Employers Can Increase Employee Retention

An employee can help reduce the cost of health cost by doing several things. There has been an outcry from organizations due to the rising number of competitors with high expenses catering for health benefits during employment periods and on retiring. The employee can be of great help by being participative in the programs set by their employers to benefit more from other advantages far from health costs (Kerzner, 2013). Some of the choices an employee may consider to help control health costs are by boosting consumerism, use technology to manage benefits, and indulge in fitness and health programs.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, with the intent of ensuring that most people in the United States have medical insurance. With this new healthcare system came the responsibility that individuals would have to take initiatives in an effort to stay healthy or at the least, increase their level of activity and health awareness, making them more responsible for their own wellness. The preventative care portion included in the Affordable Care Act is one of the fundamental items of the law and is a particularly meaningful, very positive attribute in health care reform for the American people. Wellness in the workplace has become an essential issue to help reduce companies’ medical cost, and to help employees get on track to know their numbers, get healthy, and have a positive healthy mental attitude. Many employees do not understand or know how to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. With the rising cost of healthcare, especially relating to people not taking care of their bodies, wellness in the workplace has become even more critical. Author Lori Breiner (2007) “believes wellness in the workplace has economic benefits for organizations, because if workers are healthy, they miss less time from work.” Breiner’s theory would suggest that better health increases productivity and profits in the workplace.

High employee turnover has monetary costs. Though estimates vary, most experts agree that turnover costs, when all things are considered, equals at least 25% of a leaving employee’s annual wages (Silva & Toledo, 2009). For example, for an employee making $25,000 per year, the total turnover costs associated with replacing that employee would be at least $6,250. This includes cost of prescreening measures such as drug tests, background checks, application reviews, interviews, pre-employment training and other recruitment costs (Dolfin, 2006). It also includes implicit cost associated with on the job training and the productivity loss experienced by other employees that must help acclimate new employees to their environment

Best health practices and worksite wellness program is about engaging with employees to understand what they want, taking a tactical method about looking at health holistically. According to Lacoma, (1999 -2014), these worksite wellness programs are intended to help the workers upgrade their health and maintain healthy lifestyles. This package includes exercises, variety of care and treatment for various illnesses (mental and emotional health), healthy food, on time check up reminders, outlined health checks assessments, consultations and therapy. Moreover, Engelman (2012) determined that many of the conditions impacting workers were preventable and requires increased amounts of education, screening, encouragement and benefits to help understand how these affect the quality of their lives. These shifts gained prominence during the 1990s from increased research, about the importance of prevention and the advantages it can provide employers inside the marketplace.The recent Affordable Care Act workplace wellness provisions on implementation and expansion of employer wellness programs serves a great means to offer great opportunity of improving the citizen 's health and also control health care spending. The effectiveness and benefits of such programs should be evaluated to encourage opportunities to support healthier workplaces (Kisberg, (2014).

Most adults may spend more time during the day at work than anywhere else. Therefore, it may be important for worksites to be more conducive to employee health and is an excellent place to promote health and wellness. According to the Wellness Councils of America, more than 81% of businesses with more than 50 employees have some type of health promotion program in place [1]. Employee wellness centers have been shown to provide numerous benefits for employees including: weight reduction, increased physical fitness and stamina, and decreased stress [2]. Recent research has also discovered that employers benefit from such programs by experiencing reduced healthcare costs, increased productivity, reduced

The continuous rise of health care costs has meant many companies turning toward health and wellness as a potential solution to save money: ‘research is showing that it’s more cost-effective to invest in preventive health practices, such as screenings, immunizations, health risk appraisals, behavioral coaching, and health awareness/education [and] best-practice research is demonstrating the total value of an integrated, population-based strategy that addresses the health needs of all employees, dependents, and retirees across the health care continuum’ (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2009). Employers should balance providing wellness initiatives that address both lifestyle risk factors (such as physical activity, nutrition and stress) and clinical risk factors (such as obesity, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels). Both of these types of risk factors can be tied to the workplace environment, and both types of risk factors can be positively impacted with an environment that supports health and wellness. Top risk factors like physical activity and nutrition can be greatly supported by improving workplace environments to supplement the programming tied to these initiatives.

Being one of the largest cities Houston’s population relies heavily on your energy company to provide energy. Your energy company is a large, successful company, and we believe your high employee retention rate plays a key role in your company’s success. However, an office setting does not always allow your employees to get their daily amounts of exercise. Along with not receiving their daily amounts of exercise, poor nutrition habits and strain due to work, your employees are facing major health problems like high cholesterol and hypertension. My co-workers and I believe having a worksite wellness program will help improve your employee’s health status and lower their need for medication, which can lead to lower fees your company has to

SHRM reported that “82% of organizations with a wellness program rated their initiatives as somewhat or very effective in improving employee health. Three-quarters (77%) indicated their wellness program was somewhat or very effective in reducing health care costs”. Thus, wellness benefits have increased over the past 20 years. SHRM’s report also indicated that the “most common wellness benefits were wellness tips and information sent to employees at least quarterly (63%), a wellness program (61%), and on-site seasonal flu vaccinations (54%). Additionally, more organizations offered rewards or bonuses for completing certain health and wellness programs, a standing desk, an on-site fitness center and an on-site nap room”. By having an effective wellness program, health care costs can be reduced for both the employer and employees. As a result, employees are depending on their employer to provide them with different money saving alternatives to reduce their health

Now there are new ideas that health programs should be expanded and possibly include the idea of “wellness” programs. Taking care of wellness includes mental and social health which were aspects that were not necessarily involved with health programs in the beginning. The positive impacts in taking care of wellness benefits the employee through empowerment of knowledge and support while improving where the common worker spends most of their time. Employers have a vested interest because of improvement in employee performance and attitude, the financial return, and making their company a well-known place to work. There is an open opportunity for companies to improve their wellness programs through company changes and better health programs. So the real question is how can the improvement of overall health and wellness of the employee impact the business and what kind of program should be implemented to encourage employees to take advantage of it?

Health and wellness in the work place is a vital part to a company’s success. Employees who are healthier and more productive are less likely to call out from sickness. There are not many companies that have affordable health care coverage for employees. More companies should make healthcare affordable for their employees and their family. Research has been done on how effective health and wellness programs can be in the workplace. Throughout the reading these points will be discussed. The effectiveness of health and wellness in the workplace will also be spoken of. Health and wellness activities in the workplace will be a positive move for companies and employees.

Business owners, whether big or small, are realizing the importance of carrying packages with lucrative employee benefits and programs in order to both attract and retain valuable, skilled employees for their companies. These benefits can include more paid vacation time, better health and dental insurance plans, more personal leave days and better retirement savings plans. Recently though, with a nation-wide concern over obesity and health trends like veganism and Cross Fit on the rise, health wellness programs are now

Some employers suggest wellness programs to help educate staff on healthy living and lifestyles. These programs usually incorporate health topics such as managing blood pressure, weight control and management, stress management, healthy eating, cholesterol management, cancer prevention, and exercise programs. Instructing the basics is an excellent way to start the workforce on a healthy lifestyle (Lotich, 2011).

Health and wellness in the workplace is crucial to business success. Increasingly, it is recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on people’s health. When people are satisfied with their job, they are more productive and tend to be healthier. When employees feel that the environment at work is negative, they feel stressed. Stress has a large impact on employee mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity. Companies that promote healthy lifestyle habits for employees to improve their health, often take the success of the company to heart and are likely to be absent less often for health related reasons.

As companies look for ways to help in lowering the cost that is spent on health care for their employees, they also are looking for ways to increase the longevity of their most skilled and knowledgeable employees, the aging workforce. Companies have identified the need for a wellness program to help in this endeavor. Companies also need a means to identify the performance and cost of this wellness program. Just as organizations have used the fundamental concepts of cost measurement and recognition to provide the past, present and future performance and cost (Crosson, and Needles, 2014).

According to the author recent policy changes and an increase in corporate wellness programs that are