The Well Workforce Initiative pays off!

Workplace health programs not only pay off, they improve productivity. A Medscape article by Bob Roehr published in February '08 reports on a 3-year pilot program presented at Prevention Medicine 2008, the annual conference of the American College of Preventive Medicine. The article reports:
"The full cost of poor employee health to a company is like an iceberg, [Ron Loeppke] said. Industry has focused on the most visible part of the equation — medical pharmacy costs — but the larger danger lurks below the waterline: "For every $1 of medical pharmacy costs that the employer pays out, they are paying around $3 for health-related productivity losses."
"Earlier research had found that the top 10 medical claims could be anticipated — cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and so on — "but when we added in the 'presenteeism' and absenteeism costs, it's a different top 10 list." Back and neck pain lead the list, followed by depression, fatigue, chronic pain, sleeping problems, high cholesterol, hypertension, obesity, and anxiety."
Some interesting measures were adopted in the trial, including profit sharing with physicians and employees involved.
The figures that the project translated into were amazing. The total cost estimate was $153 million in lost productivity for a company with gross revenue of $2.1 billion. Using the prevention program to reduce lost productivity by 1% (0.08 days per employee) changed the bottom line by $1.5 million. To achieve the same net effect, they would have to increase gross sales by $6.2 million.
This is immediately relevant information to companies and organizations in Australia and is why I am so passionate about the Health Highway's Well Workforce Initiative. To me, this is the missing link in our health care system where organizations tend to focus only on risk management control mechanisms after the event of major illness, with income protection insurance and Workcover programs.
These figures should get people's attention. Every company wants to improve its bottom line and every employee will benefit from a prevention program.
Can we come up with an equally effective way to grab the attention of Not For Profits?
If you want to know more about the Well Workforce Initiative, contact me.