Drug Education and Intervention in the Workplace

High rates of employee turnover and the costs of sick days are increasingly taking bites into business profits. The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in total cost the average business. Many businesses are finding the solution to these challenges by improving job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that provide a decrease in these costs.

It has become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness program / fitness program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need. Senior Management’s goals/objectives for a beneficial wellness program must be viewed through the perspective of increased employee work rate, lowered absenteeism due to health related causes, improved employee morale, lowered utilisation of corporation subsidised health benefits, enhanced group cohesion and performance and a reduction in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction. It is obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a beneficial influence on the financial status of any organisation.

The benefits from an workers point of view can be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, diminished body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle work related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social groups at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.

To be most advantageous a wellness program needs to achieve both senior staff’s and employee’s goals and objectives, and this can be accomplished through a program that will offer the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and wellbeing, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the crucial changes to their physical condition that can be applied in the context of their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Workplace Health Promotion Programs

Diminished Rates of Absenteeism – Dupont reduced absenteeism by 47.5 percent over six years for the participants of their corporation fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Lowered Healthcare Expenses – Steel case showed a reduction in medical care claim expenditures of 55% for corporate exercise program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an average of $478.61 for participants vs. non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Health Promotion, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Reduced Turnover – Turnover among exercise program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Corporation was 32.4% lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana found that its employer exercise program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Health Promotion, March, April, 1991).