Benefits of Worksite Health and Wellness Programs

Worksite Health and Wellness Programs are crucial to improving the health of our nations. Most adults spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else, making it a excellent venue for promoting healthful habits. The worksite organizational culture and environment are powerful influences on behavior and this needs to be put to use as a means of assisting workers to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Benefits to Worksite Health and Wellness Programs include:
• Weight reduction
• Improved physical fitness
• Increased stamina
• Lower levels of stress
• Increased well-being, self-image and self-esteem

Employers can also benefit from Worksite Health and Wellness Programs. According to recent research, employers’ benefits are:

• Enhanced recruitment and retention of healthy workers
• Reduced medical costs
• Decreased rates of illness and injuries
• Reduced staff member absenteeism
• Improved staff member relations and morale
• Increased productivity

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report revealed that at worksites with physical activity programs as components of their Worksite Health and Wellness Programs have:

• Reduced medical costs by 20 to 55%
• Reduced short-term sick leave by six to 32%
• Increased productivity by two to 52%

Thanks to modern medicine, life expectancy for Americans has continually increased. How much we enjoy these additional years, however, depends greatly on how we have lived our lives. If our quality of life is to remain high so that we can fully enjoy these extra years, we must practice good eating habits, be active and refrain from using tobacco products.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Health and Wellness Program. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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