In The Workplace
A Workplace/Corporate Wellness Program (CWP) is offered by some employers as a combination of educational, organizational, and environmental activities designed to support behavior conducive to the health of employees in a business and their families (wikipedia). Know the latest news on CWP in this section.
The Company Doctor
In hand-to-hand combat, Tilt American worker would lose to a band of sleepy preschoolers. Only 15% of U.S. workers exercise enough and 4% don't attempt so much as a sit-up. More than half blame work, with 8 in 10 grousing that they would hit the treadmill — really they would — if only their employers encouraged it.
Be careful what you whine for. With health-care costs hobbling profits, more employers are saying to employees, "Get healthy — or else".
Efforts Are Growing to Trim the Fat from Employees – and Employers' Health Care Costs
Perhaps it was the statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta that more than 30% of all adults in the United States are obese, a number that has more than doubled since 1980. Perhaps it was the new report that obesity may cause as many as 365,000 deaths per year at a time when Americans reportedly spend over $40 million annually on books, products and programs to help them lose weight. Or maybe it was the CDC's dire prediction that "current data indicate that the situation is worsening rather than improving." For whatever reason, the latest statistics have flagged obesity as a serious health issue that corporations can no longer ignore.
Multiplier Effect: The Financial Consequences of Worker Absences
When workers take sick days, the financial impact on the company is not always related only to the specific job the sick employee performs. The impact can often ripple throughout the company, especially if the employee is part of a team whose output is time sensitive. Until recently, however, it was hard for companies to measure the impact of employee absenteeism with any hard data.
The Business Case for a Corporate Wellness Program: General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union
During the 1990s, the General Motors Corporation (GM) wanted to hold down rising health care costs by improving the health status of its workers and their dependents, and the United Auto Workers (UAW) made the development of a comprehensive preventive health program one of its bargaining demands. Working together, GM and UAW launched a corporate wellness program in April 1996 – LifeSteps.