One of the most serious public health problems, and the leading cause of preventable death, is obesity. It also costs the United States $147 billion a year in healthcare. Your small biz can help to motivate your employees to exercise by offering discounted gym memberships, hosting company run/walks or implementing exercise programs. Yo could also bring in a nutritionist or help bring in healthy food options in the cafeteria or vending machines.

Healthy Americans may account for only 8 percent of the population, but these 24 million people are the answer to saving America billions of dollars on unnecessary health care expenditures each year. More than 40% of premature deaths in the U.S. are a result of unhealthy behaviors like obesity and smoking. These habits are costing Americans $100 billion to $150 billion a year!

Smokers have cost the U.S. $96 billion in healthcare this year. Almost 21 percent of Americans smoke, which is more than 45 million people. Therefore, employers should encourage their staff to quit smoking by offering incentive programs or access to counselors. Many companies are taking more extreme measures by implementing a tobacco-free workplace.

Lastly, be aware that the current economy may have an increased affect on your employee’s stress levels. This can lead to smoking or unhealthy eating. Make sure to continue positively reinforcing your employees and let them know exercise is a great way to alleviate stress. By keeping employees healthy, businesses can reduce healthcare costs, which in turn will impact their bottom-line.

Occasionally, we find ourselves resorting to “quick fixes,” which gradually may become bad eating habits. Then we build up reasons, or “myths” about why we can’t eat better. See if you recognize any of the common “myths” listed below. You may be surprised how easy they are to change.

Myth No.1: Eating nutritiously is too expensive.

Some four in 10 people believe that fruits, vegetables, fish, and the other components of a healthful diet cost more than they currently spend on food, according to a survey conducted by Princeton Research Associates. But that isn’t necessarily the case.

Consider what happened when researchers at Pennsylvania State University and Mary Imogene Bassett Research Institute (Cooperstown, New York) gave nearly 300 people with high blood cholesterol how-to home videos for cutting fat from their diets. After nine months, the participants who had lowered their blood cholesterol the most had also lopped an average of $1.10 each day off their food bills. That comes to more than $400 a year (or $1600 for a heart-healthy family of four). It makes perfect sense when you put pencil to paper. A bowl of cereal with milk costs a lot less than buying a donut or muffin on the way to work. And a mid-afternoon apple or banana is still cheaper than a candy bar.

Reject the mindset that resists spending on healthful food. The same person who balks at spending $2.99 for a pint of strawberries in the dead of winter or $7 a pound for fresh fish might think nothing of paying at least $2.99 for a pint of super-premium ice cream or buying take-out lunches all week. In addition, some studies showed that low consumption of fruits and vegetables earlier in life is associated with higher health care costs later in life. Eating a healthy diet is a good investment.

Myth No. 2: It’s too hard to eat the recommended 5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

On average, Americans eat three servings of produce a day instead of the five or more servings advised by the National Cancer Institute and the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

But having a piece of fruit is not the only way to slip more produce into the diet, even though many people assume that’s what Five-A-Day means. What about adding a couple of slices of tomato and a lettuce leaf to a tuna sandwich? Or mixing a cup of finely shredded carrots into a pot of spaghetti sauce? There are many other creative ways to add fruits and vegetables to your diet.

Myth No. 3: I don’t have time to eat better.

Sure you do. The average adult American watches 22 hours of television a week. No doubt you could trade an hour of reruns or game shows for an hour in the kitchen preparing a lasagna layered with vegetables or a from-scratch meal of chicken breast, potato or rice, and a salad. If you buy pre-cut salad fixings, you’ll even make it back to the T.V. in time for the final credits.

There’s nothing wrong, by the way, with using bottled spaghetti sauce and other time-saving convenience foods to prepare your “from-scratch” meals. Just remember that the more you rely on processed/convenience foods, the harder it is to control the fat and sodium content of the foods you prepare. But relying on already-prepared supermarket products doesn’t undermine your intentions to prepare nutritious meals. That’s especially true in light of the many low-fat, reduced-sodium products available to consumers today.

Myth No. 4: My sweet tooth prevents me from having better eating habits.

Eating well doesn’t mean denying your sweet tooth. It just means taming it. Accept that sugar—high in calories and low in nutrients—is going to be a part of your life. Just eat less of it but enjoy it more. Don’t just haphazardly eat ice cream right out of the container, or indiscriminately cut slices of your favorite coffee cake at the kitchen counter.

Instead, deliberately serve up a scoop in a bowl or a slice on a plate, sit down, and savor every single bite. Mindless eating piles in a lot of calories and you might not even be enjoying it. but mindful deliberate bites with focus on taste can be very satisfying and much less fattening. When you’re done, walk away knowing that you can have more tomorrow or the next day. You can have your cake and eat it, too.

Myth No. 5: I like fast food too much to eat well.

Fast food doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing. Giving into a burger or burrito craving a few times a year won’t kill you or sabotage your good intentions. Furthermore, fast food doesn’t have to mean bad-for-you food. All the major fast-food chains now offer lower-calorie, reduced-fat sandwiches, shakes, and salads.

Another way to fit fast food into your healthful lifestyle is to combine it with not-quite-so-fast food. Buy the burger or fried chicken at the drive-through window. Don’t order the French fries or coleslaw dripping with dressing. Instead, drive straight home, bake a potato in the microwave and serve up some of those pre-cut vegetables you bought on your weekly trip to the supermarket. You’ll save fat, calories, and money.

Myth No. 6: A vitamin pill will make up for my inadequate diet.

Don’t bet on it. The problem facing most Americans is an abundance, rather than a lack of, nutrients, including calories, fat, and sodium. And no pill is going to undo that. Moreover, nutrition researchers are discovering that certain foods contain health-enhancing substances known as phytochemicals . Phytochemicals are found primarily in plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Although research is in the preliminary stages, phytochemicals hold promise in the fight against chronic disease, including cancer and heart disease. Moreover, naturally occurring nutrients are better absorbed.

Myth No. 7: I often overeat, which doesn’t go hand in hand with a good diet.

It’s certainly not a good idea to eat more than you’re hungry for every time you sit down to a meal. But almost everyone has polished off a box of cookies in one sitting or stuffed themselves silly at a holiday dinner at least once in their lifetime. The trick is not to beat yourself up about it. Eating too much once in a while isn’t a fatal character flaw.

In fact, the more you forgive yourself the occasional binge, the easier it is to go back to your regular, healthful eating habits the next day. Punishing yourself emotionally about how much or what you’ve eaten sets up a self-defeating cycle of “being good” and “letting all hell break loose” at the refrigerator door. So instead of trying to be perfect and giving up if you can’t; try to be better. Even one binge a week less than before is going to improve your health. And try to get the number of binges lower and lower.

Myth No. 8: If I exercise, I’ll be extra hungry, eat more, and gain weight.

In fact, people who exercise regularly often eat less than those who don’t. Regular and moderate exercise may actually suppress appetite a bit. And, exercise can help relieve stress. Stress can lead to nibbling on more food and excess calories.

If you debunk a myth a month, you’ll be on a health track by the end of the year. You can do it. Rethinking the myths and the alibis can afford you more food choices than you may ever have imagined, and a resulting lifestyle that is both healthful and invigorating.

In addition, there a six specific provisions in the bill that “directly relate” to worksite wellness programs:

• Development of a national health promotion plan
• Enhance health promotion research
• Technical assistance to enhance evaluation of workplace health promotion programs
• Regular, periodic surveys on workplace health promotion relevance and components
• Grants to pay a portion of the cost of comprehensive workplace health promotion programs for small employers
• Allowing employers to offer employees a premium discount of up to 30% for positive lifestyle practices or participation in health promotion programs

There are many “leading experts” in my field that think these provisions are the best thing to happen to the field of health promotion since the invention of “sliced whole wheat multigrain bread.” Well, I personally wouldn’t go that far. Forget making sense of the new 2,400-page health care law. Try interpreting just these new provisions, how they will be implemented and when they will begin.

We’ll let’s start with the easy part first. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a pretty good summary on their website. Its broken down the bill in an easy-to-read time-line format. In a nut-shell, here it is:

Now, here’s where it gets confusing. As you can see, out of the six, only three of the provisions have actually been mentioned. Let’s see how easy it will be to sign-up for those grants next year. While I am at it, why only keep the availability of the grants for 5 years? How about keep them indefinitely? I’ll keep you updated on the grant-process.

Next, there are so many companies, including us, that already provide wellness programs that include strategies for implementing, maintaining and evaluating the success of those wellness programs.

I understand that having information on the “foods” we eat makes us “more informed” – I say that grinning – but how much “nutrition” info can you put on a bag of Cheetos or on a Triple-meat-with-cheese? I’m just saying…

HIPAA already allows for a 20% discount on those who are participating in a “bonafide” wellness program. You can read more about how the HIPAA rules affect your small biz wellness program. Finally, we’ll have to wait and see how successful this new “pilot-program” will be.

As I wrote about earlier, it would have been great if they would have included the Healthy Workforce Act or at least specific provisions from these bill. In the next coming weeks, I’m going to do my best to better explain what these 6 provisions actually mean.

Create Your Wellness “Fact-Finding” Team

Making your small biz health & wellness program part of the your “corporate culture” will help to ensure the time and money  you put into the program lasts. Create a team of two to three people, and at least one from your management team to start developing your program. Try to pull different people from different departments. It would be really good idea to have someone from human resources be a wellness team member.

It’s important to remember that no-one in the group has to be health professionals, or even know a lot about wellness. But they DO need to be enthusiastic about the program and helping their fellow employees. The wellness team will come up with how the program should be structured. What resources, policies, and benefits are already available for the employees? Are there any gaps that could be filled? Here are some initial questions that you will need to ask.

• Does your company have a position dedicated to employee health & wellness?
• Is employee health & wellness included in any employee work plan?
• Is employee health and wellness considered a high priority in the company’s business plan?
• Is your management team supportive of individual employee initiatives to adopt healthy behaviors?
  
• Does your company provide resources for wellness & health related activities for the employees?
  
• Do employees have access to adequate and affordable health care?
  
• Is there a policy in place that ensures all employees have equal access to health insurance and screenings offered by or through the company?

Now What?

Once your team has the results, you can then decide what’s the first step needed to get your program going. Be sure to include a budget in the action plan for the first year. There are a few strategies that, when implemented, will go a long way to ensure the success of the program: creation of a wellness committee, development promotion plan to help market the program to your employees, and coming up with a way monitor and update the program. These strategies will be the foundation upon which your whole health & wellness program is built.

We already know that offering wellness programs are important and even necessary, but it’s not enough. When it comes to motivating your small biz employees to change their behavior, you have to communicate your wellness program, and communicate it well. This is the second of 4 articles in which we’ll cover four – “must” – steps your small biz must take to make sure you’re getting your message across to your employees.

As we talked about in “Part One” of Successfully Communicating Your Small Biz Wellness Program, the first thing you need to do is take a look at all the different things you use to communicate to your employees. By assessing how you are currently doing things, you can get a good an idea of how well  your wellness program is being communicated.

Your Wellness Program Communications Checklist

Remember to check back as we have two more “steps” to go. The following best practices will help organizations develop an effective wellness communications strategy:

Step 1: Communicate frequently. Ongoing communication with employees is key to creating awareness, building understanding and influencing behavior.

Step 2: Come Up with a Communications Strategy. Next, you need to come up with a plan around the issues that were identified during the the assessment process.

• Come up with some set short and long-term goals. You need to really map out what you want to get out of the program. Set participation goals for the short-term (e.g., 75 percent of the employee population takes a health-risk assessment within the first three months). Results-oriented goals should be set for the long term (e.g., 50 percent of smokers complete a smoking-cessation program).

• Know your Small Biz’s Culture. The better the communications are tailored to your employees, the more effective the communications will be. Your goal is for your employees to take action (e.g., target smokers by placing communications in locations where they tend to congregate).

• Know your audience. The demographics of your employees should pretty much determine “what kind” of communication campaign you have. For example, a poster or flier that some may think is offensive, might “hit home” for others and cause them to take action immediately.

• Build a wellness brand. This may include a name, logo, color scheme and/or an eye-catching message. The goal is to grab the employees’ attention with something that is action oriented.

• Decide whether incentives will play a role. Once again, it is important to know your audience and what will motivate them. A health condition that is not life-threatening and involves maintenance or prevention could land low on an employee’s priority list. In such cases, incentives can help make the issue more of a priority. Incentives can include premium reductions, cash, gift cards and individual recognition (such as diplomas). Remember that incentives are not always necessary and may create an additional administrative burden.
  

• Select the media to be used to communicate the wellness program. Look at your audience and find out what will make your employees pay attention and take action. One good strategy is to see where employees spend their free time at work and place print materials accordingly. It is important to determine whether the majority of employees have computer access and will respond to electronic campaigns; if so, the focus can be online.

Implementing a small biz wellness program for your employees will end up controlling health-care costs, while improving their health. At the core of every small business wellness program is the drive to change employee behavior.

The success or failure of the wellness program comes down to the degree to which your employees respond to your program’s efforts to change their behavior towards healthier lifestyles. To help with that behavior change, you really need to review how your small biz wellness program is communicated to employees. Without effective communications the best wellness program in the world is not going to succeed.

As we covered in an earlier post, the Healthy Workforce Act, written by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would give you an annual $200 tax credit for each of the first 200 employees participating in your small biz wellness program and $100 for each additional employee.

In addition, the Partnership for Prevention found that worksite wellness produced an average savings-to-cost ratio of $5.81 to $1. The programs also reduced annual health costs by an average of 26 percent, reduced absenteeism by 27 percent, and reduced workers compensation and disability claim costs by 32 percent.

Comprehensive wellness programs usually end up being cost neutral in year one. Year two is when you start seeing return on investment, and by the time you get to three years, things really start kicking in and you really do see ROI.

We are still waiting to hear whether or not this proposed billed makes its way to the President’s desk, but in the mean while think about this:

• An estimated 142 million Americans are overweight or obese, this represents 66 percent of the adult population.
• Health care costs in the United States doubled from 1990 to 2001 and are expected to double again by 2012.
• Chronic illnesses affect more than a third of working-age Americans and the costs associated with chronic diseases account for approximately 75 percent of the nation’s annual health care costs.
• Obesity costs American companies $225.8 billion per year in health related productivity losses.  An obese employee costs the employer an additional $460-$2,500 in medical expenditures and absenteeism annually.
• The workplace environment is a significant target for obesity prevention efforts.  Over 130 million Americans are employed across the United States and spend a significant part of their day at work.  Sedentary jobs have increased 83 percent since 1950.
• The Healthy Workforce Act provides employers with the means to implement evidence-based strategies for improving the health of workers by addressing causes of chronic disease including obesity, physical inactivity and tobacco use.

Whether it’s the “still smoking for more than 30 years” or “the 50 pounds since high school”, that 45-year-old employee of yours knows that it’s “bad” for him, yet he still hasn’t changed his lifestyle behaviors. Although you might have run smoking-cessation campaigns or weight-management programs over the years, it’s not so much the frequency of the message that matters as it is having it in the right place at the right time.

We already know that offering wellness programs are important and even necessary, but it’s not enough. When it comes to motivating your small biz employees to change their behavior, you have to communicate your wellness program, and communicate it well. This is the first of 4 articles in which we’ll cover four – “must” – steps your small biz must take to make sure you’re getting your message across to your employees.

Step 1: Conduct a Communications Assessment

The first thing you need to do is take a look at all the different communications “vehicles” you use to communicate to your employees. This “inventory” can give you an idea of how well  your wellness program is being communicated.

Is your information readily accessible for all your employees and easy to understand? Are communications consistent, recognizable and well-organized? And finally, do your communication campaigns support your overall wellness goals?

For example, if an employee wants to lose weight, does he or she have to dig through your benefits plan to determine what coverage is available? Does he or she have to search your weight-management programs to find support courses? Does he or she have to check the cafeteria bulletin board for a weight-management meeting or find out if coaching is even available for weight loss?

Once you’ve figured out what’s what with your communication process, it’s a good idea to survey your employees to learn what they think about your “wellness communications”.

It is important to find out how they get information about the programs that are available. What works and what does not. What is most valuable to them and what they want to know more about. Depending on how many employees you have, you can survey them with written or online surveys. Both are helpful but may be open to interpretation. Putting a focus group together is even better at getting vital, first-hand and targeted feedback. If you do it right, a good focus group will give you opinions and impressions that you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Your Wellness Program Communications Checklist

Remember to check back as we have three other “steps” to cover. The following best practices will help organizations develop an effective wellness communications strategy:

Step 1: Communicate frequently. Ongoing communication with employees is key to creating awareness, building understanding and influencing behavior.

Implementing a small biz wellness program for your employees will end up controlling health-care costs, while improving their health. At the core of every small business wellness program is the drive to change employee behavior. The success or failure of the wellness program comes down to the degree to which your employees respond to your program’s efforts to change their behavior towards healthier lifestyles. To help with that behavior change, you really need to review how your small biz wellness program is communicated to employees. Without effective communications the best wellness program in the world is not going to succeed.

But the financial burden also falls on workers, it says, in the form of higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles, reduction or elimination of coverage and trade-offs between insurance benefits and wage or salary increases.

“Research shows that companies can save anywhere from $3 to $15 for every $1 spent on health and wellness within 12 to 18 months of implementing a [workplace wellness] program,” the statement’s lead author, Mercedes Carnethon, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a news release from the heart association.

“Beyond cost savings and increased productivity, visionary employers are realizing the value of an employee’s total health,” she said. “An effective worksite wellness program can attract exceptional employees, enhance morale and reduce organizational conflict.”

More than 130 million Americans are employed, according to the association, which means that workplace wellness programs have the potential to reach a sizable population.

“We are making great strides in workplace wellness, but we also know that half of employees don’t have access to these programs, mainly because they work in small companies or for employers that have a small number of employees at multiple sites,” Carnethon said. “We are hoping this paper shows employers large and small the benefits these programs may provide to both their employees and their bottom line.”

Keys to a successful program, according to the policy statement, include:

• Smoking/tobacco cessation and prevention
• Regular physical activity
• Stress management/reduction
• Early detection/screening
• Nutrition education and promotion
• Weight management
• Disease management
• Cardiovascular disease education, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) training
• Work environment changes that encourage healthy behaviors and promote occupational health and safety

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.

State Sen. Scott Brown, who won the crucial seat by more than 100,000 votes, has vowed to vote against the health-care legislation that Congress is considering. Without 60 Democrats in the Senate to hold off a Republican filibuster, health reform legislation — at least in its current form — seems much less likely to advance, pundits say.

Carol Pryor, a health policy analyst based in Boston, said Brown’s message resonated with voters in part because of the complexity of the legislation — detailed in voluminous House and Senate bills passed in 2009.

“People really had lost sight of what’s in it, or didn’t have a good sense of what was in it, and there was a lot of misinformation spread around about it,” she explained.

“I do think that the dragged-out negotiations and all of the deals that people had to make in order to get this through Congress, especially with the need for 60 votes in the Senate, after a while made it seem like there was just a lot of deal-making going on behind the scenes,” Pryor added.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) characterized the election as a “referendum” on the national health reform initiative, which he claimed Democrats were trying to work out in secret.

“They have arrogantly ignored American public opinion all the way to this point,” he said. “And they’re trying to get their members to continue to ignore public opinion one more time.”

Robert Restuccia, executive director of Community Catalyst, a national consumer health advocacy organization, disagreed. “I don’t think it was a referendum,” he said. “I think fundamentally this came down to two campaigns: one that was pretty effective and one that wasn’t, in an environment that was probably not as good as when Obama ran.”

And while the vote fundamentally changes the calculus in the Senate, it doesn’t alter the need for specific reforms, Restuccia stressed.

“I think there’s still an urgency to pass something,” he said.

In the wake of the Senate shakeup, Democratic leaders in both chambers were pondering ways to move the legislation forward. The House could pass the Senate version of the bill, avoiding another Senate vote, although that scenario seemed unlikely given the many concessions House members would have to make.

In remarks to MSNBC, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), a progressive Democrat, conceded it may be time for his party to take a new tact on health care.

“I think we’ve made some crucial mistakes along the way by making this more complicated than it needs to be,” he said. Weiner said he supports a “much simpler approach” to health care as part of a jobs bill.

Pryor said she hopes that whatever Congress decides to do will ultimately salvage some key elements of the legislation, including an expansion of Medicaid and health insurance market reforms.

While public support for “health reform” may be lagging, Restuccia said the public remains strongly in favor of specific elements of health reform.

“What the package is, how to move forward, is going to be the question now,” he said. “I still think it’s very high on the agenda, and I would be surprised if it disappears between now and the next election.”

Healthy Eating Signage

Promote healthy eating and nutrition at your small business by posting motivational signs about nutrition, and healthy eating in the cafeteria or break area. Motivational signs can act as both a reminder and decision prompt when posted in any common area like the cafeteria or break area.

Encouraging healthful eating near the point-of-purchase of foods can influence decisions. Signage posted in various locations presents reminders for on and off -site eating habits.

Small Biz Action Steps

• Motivational signs can be posted in a variety of places.  Unconventional locations usually have more impact.  Examples are trash cans, walls, ceilings, vending machines, and restroom doors.
• Don‘t limit your signage to the cafeteria. Post signs in other places such as break rooms, hallways, elevators, restrooms, etc.
• Posters are not the only possibility. Try making table tents, window signs, flyers, or hanging displays. Laminating the information helps to keep it in good shape longer. Depending on the size/type, framing or mounting on foam core also lengthens the life of the sign and adds to the professionalism of the message.

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.