How healthy is your company?

By David Anderson, PhD, StayWell Health Management

Meet Jane. Jane is in demand. Most days, Jane is booked in back-to-back meetings that run overtime, thereby putting her behind schedule the rest of the day. Jane’s to-do” list is getting longer every day, but she feels she can’t say “no” because her team is already short-staffed and everyone is working overtime. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. Plus, Jane has a family at home and aging parents who need her attention.

Jane has a lot on her plate by any standards. She wishes she could talk to someone about how to deal with all the demands that have been placed on her, but Jane feels too busy to take the time to seek out help. At the end of the day, Jane’s neck and shoulders feel tight as a drum and her head is throbbing. She can’t sleep, so she takes sleep medication and just got a prescription for the headaches she suffers regularly. In short, Jane is stressed. Jane’s stress is likely the source of her insomnia and headaches and if things don’t change, it could lead to high blood pressure, depression, heart attack, ulcers, low-back pain, rheumatoid arthritis and other serious conditions.

Fortunately for Jane, her employer has noticed the increased stress level and health problems among employees. Lately, sick days have been increasing and there have been increases in health care and workers compensation claims for stress-related conditions. Because so many key people are missing work, the company isn’t meeting its sales projections, and quality in its manufacturing facilities has taken a hit. Jane’s employer is realizing that to compete successfully over the long term and not just next quarter, it’s time to get serious about creating a healthier, less stressful work environment.

Enter population health management
When you consider that the average American spends 2,000 hours a year at work, it’s easy to see how the work environment can affect their mindset, their health behaviors, and subsequently, their health risks. An increasing number of employers like Jane’s are beginning to understand this connection and are turning to companies like StayWell Health Management for help in creating a healthier workplace culture.

What is a healthy culture? For StayWell, a healthy culture is one in which the entire workforce — all levels and categories of employees and management — experiences the organization’s commitment to their health and wellness. To be truly successful in changing the culture, that commitment must remain solid through thick and thin and, ultimately, it must be felt by employees throughout the organization. In addition to being clearly communicated and reinforced whenever possible, senior management and other organizational leaders must consistently “walk the talk” by participating in both actions and words.

Research has shown a strong connection between socio-cultural factors and individual health behaviors, demonstrating that health may be positively or negatively affected by social and organizational influences. It’s important for employers to understand that their company has its own unique culture, which influences the health of employees, both positively and negatively. There’s no doubt that people who work in a healthy environment and culture are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors. StayWell has found that creating positive health behaviors and reducing health risks for the broader population can help minimize productivity loss.

Paradigm shift
In recent years there has been a fundamental shift in thinking about health care benefits, from a supply-side or provider focus to a demand-side or employee “consumer” focus. That means health benefit plans are increasingly being designed to help employees become — and stay — healthy while also providing the resources they might need if they do get sick or injured.

There are many ways to promote wellness in the workplace, but here are a few of the more effective techniques for keeping employees healthy while fostering a positive worksite culture.

• Management involvement. The best place to start when promoting healthy living is at the top of the management ladder. By having leadership that demonstrates healthy lifestyle choices, your company can lead by example and encourage employee engagement. Just as important, front-line management needs to support the implementation of health management changes by promoting employee involvement, providing necessary worksite resources to support program implementation, and by personally participating. This visible support across all levels of management could be the most crucial element in demonstrating true organizational commitment to health and wellness.
• Financial incentives. Offering financial incentives is one of the most effective ways to increase participation in health management programs. StayWell recommends tying these incentives to your company’s health benefit plan. For instance, our experience shows an employer that offers a $20 reduction in monthly employee insurance premiums for employees who complete a health assessment will, on average, achieve a 70 percent health assessment participation rate. Similarly, financial incentives can increase participation in health behavior change programs. Tying health benefit costs to wellness program participation reinforces the connection between an employee’s health behaviors and the cost of their health care coverage. Another distinct advantage of integrating financial incentives into health benefits is that the employer can choose to make the incentive cost-neutral by building the projected cost of the incentive into the employee contribution rate increase.
• Changes to the physical workplace. Visibly demonstrate your organization’s support for positive lifestyle choices by making such worksite changes as offering healthy menu choices in the cafeteria, featuring healthy vending machine options, and establishing walking paths or onsite exercise classes. Signage encouraging people to walk instead of riding the elevators (along with attractive stairwells), or to buckle their seatbelts when leaving work, are other examples of simple changes at the worksite that can make a big difference in peoples’ behaviors.
  Some companies go the extra mile by adding fitness rooms, relaxation rooms, showers, or other physical facilities directly supporting healthy lifestyles. These are great tools for companies that are able to make this level of investment, but the simple, low-cost changes to the workplace can also make a big difference for a much lower cost.
• Onsite clinics. Establishing onsite primary care clinics where employees can receive routine health care services, chronic condition support, and basic lifestyle counseling and referrals to longer-term health coaching can complement and support health management initiatives. The key to leveraging these resources, however, is to make sure clinical staff is trained and committed to the goals of the health management initiative.
• Employee awareness campaigns. Promoting specific health topics through employee awareness campaigns can be an effective way to educate employees about potentially costly health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and asthma. Campaigns can also encourage exercise, healthier eating, stress management, knowing your numbers, and many other health activities. Campaigns that are implemented wholly or partly at the worksite are also good ways to generate enthusiasm and visibly demonstrate employee involvement in health activities.
• Worksite health screenings. Offering worksite health screenings, such as blood pressure and cholesterol testing, can be an effective way to get employees to think about and improve their lifestyle-related behaviors. To maximize the value of screenings, StayWell recommends coupling these screenings with a health assessment, targeted health coaching services, and personalized follow-up.

This list of options represents a sampling of the types of initiatives that a health management partner, like StayWell, can provide when helping a company reshape its corporate culture.

StayWell corporate culture audit
In the same spirit of innovation that helped StayWell become a leader in the health management industry nearly 30 years ago, we’ve recently introduced our latest offering, a corporate culture audit called the CompanyHealth! Inventory.

This inventory helps employers evaluate the key cultural factors that support — or detract from — employee health at an organizational level and in the workplace. The organizational section of the inventory focuses on the strategic and policy factors, such as the employee benefit plan and paid-time off; while the worksite section focuses on the physical work environment, visible management support for healthy living, and programmatic resources. This inventory is a good starting point for employers like Jane’s that want to improve their work environment, since it enables them to evaluate their culture and monitor their progress. It also helps them recognize and prioritize opportunities in a systematic, but practical manner.

During this consultative process, a StayWell expert works with an employer to analyze their company’s strengths and weaknesses in areas like: the use of chemicals (such as alcohol and tobacco) among employees; employee communications; worksite policies that relate to health behaviors (such as smoking onsite); opportunities for physical activity; use of onsite screenings; coverage for preventive screenings; nutritional food offerings, how health management programs are promoted; employee involvement in planning and implementing these programs; and workplace stress management.

In addition to evaluating the physical workplace for the use of natural light, workout facilities or walking paths, ergonomically designed office spaces, and healthy food choices, the employer is also asked to consider questions like:

• Do you have a written substance abuse policy?
• Do you regularly offer screenings and/or health assessments?
• Do you allow employees to take fitness breaks?
• Do you provide employees and their families with a 24-hour health support line?
• Do you allow flexible work scheduling?
• Do you provide employee-managed time off instead of paid sick leave?
• Do you regularly communicate with employees about health improvement opportunities and programs?
• Do supervisors receive information about the impact of various health behaviors on work performance and health care costs?

Once this inventory is completed, StayWell provides employers with a detailed evaluation and recommendations for how to improve their organizational culture based on their specific needs, employee input, and workplace situation. For instance, a company whose employees register high for stress risk factors may be encouraged to adopt Stress Quest, a program from StayWell that helps people identify the difference between positive and negative stress and teaches them how to deal with stressors in their lives.

Navigating the road ahead
The shift in thinking about employee health and the rapid growth of employee health management programs is being driven partly by the growth of consumer-directed health plans (CDHP) as a way for employers to reduce health care spending. And, while CDHP plans have been successful for many companies, health care spending continues to increase. As a result, StayWell is predicting continued growth in the use of population health management programs as a way to proactively address health care spending.

Not only do health management programs create the tools and resources that enable employers, such as the company where Jane works, to get in front of potentially costly health issues and reduce health care spending in the long run, they also help employers create an environment that supports and sustains positive change. In addition to an uptake in employer sponsored health management programs, watch for the growth of wellness programs in government-sponsored health programs, not to mention growing interest among individual consumers as they realize the benefits that come with making positive changes in their health behaviors, and as those choices are reinforced at their place of work.

For more information about StayWell Health Management and its programs and services, call StayWell at toll free 1-800-373-3577 or via e-mail at marketing@staywell.com. You can also visit StayWell online at www.staywellhealthmanagement.com.

StayWell is a registered trademark of The StayWell Company. All rights reserved.

David Anderson, PhD, is vice president, program strategy and development, StayWell Health Management.