Worksite Wellness by William McPeck, MSW, CWWPC

Intro by Diana

Healthcare and Wellness are hot topics whether you’re a solopreneur or a small business  owner with 10 employees.  Today you need to be savvy about  worksite wellness.  What are you doing to encourage wellness and prevention in your company?  When I think of worksite wellness, I think of William (Bill) McPeck.  Bill is a Certified Worksite Consultant, Work Life Certified Professional, and Director of Employee Health and Safety for the Government of Maine.  I personally have learned so much from Bill about worksite wellness so I invited Bill to  share his  expertise as a featured  author on this blog  to help you become savvy about Worksite Wellness.  Eacn month we will feature  Good Health =Good Business by Bill.  Here are the June and July 2009 articles by :

Good Health = Good Business  June 2009

Some argue that health is a personal issue and it is none of their employer’s business. Bunk.  Research conclusively demonstrates that a person’s health clearly impacts on their attendance and performance at work.

Health impacts your bottom line in two ways:

ß Through direct costs

ß Through indirect costs

Direct costs are reflected in the premiums you pay for health insurance, Workers’ Compensation insurance and disability insurance.  At renewal time, you are probably writing bigger and bigger checks to the insurance company, especially the health insurance company.  Another direct cost would be the overtime paid to employees who cover for other employees who call in sick.

Indirect costs are often hidden because they don’t require you to write a check for them.  These hidden costs include absenteeism, presenteeism (at work, but not engaged in work) and morale.

Bill McPeck is a Certified Worksite Wellness Program Consultant and Director of Employee health and Safety for Maine State Government. Contact Bill with your questions and comments at 287-6783 or william.c.mcpeck@maine.gov.

Good Health = Good Business July  2009

Last month, in my inaugural column, we looked at how health impact’s your company’s bottom line.  This occurs through both direct and indirect costs.

Usually, it is the direct cost of healthcare or health insurance premiums that capture the owner’s or CEO’s attention and causes them to explore starting a worksite wellness program. While it may be direct costs that drive the owner or CEO to the wellness table, I have become convinced that it is the indirect costs of health that are costing businesses the greatest amount of money. These indirect costs are present, even when the business does not offer health insurance to its employees.

Researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that the indirect costs of absenteeism and presenteeism exceed direct medical and drug costs by a factor of 2 – 4 times. A recent study of 150,000 workers published in the May 2009 edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reported that for every $1.00 spent on medical and drug costs, there was $2.30 in productivity losses due to absenteeism and presenteeism.  The study also found that for conditions such as anxiety, productivity losses can be as high as $20.00 for every $1.00 spent on medical and drug costs.

Hopefully, I have now convinced you that there is true economic benefit to your company’s bottom line by starting a worksite wellness program, even if you do not offer health insurance to your employees.

Bill McPeck is a Certified Worksite Wellness Program Consultant and Director of Employee Health and Safety for Maine State Government. Contact Bill with your questions and comments at 287-6783 or william.c.mcpeck@maine.gov.

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