Hold on a Minute

(This posting is a continuation of my last blog “Watching Your Figure, Your Boss May be.”

While employers are trying to take steps to make sure they can afford to offer health insurance, workers are skeptical. In a national survey of 30,000 employees by Hewitt Associates, just 12% think that their employers should be telling them how to stay healthy. However, there has been little to no pushback from employees about anything, says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for human resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton school. “In many cases, employers can ask their employees to stand on their heads and they’ll do it,” says Cappelli.

Overall, there seems to be little resistance from employees as they are increasingly asked to undergo medical screenings and full blood tests on themselves and their spouses. Instead, employees tend to gravitate towards work sponsored wellness programs. The Hewitt health survey, which included 500 companies, found that 88% of employers plan to make significant investments in these wellness programs in the next three to five years. This is up from 63% just a year ago.

Weight is the greatest focus. For those who have a body mass index greater than the national standards, health coaches are often available to give advice and monitor a weight-loss plan. General Mills has established a wellness mission statement that is distributed to employees: “We would like every General Mills employee to have an active lifestyle, a healthy weight, and a normal cholesterol level, normal blood pressure had to be a non-smoker.”

Tim Crimmins, the company’s vice president of health and safety at General Mills has created hard to miss opportunities for employee fitness. Their offerings range from dodge ball and cross-country skiing, two small group meditation, classes on portion control and a choice of whether or not to participate.

While some companies are getting it right, other companies are clearly getting it wrong. Clarian Health Partners in Indianapolis bumped into resistance when the healthcare system tried to launch a program for its 13,000 employees that fined people up to $30 per pay period if they didn’t meet certain health standards, including weight loss targets.

Clarian redeemed itself by removing the penalties in the face of employee outcry. In its place, Clarian implemented an incentive program that rewards people each pay period for meeting certain thresholds, like $10 extra each paycheck for meeting the standard for body mass index.

In my next blog I will talk about the limitations of the workplace health movement.

Watching Your Figure? Your Boss May be.

If you think that your weight is nobody’s business, try telling that to your employer. I have had several clients openly share their criteria on employee selection and performance with an eye on body size. “He is too heavy and I wonder about his energy to meet our work demands,” and “People who are too heavy, this reflects a lack of discipline,” are just a couple of statements I’ve heard reflecting a bias against size in the work place.

In addition to bias, ever soaring health insurance costs are driving more companies to focus on wellness and making employee health a part of their culture. General Mills has made “healthy weight” a cornerstone of a wellness mission statement, launching dozens of fitness programs for its workers. An Atlanta marketing firm launched a “Biggest Loser” style weight-loss contest that has morphed into workouts of up to five hours a day for the most zealous participants. In Indianapolis, one employer proposed $30 fines for overweight workers.

Perhaps the most dramatic move is where several companies have implemented a policy requiring that all employees, and their spouses, must submit to a physical exam at work to qualify for employer-sponsored insurance. Potential employees whose body mass index is too high are not offered positions and current employees are encouraged to hit the exercise mat.

Health care costs are a volatile subject for companies, individuals and political platforms. Double-digit percentage increases from a few years ago are being moderated as employers have passed along more of the bill to workers. But, costs are expected to spike 9 percent in 2008, which is up 5.3 percent from 2007, according to Hewitt Associations Consulting.

Consequently, employers are focusing on reducing the demand for health care by addressing their employee’s health. For a growing number of companies, this means using the workplace as a forum to preach the benefits of eating better, eating less and exercising more.

In my next blog, I will address how employees are responding to these changes.