online@thefabricator.com | by Vicki Bell, Web Content Manager
“As work becomes more sedentary, the global work force is becoming fatter,
sicker, and less productive due to chronic conditions such as heart disease
and diabetes.”
– Jim Henry, PricewwaterhouseCoopers LLP
More information can be found by
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tor.com’s home page and selecting Shop
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Vicki Bell, Web content manager for the
fabricator.com, can be reached at vickib@
thefabricator.com.
Want to beef up your
company’s bottom line?
Do what more than
half of multinational
companies now are doing to increase
profitability and productivity —help
your employees shave a few pounds
off their bottoms and help prevent
chronic diseases.
According to the report “Working
Towards Wellness: Accelerating the
Prevention of Chronic Disease,”
released in February by Pricewater-houseCoopers Health Research Institute in conjunction with the World
Economic Forum, “As work becomes
more sedentary, the global work force is
becoming fatter, sicker, and less productive due to chronic conditions such
as heart disease and diabetes.”
The report, which identified chronic disease as a growing and costly threat
to corporations and their workers,
called on CEOs to make wellness central to their corporate business strategy.
“Traditionally, it has been governments, not employers, that have been
responsible for managing the major
global health risks,” said Jim Henry,
global leader for Healthcare, Price-waterhouseCoopers LLP. “As we get
older, fatter, and less active, the
weight of the world is falling on the
bottom lines of the world’s largest
companies in the form of reduced productivity, increased tax burdens, and
declining competitiveness.”
Among the report’s interesting
findings are:
• The economic toll of chronic
disease for developing and developed
nations around the world is estimated
at approximately 3 percent of gross
domestic product, globally.
• The world now has more people
who are overweight than hungry.
Preventable risk factors, such as poor
diet, lack of physical activity, stress,
and smoking, are the biggest contributors to chronic disease.
•According to the World Health
Organization, the U. S. is the world’s
fattest nation, with more than half of
adults overweight or obese. But China
and India are growing fatter at a faster
pace. By 2015 the number of overweight and obese adults in China and
India will grow by 66 percent and 44
percent, respectively. In India, the
share of deaths from chronic disease is
expected to increase from 40 percent
in 1990 to 67 percent in 2020, and
spending on cardiac-related treatments is expected to grow by 13 percent annually there.
Challenges to Businesses
The report examined the challenges
facing businesses as a consequence of
the growing chronic disease epidemic
and found that approximately 2 percent of capital spent on the work force
is lost to disability, absenteeism, and
presenteeism (diminished productivity
from ill employees who go to work, but
work below par).
Combined, these indirect costs are
more than the additional direct medical claim costs that some employers
incur. In contrast, corporate wellness
programs have been shown to provide
a 3-to-1 return on investment, the
report said.
“There are quantifiable benefits
from using wellness programs to
attract and retain talented, healthy
employees,” said Simon Leary, partner, PwC LLP. “You can improve the
health and well-being of your workers,
while also bolstering your bottom line.
The economic case for prevention is
overwhelming.”
How Companies
Are Responding
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As part of its research, PwC conducted a wellness program survey among
multinational employers representing
more than 3 million employees worldwide and found a growing emphasis
on health prevention in the workplace. The survey, conducted in conjunction with the Washington, D.C.-
based National Business Group on
Health, found that:
• More than half of multinational
corporations surveyed expect to introduce or expand corporate wellness
programs over the next five years.
•One-third ( 33 percent) are
rolling out comprehensive wellness
programs in multiple countries, while
another 17 percent are rolling out a
single wellness program in multiple
countries.
• The two leading reasons cited for
promoting wellness were “reducing
indirect costs associated with absenteeism, presenteeism, disability, and
workers’ compensation” and “
improving work performance, such as productivity and quality.” “Reducing direct
health care costs” was cited as the
third most important reason, followed
by “the desire to improve the image of
the company internally (for retention
purposes)” and to “improve the image
of the company externally (for recruitment purposes).”
The full report can be downloaded
from www.pwc.com/workwellness.
Help With
Wellness Programs
The consensus seems to be that wellness programs are worthwhile, and
many large companies are implementing them. Smaller companies also can
benefit from wellness programs, perhaps even more than bigger companies. Think about those small operations that rely on key people and often
don’t have backups for certain tasks.
Doesn’t it make good business sense
for these companies to promote good
health and disease prevention?
Thefabricator.com’s Article
Archive has articles that can help
businesses of all sizes design, implement, and justify wellness program
costs. Each of the following articles
can be accessed by entering the number after the article in the search box
on thefabricator. com’s home page.
•“Employees value workplace
health and wellness programs” (573)
•“Promoting back safety—one
company’s approach (744)
• “Obesity—a problem for workers
and employers” (862)
The FABRICATOR | An FMA Publication
March 2007 | www.thefabricator.com
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