Blog Authored by: Jeanne Hines, SPHR
Now that we’ve turned the calendar to December, it’s apparent that the New Year is fast approaching. Many businesses began planning their strategies for 2012 some time ago. They made new plans to control expenses and increase sales, and set goals that are intended to result in increased profits. With a sluggish economy and belts still tightened, businesses continue to look for ways to do more with less.
Over a hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin told us, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Perhaps this thought occurred to Mr. Franklin as a result of his dissatisfaction with the productivity of his assistants, or he knew that it was difficult to put in a hard day of inventing if he didn’t get a good night’s sleep. Whatever the case, he knew what a healthy lifestyle could do for people.
With a passion to accomplish more, it’s critical to be able to rely on members of the workforce to perform at high levels. In today’s workforce, roughly, 10% of the workforce is at its healthiest. Another 10% has serious health issues, and the rest are somewhere in between. The “tweeners” are the ones with whom you can make the biggest gain.
Making health and wellness part of your strategic plan helps to solidify its importance, resulting in an increased likelihood that you will achieve the most optimal results.
You’ll need a plan structured for success and a champion who’ll keep the message alive. Those who need help getting started may take advantage of services offered by their health plan, their local fitness center, their physician, their insurance broker, or a wellness/lifestyle coach.
The results of a well-run wellness program will drop to the bottom line. Reduced absenteeism and presenteeism, lower incidence of disease, along with the increased productivity make this investment worthwhile. Businesses report receiving a 3-6% return on their wellness dollars over a three year period.
Now is the time for making plans to more effectively support the development and implementation of healthy choices. We wish you good health and prosperity for this holiday season and throughout 2012!