{"id":20233,"date":"2017-05-17T09:38:25","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T16:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicalfitnessnetwork.org\/public\/?p=20233"},"modified":"2019-09-16T07:29:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T14:29:47","slug":"selling-corporate-wellness-wellness-professionals-save-profit-improving-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/all-mfn\/selling-corporate-wellness-wellness-professionals-save-profit-improving-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Selling Corporate Wellness: How Wellness Professionals Save Profit While Improving Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What health and wellness initiatives afford the largest client base access, combined with the financial incentive to companies for investment, and present the opportunity to improve the lives of potentially hundreds or thousands of people?\u00a0 The answer?\u2026the ever-popular concept of corporate-led wellness.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20237 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-53x53.jpg 53w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-85x85.jpg 85w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-570x570.jpg 570w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-380x380.jpg 380w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wellness-285x285.jpg 285w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>The idea of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/corporate-wellness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Corporate Wellness<\/a>\u201d is no longer a fringe or niche area.\u00a0 In 2008, 58% of U.S. employers offered wellness programs; in 2015, that number had already climbed to 70%.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Another survey found that about three-quarters of HR professionals said that their organizations provided a wellness program in some form or another.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\"><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 This same survey group also found that nearly two-thirds of those businesses surveyed indicated that the wellness efforts were \u201csomewhat\u201d or \u201cvery\u201d effective in reducing healthcare costs.\u00a0 The health and well-being of employees has already taken firm root in global business and is trending at an increasing rate.\u00a0 Health is as integral to a successful business as technical training and advertising.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately for the humanitarian element in holistic-minded health professionals, profitability and health are also integral parts.\u00a0 In recent years, numerous studies have been conducted that explain and analyze the huge and exciting potential of wellness programs to increase productivity (profit), reduce absenteeism, presenteeism (working while sick), improve workplace morale, and save company healthcare expense.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Unwell Employees are Expensive<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>In a June 2009 issue of the \u201cJournal of Business and Economics Research\u201d, Paul and Ann Carruth cite a rather shocking statistic from the United States Chamber of Commerce: in 2002, businesses paid an average of $6,300 per employee for medical benefits.<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\"><sup>[3]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 In this same issue the authors share yet more alarming information: unhealthy employees can also impose indirect costs that are anywhere from two to three times the direct medical cost.\u00a0 These expenses often manifest themselves as either absenteeism, presenteeism, medical cost, or lost productivity. For the interest of the health and wellness professional, that is a vast number of people who experience unnecessary suffering.\u00a0 In a business environment, employee suffering costs.\u00a0 For the health professional, this presents a financial incentive to companies as an outlet to improving the lives of countless people.\u00a0 Even a small improvement in a person\u2019s health, as small as a 1% reduction in excess weight, can save $83-$103 annually <em>per person<\/em>.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\"><sup>[4]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 For companies with hundreds, thousands, or even those with just a few employees, this can quickly become a positive return on investment with the fantastic byproduct of improved human life and a reduction in disease.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Absenteeism &amp; Presenteeism<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Absenteeism is self-explanatory.\u00a0 In this category, illness or physical impairment is severe enough to completely remove the employee from the workplace.\u00a0 The Centers for Disease Control reports that the costs associated with absenteeism alone cost employers $225.8 billion annually in the U.S.<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\"><sup>[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 This equates to a cost of $1,685 per employee.<\/p>\n<p>Presenteeism, a fairly recently-coined term referring to going to work sick or working while afflicted with a chronic disease or condition, is another issue that directly impacts a company\u2019s bottom line.\u00a0 According to Paul Hemp from the Harvard Business Review, presenteeism costs $150-$250 billion, or 60% of the total cost of worker illness.<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\"><sup>[6]<\/sup><\/a>It is important to properly identify and define presenteeism; it is not merely going to work sick, as with a seasonal cold or flu, but refers specifically to chronic illnesses and ailments that persist for prolonged periods of time. Allergies, diabetes, headaches, migraines, stress disorders, and sleep disorders being prime examples.\u00a0 Even thinking anecdotally, if you consider even a subtle 10% reduction in an employee\u2019s output, this equates the unfathomable loss in the long-term.\u00a0 Consider, for a moment, what this number implies: just how many people trapped within the cages of chronic conditions are represented by $150-$250 billion losses?\u00a0 Limited even to a single chronic issue, depression, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported a cost to U.S. employers of $35 billion a year.<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\"><sup>[7]<\/sup><\/a>Headaches, arthritis, and back problems cost an additional $47 billion.<\/p>\n<p>One of the variables impossible to calculate is the increased burdens shared on employees that are present.\u00a0 When an essential employee is absent, the work either goes undone or, often, is simply added to a present employee\u2019s workload.\u00a0 The added stress, constraints, or even lack of familiarity and skill with the new work also possesses the potential for financial costs, to say nothing for workplace morale and the health of the other employees.<\/p>\n<p>All this information, while seemingly dreary and negative, presents a unique opportunity to explain the financial profitability of the health and wellness professional.\u00a0 Even better, this financial aspect exists in tandem with an improved level of health<\/p>\n<p>and happiness for employees.\u00a0 In effect, and with a properly-run program, a company investing in the health and wellness of its employees does not simply cost nothing, but can <em>improve<\/em> the company\u2019s bottom line, all while opening a new avenue for professionals to improve the lives of thousands.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The Advantages of Lifestyle Management &amp; Disease Management Programs<\/strong><\/h4>\n<h4><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-20236\" src=\"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/corp-wellness-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/corp-wellness-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/corp-wellness-768x538.jpg 768w, https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/corp-wellness.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/h4>\n<p>When a professional health and wellness expert is included into the financial equations concerning absenteeism and presenteeism, the facts turn in a very different, and welcome, direction.<\/p>\n<p>An article in the Harvest Business Review found a 57% decrease in high-risk employees at the end of a six-month program, as well as a $1,421 decline in medical claim costs <em>per participant<\/em>.<a href=\"#_ftn8\" name=\"_ftnref8\"><sup>[8]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 In this particular study, every dollar invested in health and wellness earned $6.\u00a0 This study made no attempt to differentiate lifestyle management and disease management aspects of the program.<\/p>\n<p>An important distinction to draw here is that the principal return on investment (ROI) for companies is not the same for all wellness programs when the program is observed as two entities: lifestyle management initiatives and disease management.\u00a0 As is the case most often in large-scale corporate wellness programs, the program is divided into two focuses:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lifestyle Management Initiatives<\/strong>: This approach attempts to improve long-term health and wellness outcomes through modification of lifestyle in the present.\u00a0 It also attempts to delay the onset of chronic disease and focuses on lifestyle choices like alcohol use, tobacco use, bodyweight abnormalities, exercise, and nutrition.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disease Management Programs<\/strong>: This approach offers short-term improvements in management of chronic disease to improve short-term and long-term health outcomes with little focus on lifestyle alteration. It also focuses on people who <em>already<\/em> have chronic issues like diabetes and attempts to utilize self-care and adherence to existing treatment plans.<\/p>\n<p>Of these two approaches, disease management programs have demonstrated far superior cost-saving features time and again.<\/p>\n<p>In a study conducted for PepsiCo over a seven-year period, disease management programs were estimated to have saved the company $3.78 <em>per dollar invested<\/em>.<a href=\"#_ftn9\" name=\"_ftnref9\"><sup>[9]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Compare that to the 48 cents saved on average per dollar invested by the lifestyle management component.<\/p>\n<p>The disease management program also reduced healthcare costs by $136 per member per month, the result of a 29% reduction in hospital admissions.\u00a0 Of particular note, however, is the 66% reduction in hospital admission by those employees who enrolled in <em>both<\/em> programs.\u00a0 For the wellness professional, keeping people out of hospital-level health concerns is of paramount importance and the value of this was impossible to determine due to the brief nature of the study.\u00a0 Seven years is a prolonged period of time for most studies, but compared to the span of a human life, especially the latter years of life when medical issues arise most often, this study cannot accurately demonstrate the true long-term benefits of lifestyle management.<\/p>\n<p>Another study, this one conducted by the RAND Corporation, followed 600,000 workers from seven different companies.\u00a0 This study concluded that lifestyle and disease management together reduced employer\u2019s average healthcare costs by around $30 per member per month.\u00a0 Of this, 87% of the savings came from disease management.<a href=\"#_ftn10\" name=\"_ftnref10\"><sup>[10]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 To state it another way, the overall ROI on the program was $1.50 for every dollar invested; in isolation, the disease management portion resulted in $3.80 for every dollar invested.\u00a0 In many respects, the lifestyle program pulled the average down.<\/p>\n<p>With only 13% enrollment in the disease management portion, imagine the huge potential impact of a modified disease management program that is easier to enroll in, provides incentives, and also addresses the higher ROI aspects of lifestyle management.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The Opportunity for the Wellness Professional<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Woven between all the facts, figures, and jargon is the opportunity of a lifetime career for wellness experts and medical fitness professionals.\u00a0 There is a gigantic gap not only in lifestyle management programs, but more specifically in disease management programs at businesses all over the world.\u00a0 Designing and implementing employee wellness programs would not only help the business itself, but more importantly for the health expert, would allow a conduit to help improve the lives of potentially thousands of people simultaneously.\u00a0 Such open access to so many clients is a dream come true, presenting the opportunity to exercise our skills in a humanitarian fashion while being able to paint ourselves not as an expensive tool or a simple loss to a business, but as a business asset.\u00a0 All this while simply helping people to feel better, be happier, and live healthier.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/medicalfitnessnetwork.org\/members\/shane-caraway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shane Caraway<\/a> CHN, CPT, PTSP,<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>uses his education, experience, and credentials as a certified personal trainer and nutritionist to help others recapture the primitive mystique, strength, and beauty that their body is capable of. His greatest pleasure comes from the successes of his clients, no matter how mundane or simple each small victory may be. Always in pursuit of various techniques, compounds, nutrients, herbs, and other means to help support the body against disease, Shane finds the challenge of combating chronic disease to be the pinnacle of his work, especially with diseases and conditions that otherwise cause clients to surrender.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> 2008, 58% of U.S. employers offered wellness programs; in 2015, that number had already climbed to 70% [FORBES]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a>https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/ResourcesAndTools\/hr-topics\/benefits\/Pages\/wellness-program-benchmarks.aspx<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a>https:\/\/www.cluteinstitute.com\/ojs\/index.php\/JBER\/article\/view\/2303<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a>https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/chronicdisease\/resources\/publications\/aag\/pdf\/2015\/aag-workplace-health.pdf<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a>https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/chronicdisease\/resources\/publications\/aag\/pdf\/2015\/aag-workplace-health.pdf<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a>https:\/\/hbr.org\/2010\/12\/whats-the-hard-return-on-employee-wellness-programs<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a>https:\/\/hbr.org\/2004\/10\/presenteeism-at-work-but-out-of-it<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref8\" name=\"_ftn8\">[8]<\/a>https:\/\/hbr.org\/2010\/12\/whats-the-hard-return-on-employee-wellness-programs<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref9\" name=\"_ftn9\">[9]<\/a>http:\/\/content.healthaffairs.org\/content\/33\/1\/124.full.pdf+html<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref10\" name=\"_ftn10\">[10]<\/a>http:\/\/www.rand.org\/content\/dam\/rand\/pubs\/research_briefs\/RB9700\/RB9744\/RAND_RB9744.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What health and wellness initiatives afford the largest client base access, combined with the financial incentive to companies for investment, and present the opportunity to improve the lives of potentially hundreds or thousands of people?  The answer?\u2026the ever-popular concept of corporate-led wellness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":20236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[271,198],"class_list":["post-20233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-mfn","tag-corporate-wellness","tag-fitness-professionals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}