What Does The Future Of Workplace Wellness Hold?

Workplace wellness schemes have become immensely popular over recent years, including everything from work-sponsored biometric screenings to programmes to help you quit smoking and health coaching. There are even exercise classes involved but things are changing, despite workplace wellness becoming increasingly popular additions to employer portfolios. Because the market has evolved to not just include a phone call and a meeting with a coach, schemes are now moving into the technology realm. When the industry started, there was a fear in asking employees to disclose information about their health, and as that portion of the programme has moved on, things have changed. The uneasiness on the part of the employers has been subsumed by the reality that offering health coverage now costs so much more. Workplace wellness is now an industry worth billions of pounds and recent surveys suggest that around half of all companies with at least 50 workers have some sort of scheme in place. But at the backdrop to this is the crisis state of the healthcare market, with many chronic conditions being lifestyle diseases. The concept behind the workplace wellness programme is to help people to navigate the complex nature of lifestyle and health, by giving them the support they need to make healthier changes and the tools they need to improve their lives. In the process, they may help their employer avoid costly health claims down the road, but is this really how companies save money? Just how valuable is it to employers to have a workplace wellness scheme in place?

 

There’s an underlying concept of building a stock exchange for your health, and as such you treat your health as a stock which can go up or down depending on how you treat it. You need to go to the screenings and track your health so, for example, if your blood pressure goes down, your stock goes up. Technology offers an instant form of feedback, so if you light up on your lunch break, it will give you the hard facts – it cost you £5, you lost 146 days from your life expectancy, and all because of one cigarette. These are facts which are harder to shrug off. LifeVest is a start-up from Philadelphia which has now added a number of companies to its roster. What makes LifeVest different is the association of money to your health. Having an investment in your health is bound to affect your behaviour, and direct financial incentives for workplace wellness schemes are still quite rare, but studies show that money is a great motivator. It’s early days, but companies are seeing a rise in engagement numbers which is rooted in economics. Using competition and financial motivators helps to add to the accountability tools – you’ve got competition with your friends, your family are holding you accountable and you’ve got your financial incentives. In fact, smokers have as much as a 50 per cent higher premium than non-smokers. But people are ok penalising smokers as a way of encouraging them to quit their addiction. Looking at obesity though, this is a more complex problem and finding the right balance between incentivising weight control and simply imposing a tax on obesity is very difficult. Workplace wellness schemes have a long way to go before they find the right balance between helping both the employer and the employee, but this new way of working, by offering financial incentives, could well be the answer to this problem.

Categories: Companies, financial, financial incentives, health, incentives, Wellness, wellness schemes, workplace, Workplace Wellness

Could Good Working Relationships Add Years to Your Life?

Studies suggest that good relationships with your co-workers and a supportive work environment could add years to your life. In a trial involving 820 adults with an average age of 41 who were tracked for 20 years, researchers noted that those with low social support were 2.4 times more likely to die during those two decades than people who said they felt supported in the workplace. 53 people died during the course of the study and most of those had negligible social connections with their colleagues. This lack of support was associated with a 140 percent with an increased risk of dying in the next 20 years. We spend such a large proportion of time at work that it stands to reason that it affects our wellbeing in many ways. Work should be a place where you feel happy and supported, and if you don’t it can severely impact your mental and emotional health. Researchers found that informal or peer social support at work was a more potent predictor of longevity in life and relationships with your boss or supervisor. The effects were not as significant in younger or older people, but in employees aged between 38 and 45 it was a powerful result. The findings were still accurate when other factors were taken into account, such as sex, obesity, age and cholesterol. These results could offer a lot of promise for workplace wellness schemes that encourage people to enjoy a happier working environment.

 

The study involved asking the participants if they took initiative at work, and if they felt that they had the freedom to make their own decisions. Men stated that they did better when they had more control, whereas women with the same amount of control tended to have shorter lifespans. In particular, women who have a significant level of control over their working week were 70 percent more likely to die during the 20 year period, compared to people who didn’t. Researchers are unsure what these results mean, or how they affect a person’s lifespan, but state that women in positions of power may be overwhelmed by the need to play up to a powerful image at work, even when at home. Modern businesses were less likely to offer a supportive environment, too, in comparison to older and more traditional companies. This is because many people telecommute and communicate via email, so relationships are broken and there is less contact with co-workers. It was suggested that coffee corners where employees can sit and chat could help to alleviate this issue.

Being happy at work has been proven to help boost productivity and help people be more creative. They also get sick less often and make less mistakes, as they learn faster and worry less. Researchers are unsure which comes first – the happy employee or the supportive environment. In other words, are employees happy because they work in a supportive place, or does their energy multiply to create a happier workplace? Some companies are famous for their strong work/play ethic, and this is something that could be seen in many more companies to come with this new initiative to create healthier, happier people. Companies like Google have fun and vibrant workplaces, which encourage people to chat, communicate and boost their energy through their work. It is something that on the surface seems unnecessary, but this new study could put an end to the doubts. It seems that in order to live long and happy lives, we need to speak up more at work and make the most of the resulting energy.

Categories: add years, Companies, encourage people, Friendships, people, Researchers, social support, Stress, supportive, supportive environment, work, working wellness

What Makes a Company Excel at Creating Work-Life Balance?

The leader of any successful company will tell you that a work-life balance is good for corporate wellness; a reputation of putting employee wellbeing first increases morale, yields superior work and attracts the best talent in the market. Recently, job site Indeed.com released a list of the top 25 companies nationwide in terms of work-life balance, and director of recruiting Mark Steinerd explained, ‘Proper work-life balance makes employees feel appreciated, which in turn makes them more productive and more likely to stay with the company for an extended period of time… This list showcases those companies that, according to previous or current employees, got it right.’

 

Companies who made the list often infused balance into the work day itself, through creative managerial practices. Desk time is often the epitome of work day drudgery, and so Farhad Chowdhury, the chief executive officer of the application development firm Fifth Tribe, works with collaborators over an intensive four-mile hike rather than a conference room. The physical challenge is a great team-building exercise, and the collaborating element promotes thinking outside the box by removing professionals from the box itself. Chowdhury noted, ‘That’s why I try to do this with everyone with whom I interact professionally.’

 

Flex time also rated high on Indeed.com’s list of companies. As an employee at Wegmans explained, ‘Because I am a college student, my schedule can sometimes be all over the place. Thankfully Wegmans is more than happy to work around my school and personal schedule and make a work schedule that I can easily adhere to. For the two years I have worked at Wegmans, I have not regretted one minute of it!’ Most of us would rather work to live, rather than live to work, which means we place higher value on picking our kids up from school, attending a class or going to an important family event, than putting in the nine to five. During his 2010 TEDTalk Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work, Jason Fried, co-founder of the Web application firm 37signals, explained a flexible professional atmosphere allows the long, uninterrupted thought required for great (and even good) work to manifest.

Categories: Balance, Companies, flexible hours, hiking, life, life balance, list, productivity, work, work day, work life

US Companies Rewarded for Recruitment of Military Veterans

The levels of permanent service personnel in the armed forces of major nations has generally fallen over recent years. Reservists and part-time troops are used to supplement the ranks when required. But it takes a special commitment from both the reservist and the employer to maintain a part-time military career.

To that end, businesses in the US have been rewarded with recognition for their employment of reservists, National Guard service personnel and military veterans. One such firm is Southern Company, named a top employer of both active and veteran military personnel.

The energy company employs around 26,000 people of whom 11% are veterans, National Guard or Reserve personnel. Veterans make up around 12% of Southern Company’s newly-hired employees in the last year.

The company’s work has been recognised in two recent surveys of US employers. Southern was named as the leading energy company and in 19th position overall in Military Times EDGE Best for Vets 2013: Employers Survey. It also claimed the title of Most Valuable Employers for Military for the fourth year in a row from CivilianJobs.com.

The Military Times EDGE survey involved more than 1,000 companies and government contractors. Participants were quizzed on recruiting and hiring policies for veterans and on their pay and benefits for reservists, many of whom can be called up at short notice to serve overseas.

All US-based companies were included in CivilianJobs.com survey when the online recruiters looked for its 2013 Most Valuable Employers for Military. Its survey looked for recruitment, training and retention around veterans and serving military personnel.

Southern Company has made its commitment to military veterans and reservists clear for some time, having been a founding partner in the Troops to Energy Jobs program. This recruiting service brings together veterans with the right experience with vacancies in the energy industry. Southern  also actively recruits from the Navy and takes part in more than 30 military recruitment events every year.

Kim Greene, president and CEO of Southern Company Services, said: “Veterans and reservists add incredible value to Southern Company.”

Categories: Companies, military veterans, recruitment

Companies Pay a High Price After Losing Customer Trust

The old adage proclaims that the customer is always right. For companies who lose sight of that, the financial consequences can be disastrous.

Netflix has been the leading providing of on-demand Internet streaming media and DVDs by mail in North America for more than a decade while it has recently become established in Europe and the Caribbean, too.

But when the US firm suddenly raised its prices and split its DVD business from the online video streaming business in 2011, it so enraged its customer base that it lost almost one million subscribers in four short traumatic months.

The company is still feeling the after-effects of that financial shock two years on with its financial chief admitting it will take up to three years to rebuild trust with its customers. Netflix has admitted that any attempts to change its pricing again could have a catastrophic effect on business.

To recapture those customers who cancelled subscriptions, Netflix is investing more in original content that viewers won’t be able to see elsewhere and going for exclusive rights to online streaming and DVDs. Among its original content is the long-running US comedy show Arrested Development and the miniseries House of Cards.

An increase in unique content may not, however, be enough to persuade previously-loyal viewers to fork out once again for Netflix. Trust, once broken, can be an extremely difficult thing to regain and with more suppliers now providing online content and streaming, Netflix may continue to rue its disastrous decision to hike prices for a long time to come.

What this situation does indicate is that the consumer still maintains some power even when faced with the might of major corporations. A threat to take business elsewhere that is followed through by millions will always send shivers through the boardrooms of Wall Street.

Categories: Companies, customers, trust

How Can we Change Our Recycling Habits?

We have long been aware of the importance of recycling and making greener choices in order to reduce the impact of global warming on the planet, but in countries as vast as the U.S, it seems that more needs to be done. The States’ recycling rate has remained relatively low for many years, slowly increasing but by a minor rise. Environmental activists are saying that more needs to be done in order to make a more notable contribution to the recycling efforts of other countries all attempting to lower their carbon footprint. Those on all sides of this vital issue agree that bigger changes need to occur, and soon, to the recycling systems.

More than half of the states in America already follow some variety of the EPR laws on recycling, which cover products such as batteries, paint and electronic items. Some of these date back to the early 1990s, but there are new efforts being made to put EPR systems for packaging back in place to help increase the amount of recycling occurring in the U.S. There have been initiatives set up to help companies look into ways they can streamline their packaging recovery and recycling processes. Many companies are reluctant to engage in conversations about the situation, which is influenced for the most part by the fact that many brands don’t know much about the issue – in teaching them more about the importance of recycling and how it can benefit their company, it will hopefully lead to more companies taken the responsibility and engaging in more environmentally-friendly processes.

Waste management companies are also less than keen to discuss the new EPR schemes, as it could change how they operate. However, commodities groups are being supportive of bottle bills – these follow the concept that you put deposits on containers, which give consumers are higher incentive to return them afterwards in order to get the deposit back. There are numerous goals in mind, which include the financial savings from shifting the cost of recycling from the taxpayer to the companies themselves, as well as the fairness of spreading the expenses to those involved. There should also be more products designed with the disposal in mind, which could help people recycle more. It could even lead to more jobs in the recycling industry, with more materials being collected.

How Can we Change Our Recycling Habits?

Categories: Companies, countries, Environmental Wellness, greenhouse gases, order, recycling, states

Breakthrough Methods to Help You Deal With Diabetes

Having diabetes is not a competition – but curing it could be, with a new competition offering a top prize of $100,000. The Data Design Diabetes Challenge is an innovative new way of incentivising companies to think about using technology to break down the barriers to controlling diabetes. Although this is a competition, it has serious undertones which could have long-lasting effects on the wellness of diabetes sufferers the world over.

The challenge offers this large cash sum to start-up companies that are coming up with revolutionary new ways to cut down on the enormous diabetes epidemic that is threatening the wellbeing of millions of people in the developed world.

These companies could do things like using algorithms to find better meals, or predicting which patients are most at risk from not using their medication properly – all using technology.

Dealing with the diabetes epidemic is considered a top priority, as almost 8.3 percent of the population in the USA alone is suffering from the disease, and the cost to the economy is enormous, with many millions more people now  at risk of diabetes, due to their lifestyles and other factors.

The competition is run by drugmaker Sanofi US and has run for several years now, looking to track down the best data-driven solutions to diabetes. They are careful not to source ideas that are simply ‘flash in the pan’ which will not come to anything, but more deeply rooted, well-thought-out ideas that will actually go on to help reduce incidences of diabetes and save lives.

Finalists for this year’s competition include GoCap, a high-tech cap that can be put onto pre-filled insulin pens, that are able to track the time and dosage and then communicate this information to glucometers and cell phones, making the potential for patient analysis enormous, and Connect & Coach, a software application which provides Diabetes Self-Management Education alongside Medical Nutrition Therapy in communities, which can be used in pharmacies and supermarkets.

Breakthrough Methods to Help You Deal With Diabetes

Categories: Companies, Competition, Diabetes, diabetes epidemic, enormous, risk, software, technology