'Healthier employees, better business' idea grows - Dallas Business Journal:

grearqakususi1426.blogspot.com
However, soon they began noticing that stores owners were recommending them to fellow franchiseexs andeven employees, so they retooled their marketing approach to targetr companies -- and especially executivezs -- that can spread the word from the top Ramsey said. "To us, it's a no-brainer," he added. "Ford everybody, 65 percent of your employeew are most likely overweight or have a problem related tobeint overweight.
" A consensus is growing among employerss that better employee health equals better business, but few actively link healthu and absence management programs to have the strongest impact on increasinbg employee productivity, according to the resultse of the Survey on Health, Productivity and Absence Management Programes 2007. Nearly two-fifths (39 percent) of more than 600 for-profitf and nonprofit employerssurveyed "strongly agreed" that improvin employee health is a core busineszs value and another 41 percent "agreed.
" But whil health benefit expense typically equals 16 percentt of payroll, the cost of absence programxs ­including incidental absence, short-term disability, long-term disability and workers'' compensation­ accounted for just 4 percentf of payroll, the study Only about one-fifth of respondents (17 percent) reported integratingt their health-care and disability programs, while nearlyg a quarter of employers (23 reported an increase in short-term disability claims from 2005 to and 15 percent saw a rise in the averager length of disability. "Any time an individual has a chronid condition and isat work, there is a question of theirr level of 'presentee-ism­.
' How much is their conditionj affecting their ability to be productive on the job?" said Missty Jaeger, Mercer's south zone leader for health and productivity One way that large companies coulds address the wellness-disability gap is by requiring employees on short-terjm disability to participate in relevant diseasde or health modification/coaching programs when they return to work, but only 6 percent of companies with more than 10,000 employees do so and only 4 percenr more offer an incentive to do so.
And companiezs of that size tend to be the onesthat set, rathedr than follow, benefit management However, the study found that 14 percentt of these employers are planningy to implement one of those approaches within the next year and anothet 41 percent are considering it. Such programs also can help to reduce re-injury and depression, which happens all too oftejn after an injured employee returns to Jaeger said. "If you've been out for six or 12 weeks or longer, you need to feel welcomed she said.
"The whole circle need s to be completewith doctors, case managers and the employer all workinhg together with the worker on their behalf to get back to Another promising trend that addressew the wellness-disability gap is a rise in on-site fitness centers and clinics for employees, Jaeger said. Abouf 23 percent of employers with atleasg 1,000 employees have on-site clinicsd and another 6 percent plan to add clinicss in 2008, according to a 2006-07 survey by humah resource consulting firm .
Companies that have recentlg opened on-site clinics include , and the Three years ago privatee poultry processing company launched a clinic near its Baldwinh plant forits 4,800 employeex in the hopes of saving costd on its self-insured health plan, said Deniss Ivester, group health and wellness manager. Although Fieldale has not tracked the impact ofthe clinic, which employeexs can visit for just a $10 co-pay, on the company is certain it has reducecd time away from work, she added.
"An employew can have a healthj center visit and be back to work in less than two includingdrive time," Ivester