Employee Health Vs. Rising Cost: Is There A Solution?
By Jeff Sauter
“Rising health care costs and the worsening status of employee health are threatening corporate viability and making the health care system unsustainable.”
- Leading by Example, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Partnership for Prevention
Organizational goals of improving people and performance are shared by corporate leaders as well as wellness professionals. The conundrum is – can we pursue both without detracting from the other? Can this be done without major upheaval to existing practices? The answer to both questions is yes, and the “how” is neither complex nor time-consuming.
Wellness practitioners have spent years developing an effective means of addressing individual health with the common practices of health assessments, biometrics, incentives, coaching, activity programs - all common tools being used across the industry. The difficulty has been that over the past 30 years, health care costs have well exceeded inflation, health status has worsened and the percentage of people engaged in healthy lifestyle behaviors has remained relatively unchanged. This does not make a strong case for the organizations’ senior level leadership involvement.
In order to maximize the individual’s potential, we also need to improve the work environment in which they are functioning; going beyond the current focus on individual behavior change and recognizing the importance of organizational health. Patrick Lencioni, in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, defines this environment as one with minimal politics/confusion, high morale/productivity and low-turnover. These are all enviable metrics to attain. According to Gallup, there is a substantial gap in attaining this. Neither source states that existing practices need to be abandoned. However, both suggest that, to create sustainable and measurable improvement, we need to go beyond our existing efforts and address the surrounding culture of the organizational practices.
Improving organizational health will have a substantial effect on the current wellness efforts while exponentially improving return on investment. The Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing 5 Index reinforces this finding by underscoring the impact of balance between individual and organizational health efforts and the resulting influence on performance, people and overall well-being.
So, we seem to be at a crossroad. Will the significance of refining the work culture alter current well-being practices? Through combining traditional wellness efforts with attention placed upon cultivating a vibrant organizational culture, organizations can be brought into balance with people and the environment they work within. The challenge is: Can we assimilate the altruist (wellness) with the realist (senior level management) mentalities? Yes we can, but it will require equipping today’s leaders with facilitative management tools. This can be done in real-time and affordably, affecting today’s performance and results. And it can be done while acknowledging the fact that people are primarily social creatures seeking love, hope, relationships, meaning and purpose in their day-to-day environment. Heavy-handed management styles geared toward an assembly-mind mentality are being diminished because today’s workforce is changing. Today’s workers are seeking experiences and the ability to make a difference – not merely a nine-to-five job that leaves them feeling depleted and unfulfilled at the end of the day.
The work-life balance sought today defines the growing reality of today’s workforce. It is time to minimize the conditions of illness as well as to optimize the functioning and balance between all five elements of well-being. Health isn’t about the destination we arrive at, it is about the journey. Years ago, Viktor Frankl, a psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor, stated: “The meaning of life is to help others find the meaning in theirs.” The opportunity is being presented to pursue and promote this rewarding journey – using the workplace as our means.
Jeff Sauter, MA, has been a wellness practitioner/provider/facility owner since 1978. As part of GTP Associates (Growth Through People), Jeff offers a process called Bringing Meaning Into Monday that compliments traditional wellness programs – targeting environmental factors within the workplace that hinder effective advancement of the wellness ideal. Jeff can be reached at [email protected].
Advisor News
Annuity News
Life Insurance News
Property and Casualty News