The Research Says - Build a Healthy Organization

When I was in high school, college and even graduate school, if we had a gnarly research question to figure out, we went to the library and spent hours pouring through old journals, books, microfiche, and card catalogs. In many ways, finding sources that could be trusted was easier than today, but access to information overall is leaps and bounds beyond what it used to be. I still get excited every time someone comes up with a question or I am in the midst of a debate and I’m able to look up the answer and give a quick response.  Just last week I was able to find out how old Joni Mitchell is (and that she seemed to be doing well after being rushed to the emergency room) and find the quickest route to my destination – in moments!
 
A few facts that guide the work that I do:
 
Project and strategic plan failure is costly and adoption of organizational change is an important component
  • According to Gallup, “One estimate of IT failure rates is between 5% and 15%, which represents a loss of $50 billion to $150 billion per year in the United States. Another study estimated that IT project failures cost the European Union €142 billion in 2004.”
  • Also according to the Gallup Healthways study, employees who feel their managers are concerned about their well being perform better - Employees who say they have more supportive supervisors are 1.3 times as likely to stay with the organization and are 67 percent more engaged.
Wasted meetings are costly even before looking at the costs of poorly made or implemented decisions as the result of ineffective meetings
  • According to a study cited by  Fuze.com, the estimated annual cost of wasted meetings globally is $37 billion.
We are an unhealthy nation and this is costly to the bottom line
  • According to the Milliken Institute, in 2003 the productivity losses associated with the seven chronic diseases of cancer, mental disorders, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, pulmonary conditions, and stroke totaled almost $1.1 trillion, while treatment expenditures totaled $277.0 billion. Together, the combined economic impact of these diseases amounted to $1.3 trillion and more than half of all Americans suffer from one or more chronic disease.  A study by Loeppke and colleagues in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds that the costs of productivity loss were four times as great as the direct medical costs of a chronic condition.
  • According to the Task Force on Rural Health, North Carolina is the 16th most overweight/obese state in the nation.
Health and wellness programs are costly and often underutilized
  • According to the Rand Corporation, corporate wellness is a $6 billion industry. yet according to Galllup Healthways only 24% of employees who have a wellness program use.
By integrating these efforts – the running of the business and the health and wellness of employees, we can attain positive results.  Here are some important points to consider:
 
Healthier employees are more productive and save the company money through:
  • Decreased corporate medical costs (for self-insured organizatons)
  • Decreased absenteeism and presenteeism (when people are present but not productive)
  • Increased morale
  • Increased retention.
Healthy Approaches improve outcomes, for example:
  • Walking improves creativity
  • Stretching can cause the brain to think about problems more creatively
  • Eating healthier and breathing fresh air increase energy
  • Getting adequate sleep improves mood and performance.
Contact me to learn how your organization can take steps towards becoming a healthy organization.