When we think wellness, we usually think diet, exercise, and stopping smoking. Those are surely the big three, but there are a number of other wellness areas that deserve attention, as well.
Yesterday’s Advisor looked at “walking the Iditarod” and other wellness program ideas. Today, courtesy of BLR’s Workplace Wellness, we’ll look at a number of other Web resources on a variety of wellness topics.
Alcohol and Drugs
It’s obvious that you wouldn’t want to ride in a bus driven by a driver who is under the influence, or fly in an airplane piloted by one. We don’t often think about the fact that that same level of impairment is affecting an alcohol user or drug user at work.
We might not be entrusting our lives to that person, but we are certainly entrusting our customer relationships, and our productivity, and our employee morale to that impaired person. Here are some Web resources recommended by Workplace Wellness:
- Alcoholics Anonymous www.aa.org
- National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug information www.ncadi.samhsa.gov
- National Institute on Drug Abuse www.nida.nih.gov
Ergonomics and Back Pain
These are another, sometimes-related pair of productivity robbers. Often there are relatively simple and inexpensive ways to help employees avoid or ameliorate strains and pains. Again, some Web resources courtesy of Workplace Wellness:
- Medline plus: Back Pain www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/backpain.html
- WebMD: Back Pain Health Center www.webmd.com/back-pain
- Cornell University Ergonomics Web www.ergo.human.cornell.edu
- OSHA Ergonomics www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/index.html
Corporate wellness programs show great ROI. And, as one expert noted, there’s no downside—even small improvements make a difference. Check out Workplace Wellness at no cost or risk. Read more.
Sleep Deprivation
Lack of sleep or irregular sleep can substantially increase the risk of accidents, interfere with concentration, and contribute to a host of other problems. And sleep is cheap! Some Web resources:
- The Better Sleep Council www.bettersleep.org
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/index.htm
Stress
We live in stressful times, and job pressures exacerbated by lean staffing don’t make it easier. And stress is trickier to pin down than, say, excess weight. But that doesn’t mean your wellness programs should ignore it. Here are a few websites as listed in Workplace Wellness: Healthy Employees, Healthy Families, Healthy ROI:
- American Institute of Stress www.stress.org
- MedlinePlus: Stress http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stress.html
Time to Reboot Your Wellness Program?
Well-structured and well-run wellness programs generate ROI of up to 300 percent—music to management’s ears! But the key words are well-structured and well-run, because poorly structured programs just spin their wheels—no health benefit and no positive ROI, either.
Many readers have told us that BLR’s comprehensive guidebook, Workplace Wellness: Healthy Employees, Healthy Families, Healthy ROI , has helped them get programs up and running that achieve wellness objectives with a great ROI, while avoiding the legal hassles that, these days, seem to attend any worthwhile venture in HR.
Wellness—NO downside! Wellness programs show impressive ROI, so management and employees are happy. And that means HR is happy. Check out BLR’s Workplace Wellness. Find out more.
It’s a comprehensive guide that takes you step by step through setting up a program, from convincing management all the way through to creating and implementing a workable plan for your workplace. The guide also includes a vast collection of ready-to-use forms, handouts, and checklists that both structure your program and provide the metrics to prove its effectiveness to management’s satisfaction.
If you’d like to examine Workplace Wellness: Healthy Employees, Healthy Families, Healthy ROI on a no-cost, no-obligation basis for 30 days, we can arrange for you to do so. Let us know and we’ll be happy to set it up.
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I agree, corporate wellness programs can and do work and will return a tenfold ROI as most employees will sing its praise.
oops sorry about that…I have a BIG Problem with an employee who wears WAY too much perfume..how do you make them STOP…