The Fabricator - Sample Issue

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 clicking Article Archive on thefabrica tor.com’s home page and selecting Shop Management or Safety from the Subject Category list. ■

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.