Corporate Wellness ConsultantsCorporate Wellness Consultants and Corporate Wellness Programs

Corporate Wellness Director Hayley Hines Joins Firm

DALLAS — Lockton Dunning Benefits has expanded its clinical capabilities by adding Hayley Hines as Director of Wellness in Dallas. Hines has 11 years of experience in corporate wellness and health promotion. Lockton Dunning Benefits is a unit of the Lockton Companies, the world’s largest privately held independent insurance broker.

“Changing healthcare behavior is critical to improving employee health, productivity, and morale,” said Larry Levy, MD, Medical Director of Lockton Dunning Benefits. “Hayley adds valuable skills to help employers encourage healthy living.”

Bruce Sammis, CEO of Lockton Dunning Benefits, adds, “Hayley joins our rapidly expanding team of clinicians that, when combined with our traditional health and welfare consulting teams and our actuarial practice, gives our clients a unique set of resources to battle the rising cost of healthcare.”

Hayley Hines graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition. In her many speaking engagements, Hines has delivered presentations on healthy cooking, raw food preparation, healthy kitchen makeovers, and nutrition for children.

Note to editors:

Lockton is the largest independent, privately owned, global insurance broker and employs more than 3,800 people. Lockton delivers services throughout the world to businesses of all sizes, as well as individual clients. It was founded by Jack Lockton in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, in 1966 and from a modest, home-based insurance agency, has become the 10th largest insurance broker in the world. For more information on Lockton and its insurance and employee benefits services, please visit www.lockton.com.

Ever thought about implementing a corporate health and wellness program, but not sure what the benefits are – or even where to start? We put your most-asked questions to three industry experts.

HRM. What are the expected benefits of implementing a corporate health and wellness programs?

TD. The benefits of a corporate wellness program are lowered medical costs, improved productivity, happier, healthier and more loyal employees, and lower disease prevalence rates. When a high-quality program is implemented, and motivation to take a program is changed from extrinsic motivation (incentives and rewards) to intrinsic motivation (“I want to be healthier”) the programs can improve an employee’s self-perceived quality of health and quality of life. These changes lead to the benefits listed above. Simple programming that is just a collection of tools and resources does not accomplish this.

TM. A healthier workforce will incur fewer claims, be more productive, have less absenteeism/presenteeism. Also, corporate health and wellness programs don’t require any employer investment. So what logical reason would an employer have to not implement a health and wellness program? Employers of all sizes and industries seeking to reduce their insurance costs should understand that claims are primarily driving the increases. Risks – specifically the behavioral and lifestyle risks of your employees – fuel claims. Thus to reduce cost we must reduce risk, as cost follows risk. Most benefit plan designs incorporate early detection to identify once we’ve failed to keep an employee healthy but fall short of truly maintaining and improving the health of the workforce.

To learn more about the benefits, please consider attending a complementary educational webinar hosted weekly by Wellspring Healthcare Enterprises, Inc. by registering on-line, www.wellspringhealthcare.org or by calling 877-935-5777 ext. 33.

RP. Worksites can be instrumental in improving the health of employees. Most adults spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else, making it an ideal setting for health promotion activities including the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits. The worksite organizational culture and environment are powerful influences on one’s behavior, and this should be put to use as a means of assisting employees to adopt a healthier lifestyle. There is significant research that supports the benefits of corporate health and wellness programs not only for employees but for the organization as well.

A US Department of Health and Human Services report revealed that at worksites with physical activity programs, employers have:

• Reduced healthcare costs by 20 to 55 percent
• Reduced short-term sick leave by 6 to 32 percent
• Increased productivity by 2 to 52 percent

HRM. How important are wellness programs in driving down healthcare costs for an organization?

RP. Wellness programs can have a significant impact on driving down healthcare costs for an organization because it is lifestyle issues that have the greatest influence on one’s health. Wellness programs can address such issues as weight reduction, improved physical fitness, decreasing stress levels, improved mental health, increased stamina and assist in increasing overall well-being. As employees address these issues we see the benefits not only in reduced healthcare costs but also in decreased rates of illness and injuries, reduced employee absenteeism, improved employee relations and morale and, of course, increased productivity.

TD. Several randomized control trials conducted by HealthMedia show that high-quality, scalable, low-cost interventions can lower health care costs from $110 per participant to as much as $650 per participant. The ROI therefore is a function of the cost of the intervention. By using sophisticated technology, we developed a method of duplicating a health coaching telephonic call on the web, without the telephonic coach. This high-quality, low-cost approach can provide a very substantial ROI and tremendous productivity gains. So, while lowering medical costs is essential, do not forget about the benefits of productivity gain.

TM. Corporate health and wellness programs are an imperative component of a proactive benefit plan design. What are the goals of your benefit plan design? Is it to, first, improve the health of the workforce and, secondly, pay for medical services when you’ve failed to do so (proactive approach) or simply to pay claims (reactive)?

While many factors impact the healthcare costs of an employer (especially the five percent of the employees incurring 60 percent or more of the costs), an effective wellness and prevention program is extraordinarily important to keep the low risk employees low risk and to keep the moderate risk employees from progressing to high risk. There is a positive correlation between the number of behavioral and lifestyle risk factors of your workforce and their cost to your organization. Remember, costs increase as risks increase more quickly than costs decrease as risk decreases, so a corporate wellness program that simply keeps your workforce at their baseline health status (versus worsening, as our society is) would be a very effective risk management initiative!

HRM. What are some best practices for implementing successful wellness programs?

TM. In the last half of 2007 and into 2008, there are five best practices expected to have the greatest impact to the success of employers’ wellness and prevention programs:

1. Implementing comprehensive programming that incorporates the five essential elements of an effective corporate wellness program including: Assessment, Intervention, Education, Access, and Incentives for the employee and spouse.
2. Offer post-HRA consultants (commonly called Health Risk Reviews) to employees and spouses of all risk levels of risk through one-on-one consultations with a Certified Health Coach. While disease management programs only intervene with high risk employees, an effective wellness and prevention program will incorporate face-to-face counseling for all employees and spouses.
3. To drive participation, use a carrot/stick approach to motivate employees and dependents to participate. The most common practice is to charge employees who do not take their Health Risk Assessment and meet with their Health Coach to review the results a $25 additional premium (the stick) for their monthly benefit contribution. Once those two activities are completed, positive reinforcement works best and typically incorporates a points-based tracking model resulting in rewards (the carrot).
4. Year round education is key to program success. Monthly, on-site health presentations and workshops are very popular with employees and effective in promoting good health and are available without any cost to employers.
5. As the typical comprehensive wellness program costs $1.50 pepm to $3 pepm, employers are building the cost into the employees’ required benefit contribution.

RP. Some of the best practices for implementing a successful wellness program begin with assessing the unique needs and risks of the workforce. This may involve the use of an extensive health risk appraisal (HRA) that, coupled with healthcare expenditure data, can provide meaningful insight into both the design and priorities of a wellness program. In addition, forming a wellness committee comprised of a cross representation of the organization can assist in promoting and communicating the benefits of the wellness program to the entire workforce. Such a committee can serve in an advisory capacity to the wellness program but they also become internal champions on the benefits and value of wellness influencing the organizational culture. Finally, in order to promote widespread usage of a wellness program, employers should consider creative incentives to motivate and encourage program use.

TD. Best practices are to use incentives to entice employees into a program (extrinsic motivation), but help employees want to become healthier (intrinsic motivation). Most companies do not do this. If you pay employees $400 to take a program, why do you think they take the program? Do you really expect this will promote lasting change?

The other best practice is to provide a high-quality intervention. Too many organizations offer generic content, simplistic tools, tips and resources. We have known for 50 years that information does not change behavior. Everyone knows that smoking, obesity, stress, bad diets and poor sleep habits are unhealthy. The best practice is to follow these guidelines for offering a true intervention:

• Effective engagement.
• A detailed assessment to understand a person’s unique motivation, confidence and change barriers.
• A structured treatment plan that establishes an emotional connection, follows proven clinical guidelines, incorporates proven behavioral science models, and is uniquely tailored to each individual.
• Quantifiable outcomes measures.

HRM. Employers seem to be struggling with employee participation. What are the factors surrounding low participation rates?

TD. The first cause of low participation is the reliance on incentives only. Offering a modest incentive for participating in a HRA is good; however, this by itself is insufficient.

Intelligent recruitment is key. Using the results of the HRA, PHR, EMR or claims system and intelligently recruiting participants into a behavior change intervention for weight management, physical activity, nutrition counseling, stress management, back care, sleeping problems, smoking cessation, depression or disease management is the key to high participation. This means looking not only at their epidemiological need, but also their stage of change, motivation, self-confidence, barriers to change, and demographics to tailor a communication to drive them into a program. This intelligence dramatically increases participation and efficacy, and is a requirement for future programming.

The next factor is offering the right programs in the right media. Employees want effective, high-quality, convenient and private programming that they can use when and where it is convenient for them.

Finally, a strong culture of health, including executive management support, is fundamental and will dramatically improve participation. A HealthMedia customer recently offered a modest incentive to complete an HRA and got better than a 50 percent participation rate. By using the HRA results to identify and recruit participants, offering high-quality, convenient and private web-based interventions, and having a strong culture of health, the organization was able to drive 30 percent of the HRA participants into a wellness or DM intervention within 45 days of launch.

TM. Unfortunately, participation is fueled by incentives. Negative incentives (penalties) tend to be the most effective to get the employee initially engaged to take the HRA and meeting with the Health Coach for the Health Risk Review (post-HRA consultation). Thereafter, positive incentives fuel on-going participation. Most employers are now following the best practice to have the wellness program to be self-supporting financially while recognizing 95 percent+ participation when following the carrot/stick approach.

RP. Certainly the use of incentives plays a significant role in the level of employee participation. Incentives may range from discounted insurance premiums and expanded benefits to cash. Employers can offer their employees immediate incentives for participating in a program or for achieving certain short-term goals. In the process, employers’ gain a greater return on investment (ROI) from increased program participation and the employee gains the immediate incentive, as well as the benefits associated with a healthier lifestyle. Everyone approaches wellness and lifestyle changes with varying levels of motivation and this, along with incentives, can play a role in participation rates. Understanding where people are in the change process is critical to ensuring a successful outcome and high participation rates.

HRM. There seems to be a new trend towards customization of wellness programs for each individual employee. How feasible is this practice? Would it cause a significant increase in participation?

RP. Customizing wellness programs at the individual employee level has become an increasing trend and necessary, in part, because a cookie cutter approach to individual wellness does not resonate with an individual who believes their needs and concerns are unique from everyone else. Many wellness programs are offering coaching or on-line interventions that allow individuals to work with a wellness expert around his or her unique wellness goals and to develop specific and realistic activities (based upon individual motivation levels) to achieve those goals. Such programs have the potential to not only increase participation rates but to also maintain higher levels of engagement for extended periods of time.

TD. Yes, tailoring a program for each individual increases participation, efficacy and ROI. The key is scalability. At HealthMedia, we devised a technology and methodology to emulate a nurse coaching session on the web, without the cost of the nurse. Each person gets an individually tailored program that looks like it was written for that person by a team of professionals. It is time for the health care industry to learn from other industries. Consider the automated teller in the bank and the self-service airline kiosk. The bank teller and the airline check-in person are still there, but the vast majority of people use the more effective and convenient personal technology solution. We took the same approach of combining advanced technology with proven behavioral science to deliver a scalable, convenient and effective solution for the health care industry.

The other key is understanding the difference between “targeted” and “tailored”. “Tailored” means the intervention is maximally customized to each individual based on motivation, self-confidence, barriers, personal and family history, prior attempts at dealing with the behavior, relationship with their doctor, etc. Many organizations refer to things like RSS feeds or targeted recipes as “tailored programs,” however, they do not address the person’s needs or include behavior change science, and thus are targeted – not tailored. Research shows that higher levels of tailoring result in higher participation, efficacy, and ROI.

TM. You hit upon two distinct areas. First, the available intervention (health improvement activities) should be multifaceted to increase the likelihood that employees will find at least one forum to get engaged. I wouldn’t consider that customization as much as offering options. Second, each employee’s motivation can be quite different. The employee’s Health Coach should review the HRA results, discuss key metrics (Health Age, Wellness Scores, Risk Factors) and apply that to the participant’s own motivation. For example, if Bob could increase his life expectancy by 10 years by changing some behaviors, the Health Coach would identify why those 10 years would be most important to Bob and leverage that to motivate him.

HRM. What are your predictions for the future of corporate health and wellness programs?

TM. The most significant change likely to occur is employers’ increased unwillingness to pay for corporate health and wellness programs and, instead, pass the cost (~$1.50 to $3.00 pepm) off the employee as an increased contribution to be on the medical plan. Secondly, the growth of voluntary-based wellness programs is phenomenal whereby each employee can elect to participate through a payroll deduction.

RP. Wellness programs will continue to flourish based upon the overall health crisis we are facing in this country; however, they will also need to continue to demonstrate their ROI in both the short and long-term. Wellness is an issue that requires significant lifestyle and attitude changes and, as such, we will likely see increasing numbers of wellness programs designed and implemented in both primary and secondary school settings in order to influence healthier lifestyle habits at a younger age. In addition, technology will continue to be leveraged to offer wellness solutions and interactive health programs designed for both self-serve or self pace activities as well as interactive programs with a health coach.

TD. We see several trends with health and wellness:

• Scalability. Scalability is the new black. Offering high-quality interventions that scale across large populations is the most important trend in health care.
• Productivity. Adding productivity impairment reduction to the ROI is essential. Many organizations do not realize that productivity impairment resulting from health issues is greater than medical costs. Understanding where this impairment is sucking off profitability in an organization and then addressing it is a key trend.
• Intelligent recruitment. Using information about a person’s needs, stage of change, motivation, self-confidence, and barriers to recruit the person into the right intervention dramatically impacts participation and efficacy.
• Sleep and depression. These two issues are becoming extremely important to health and wellness.
• An integrated approach to wellness, disease management and behavioral health. A person with diabetes is typically overweight, sedentary, depressed and hypertensive, has poor nutritional habits and high cholesterol, and may be on the verge of a heart attack. These issues cross wellness, disease management and behavioral health. Offering high-quality programming that meets each person’s individual needs requires the marrying of these classically siloed programs.

Rich Paul, MSW, CEAP

Rich Paul serves as vice president of health and performance solutions within the employer solutions division of ValueOptions. Paul is responsible for the implementation of company-wide EAP best practice initiatives, product development, as well as quality practices and standards. He has 15 years experience within the EAP and behavioral health field.

He is President of the Employee Assistance Society of North America and has authored over a dozen articles and is a frequent speaker on a variety of issues that impact upon productivity and organizational performance. He obtained his Master of Social Work and post-graduate certificate in Business Administration from the University of Illinois in Chicago, with a concentration in Occupational Social Work and Organizational Development services.

TED DACKO

Ted Dacko is President and CEO of HealthMedia Inc. Ted has more than 30 years of experience in executive-level management, including sales, marketing, and the Chief Executive Office, principally in the area of software services and solutions. He is an expert in the use of revolutionary, scalable online interventions to educate, motivate and empower individuals to change behavior.

Thomas J. Montgomery, MHA, MBA

Montgomery has a Master in Health Administration (MHA) from the prestigious University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Business.

Montgomery has worked in the healthcare industry since 1989, covering a whole range of employment and management experiences. He formed Wellspring Healthcare Enterprises Inc. (of which is he President and CEO) with the goal of creating affordable and effective means of reducing insurance costs for employers while improving the overall health of the employee population. Since 1999, Wellspring has assisted over 150 clients implement wellness and prevention programs including employers of all sizes, industries, and geographic locations.

CONTACT INFO
Wellspring Healthcare Enterprises Inc.
821D Eva Street, #115
Montgomery, TX 77356
Phone: 877-WELLSPRING (877-935-5777)
Fax: 214-291-5845

Corporate wellness, once perceived as a warm-and-fuzzy feel-good business practice, is now considered a bottom-line driver, according to industry experts.

Dramatic growth in corporate-wellness programs began in the early to mid-1990s when the economy was booming. Employers struggling to land good workers used the programs as perks to create a more attractive work environment.

But as the economy began to sag, corporate wellness gurus found it more difficult to convince businesses they had a financial interest in preventing their workers’ bellies from sagging, too.

“With the recent economy, corporate wellness did slow a little bit,” said Tom Farrington, corporate wellness consultant for Community Health Network. “It was almost a knee-jerk reaction. But the spirit now is, ‘How can we afford to do without corporate wellness?…

“The key for companies’ decisions regarding these programs quickly became return-on-investment,” agreed Patty Hollingsworth, director of health promotions for St. Vincent Hospitals and Health Services.

Though Hollingsworth said the positive effects could “be seen on the faces” of workers and in their performance, many corporate chiefs wanted quantifiable proof.

Industry experts said several factors, including productivity and reduced absenteeism, show the monetary benefit of corporate wellness. But escalating health care costs are giving those selling corporate wellness plans a hammer to drive home their point.

“For many companies, employee health care costs were going up two, three, four times as much as the year before,” said Sally Stephens, president of Indianapolis based wellness program provider Spectrum Health Systems LLC. “Employers realized they needed to be proactive.”

Stephens said workers need guidance on how to access their health care plan properly and better manage chronic conditions or reduce risk factors by altering lifestyles.

Early corporate-wellness programs often offered blood pressure and cholesterol screenings and flu shots, usually at the workplace.

As the field matured, more services were added, including help with medical selfcare, fitness and exercise seminars and programs, nutrition education, and smoking-cessation programs.

“You have to get people to look at the bigger picture and you have to offer them a complete wellness program,” said Bill Burgman, National Institute for Fitness and Sport director of corporate fitness management. “You have to have regular contact with a work force for these programs to work and you have to get people to buy into them.”

The buy-in is the tricky part.

“You have to look at the psychology of behavior change,” Burgman said. “It’s easy to get fit people to participate. You have to have incentives to get the other people to participate.”

Incentives can be anything from paid time off to free sporting- or entertainment-event tickets to gift certificates for participating and achieving stated goals. There is an up-front investment for employers, including payment to corporate wellness experts, giving employees time off to participate, and providing incentives.

But corporate wellness experts across the board said the return on investment is significant. A broadening body of statistics demonstrates the programs’ effectiveness.

According to a study published by the American Journal of Health Promotions, for every $1 spent on wellness programs, employers can expect a return of $2.30 to $10.10 through lower medical claims, reduced absenteeism, improved productivity and other factors.

“Granted, the return on investment is a wide range,” Farrington said. “But, in almost every instance when a wellness program is put in place, a return can be demonstrated. It’s critical to give employers monthly, quarterly and annual reports.”

Spectrum’s Stevens said her clients generally see a $3.30 return for every $1 spent within the first year.

“Some programs take three to five years to fully realize the return,” she said.

St. Vincent’s Hollingsworth said her company’s clients show at least a 2-to-1 return initially.

Companies in various industries nationwide report saving millions of dollars due to corporate wellness programs.

* Everett, Wash.-based Providence Health System showed a company savings of $1.5 million, with $4.24 saved for every $1 spent over three years, according to company officials.

* Officials for Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont Co. cited a 47.5- percent drop in absenteeism over a six-year period for participants in their wellness program.

* Medical claims were 55 percent lower over six years for employees participating in a wellness program compared with those not in the program at Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Steelcase Inc., according to company officials. That statistic, however, could be explained by the tendency for healthy people to more readily participate in the plans.

* Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Railroad, with mostly union and blue-collar employees, introduced an employee wellness program after its medical costs soared to $6,000 per employee. After Union Pacific officials instituted what they called “a modest wellness program,” they reported saving $1.26 million in health care costs in just one year, more than 50 percent more than they invested in the program.

* Superior Coffee and Foods, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Sara Lee, reported the wellness program for its 1,200 employees showed 22 percent fewer hospital admissions, 29-percent shorter hospital stays and 42-percent lower expenses per admission when compared with other divisions. Long-term disability costs dropped 40 percent.

* The Canadian Life Assurance Co. found turnover among wellness- program participants was reduced 32.4 percent over a seven-year period.

As the proof of corporate wellness program’s effectiveness rises, Stephens said, more Fortune 500 companies are developing in-house departments to take care of it, while smaller companies are turning to outside agencies in growing numbers to administer their programs.

“Even in light of the recent economic downturn, corporate wellness hasn’t really been a difficult sell,” NIF’s Burgman said. “Very good and accurate methods of measuring the benefits of these programs have been developed. A CEO can see for himself what’s achieved.”

Most people spend more hours at work than anywhere else in addition to the time they spend commuting each day. In fact, the typical American works approximately 47 hours a week which is at least 164 hours more than the average 20 years ago. Given these statistics, it is easy to see why maintaining a healthy work / life balance is becoming increasingly important. Corporate wellness programs important tools to establish this balance. Programs that emphasize the benefits of corporate wellness can be implemented in a variety of ways. However, they all share a common goal – to promote the well-being of their employees, employers and organization in general. Many companies are starting to realize the tremendous benefits of corporate wellness.

One of the primary benefits of corporate wellness involves a reduction in the rates of illness and injuries among employees. Unhealthy employees experience a wide range of work-related injuries such as muscle strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, stress fractures or back pain. These individuals are also susceptible to developing complications such as diabetes, heart disease or a stroke. Employees without the opportunity to participate in corporate wellness programs may develop serious illnesses. Consequently, they could find themselves on long-term disability for an extended period of time or be forced to discontinue working entirely.

In addition to preventing illnesses amongst employees, corporate wellness programs also lead to a reduction in employee absenteeism. Employees who are stressed, unhealthy or overworked tend to become sick much more often than healthy employees. When programs that focus on the benefits of corporate wellness are implemented, this rate can be drastically reduced. For example, Coors Brewing Company experienced a remarkable 18% decrease in employee absenteeism after implementing a corporate wellness program within their workplace.

Another benefit of corporate wellness programming is a reduction in the cost of healthcare. When employees are healthy and less stressed they tend to rely less on costly programs such as disability insurance and sick leave. Companies will notice a significant decrease in healthcare costs once they incorporate wellness programs into their workplace. For example, after implementing a fitness program in which only 60% of the employees participated, Coca-Cola was able to save $500 per employee every year.

Increased productivity is another benefit of corporate wellness. Employees who are happy and healthy tend to produce a greater volume of work at a higher quality than unhealthy employees. Employers need to realize that implementing programs that lower fitness and stress levels will increase the overall output of their employees.

Corporate wellness programs also contribute to the enhanced retention of key employees. Companies that implement wellness programs normally experience a much lower rate of employee turnover. Recruiting, marketing and advertising for vacant positions are very costly, not to mention time-consuming. If your employees are happy and healthy and enjoy working at your company, you will be able to focus more time and energy on actually getting the job done.

The bottom line is you should take advantage of the benefits of corporate wellness. Make it a goal to implement a program as soon as possible – don’t wait until most of your employees are stressed, sick or applying to other jobs. You will experience a reduction in employee injuries, illness, absenteeism and healthcare costs, as well as an increase in employee retention and productivity. Assuming responsibility for establishing a healthy, harmonious working environment will allow everyone to enjoy the benefits of corporate wellness.

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Autor: arvindtechno

Today, the Institute comprises more than 200 professionals across Canada plus an equal number of leading practitioners and stress scientists around the world … in countries including the U.K., Italy, India, Japan and the U.S. The Institute’s published achievements, in workplaces and for individuals, include …

What Exactly is Corporate Wellness?

The other day someone asked me “What exactly is corporate wellness?” It occurred to me that many people might not know and be curious about just what exactly corporate wellness entails, why does it matter and how can your organization achieve it?

Why Corporate Wellness Matters:

If you own a business or work for a business, which includes most people, then corporate wellness affects you. According to the US Department of Labor, people spend 7.6 hours a day working. This translates to approximately 48% of our waking hours being spent at work. Given this, the environment in which we work can have a profound effect on the rest of our lives and on our general sense of well being. Wellness is fundamental to being a healthy high performer and having a successful organization.

What is Wellness?

Wellness is defined by the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual status of each person; i.e. a healthy body, an alert mind, a balanced emotional nature and an inner essential presence. One’s behavior is a manifestation of her wellness at that given moment. On an organizational level wellness is measured by examining these manifestations of behavior as they relate to such dimensions as motivation, communication, leadership styles, conflict management, morale, inclusion, and how well individuals work together.

What Does a Corporate Wellness Consultant Do?

By measuring and helping to change behavior, corporate wellness consultants enable individuals to review and enhance their strengths and potential to grow, innovate, and excel in performance. Any dysfunctional (unwell) behavior such as bullying, aggression, ineffective communication, poor leadership, and symptoms such as anxiety, poor team work, lack of confidence, and low morale are addressed. Through their interventions, corporate wellness consultants contribute to the creation of a healthy, successful, high performing corporate culture.

Corporate Wellness Affects Your Bottom Line:

The costs of poor corporate health are great, both financially and emotionally. Corporate health and unhealthiness commonly manifest in the areas of:

1) Leadership

2) Communication

3) Team Work

4) Conflict Management

5) Morale

Leadership:

Healthy effective leadership can decrease organizational erosion caused by conflict and poor communication and steer an organization toward its Vision of Success.

Unhealthy and ineffective leadership can create serious consequences such as:

Reduced productivity

Increased supervision overhead

Excessive employee turnover

Increased stress

Low morale

Decreased customer satisfaction

Damaged management credibility and distrust

Communication:

A reduction in productivity of those in conflict is one of the more serious consequences of unhealthy communication. A 25% loss of productivity e.g. doing things to get out of the area of conflict or tension reduces an average work-week to fewer than 20 hours. One of the key foundations of any successful workplace is being able to use healthy and effective communication.

Healthy communication can help people:

• Receive and share information better

• Define and understand goals

• Avoid the negative effects of conflict and confusion

• Build rapport and enhance relationships

• Promote self-confidence

• Have a positive overall effect on the working environment

Team Work:

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision…the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” (Andrew Carnegie) Unfortunately unhealthy corporations do not understand how to develop an effective working team. This is often reflected in a lack of productivity and in high levels of conflict.

Conflict Management:

The monetary as well as the emotional costs of conflict are great. Unfortunately many unhealthy organizations suffer chronic patterns of unresolved conflict that are costly and often symptomatic of serious organizational dysfunction. Some experts believe that unresolved conflict represents the largest “reducible cost” in many businesses.

Addressing conflict and creating a harmonious work environment should be viewed as an important element in achieving organizational well being, effectiveness, and enhancing productivity.

Morale:

Low morale, a common symptom of poor organizational health, due to stress and other issues can destroy your business. In fact according to the American Institute of Stress (2004), stress and burnout-related absenteeism, tardiness, low productivity, and job turnover cost American companies over $300 billion annually.

So What Does a Healthy Corporation Look Like?

A healthy corporation has a healthy “high performance” culture.

Healthy high performers:

• Have genuine positive attitudes and high motivational levels

• Bring all of themselves to work and give their best

• Communicate clearly, cooperate and encourage team members, and know how to resolve conflicts

• Display a high degree of wellness and performance especially under pressure

• Stand up for their own views but never trample others; they are innovative because they recognize that their human capacity to perform is great.

Research shows that healthy high performers have a significant influence on an organization’s success. Addressing corporate well being as it is manifested in the areas above will lead to the creation of a healthy high performance culture. Healthy corporations create healthy high performing workers. Having high performers just makes good business sense.