Wellness Articles

Employee Health and Wellness Programs: A Long-Term Committment

“Employee Health and Wellness Programs” - what does that phrase mean to you? To many of us, it evokes an array of ambivalent thoughts — the health club membership we barely used, the nagging ankle injury from last year’s corporation picnic, the backaches, the bratwurst we had for lunch, the love handles and of course, the fad diets that failed us or that we failed. Usually, Employee Health and Wellness Programs is a guilt trigger that causes us to feel remorse about our bodies and the health management we know we should be doing for them.

Unfortunately we live in a society where our survival is dependent on sitting at a desk, not hunting game, picking berries and sprinting away from wolves. We also live in such luxury, nutritionally, that we can gain weight steadily without being wealthy. Cardiovascular disease, obesity and bad nutrition cause most of the heath issues that weigh down worker attendance and erode a company’s productivity.

Ironically the poorest societies in the world - the ones furthest from the conveniences of modern life - often have the fittest, most physically hardy members. And as for the animal kingdom — don’t look there for commiseration. In the wild, it is extremely rare to find an animal that suffers from our kind of wellness issues.

Prescription Drug dependency degrades Health and Wellness

It doesn’t help that U.S citizens are descending into a deadly love affair with drugs — and drug testing won’t help you with these drugs.

For example, Greg Critser’s book Generation RX details how U.S citizens spend about $180 billion dollars on Prescription Drugs each year, with the estimated 2011 tally at a whopping $414 billion. The average number of Prescription Drugs per U.S citizen in 2004 stood at twelve.

Twelve! That means that your average worker is taking 14, 18, or even more than 20 medications in an attempt to enhance their Health and Wellness.

Is this effective, though? Critser is not convinced that the drugs help United States health. In fact, he points out a bevy of negative consequences for America’s legal prescription medication addition, which include prescription medication interactions, liver damage, and the legions of people who now depend on drugs to deal with ordinary trials and stresses.

An business has the potential to enhance Health

It’s not all bad news, though. Occupational Health Screenings and well-designed Employee Health and Wellness Programs can help you fight the downward spiral for you and your employees. In fact, good Employee Health and Wellness Programs - like a strong walking Employee Health and Wellness Programs initiative - can literally save lives and reduce the symptoms that cause workers to turn to drugs in the first place.