustain long-term health and wellness
soda
Calorie Bombs

Are You Drinking Calorie Bombs?

We recently posted this information about liquid calories on our Wellness and Well-being Blog. (You'll find a lot of provocative and useful information there.) And, even if your organization hasn't taken advantage of what the LoneStart Wellness Initiative and Team Esteem Challenge offer, we hope you'll take this information and share it with your employees.

It's not just what you eat. Liquids make up about 22 percent of our daily calories. A 12 oz. can of sweetened soda contains 150 calories and 10 teaspoons of sugar that do nothing at all to satisfy hunger. An extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds in a single year. The average American drinks about 2 cans of soda per day. By cutting soda and those 300 calories, you could save 8,400 calories in four weeks -- and lose about 2.4 pounds. And, this means you haven't consumed the equivalent of nine cups of sugar!

And, there's more. Liquid calories don't satisfy the appetite the way whole foods (even junk foods, shudder the thought) do. Why? When solid food is consumed before (snacks or appetizers) or during a meal, the volume and caloric content of that food limits what else you eat, or should eat, fairly proportionately. Most caloric drinks consumed before or during a meal are not satiating and have little or no effect on how much you eat in one sitting or over the course of several meals. Because liquids travel more quickly than food through the intestinal tract, they alter the rate of nutrient absorption, which can affect satiety hormones and signals. Through liquids, more calories are ingested in a short period of time.

When you consider that an appropriately sized meal is anywhere from 400 to 700 calories, and one 44-ounce Super-size Big Gulp is 800 calories, you start to see the extent of the problem. And, it's not just soft drinks. A 16-ounce Starbucks blended coffee Frappuccino is 470 calories.

Now, here's the good part. Since liquid calories don't contribute to feelings of satiety, cutting back on them shouldn't make you feel deprived-or hungry. Thinking along these lines -- this change is easier than some to make. And, water (I know, it doesn't sound exciting) is a healthful substitute.

This takes us back to "mindful eating," or in this case, drinking. The next time you drink a high-calorie soda or beverage (including specialty coffee drinks), check-in with your stomach an hour later. How do you feel?

Help us be sure this e-mail newsletter isn't filtered as spam. Please add our return address (information@lonestartnow.com) to your address book. That may 'whitelist' us with your filter-and ensure that future issues get through. Thanks!

If your organization is ready to take responsibility for promoting healthy lifestyles and a healthy work environment, LoneStart is an effective, low-cost and easy-to-administer employee wellness program, which functions equally well as a stand-alone initiative or as a high-impact jump-start to existing or proposed employee wellness strategies.

Contact us today to find out how the LoneStart Wellness Initiative will change your workplace.

Please share Wellness in the Workplace with colleagues.

Please forward this newsletter to friends and associates who will benefit from a workplace wellness strategy such as the LoneStart Wellness Initiative.

A Challenge. An Opportunity. A Solution.
The LoneStart Wellness Initiative
phone: 512.894.3440