Wellness Program at Work
Wellness programs at work
Healthy workforce is a productive workforce (Bray & Bray, 2009). Healthy employees can give more attention to their job responsibilities, work more dedicatedly, and devote themselves whole heartedly to their organization (Duncan, 2008). On the other hand, unhealthy employees are not able to give their best at the workplace due to the negative impacts on their health caused by their unhealthy living habits and lifestyles (Cooper, 1994).
To encounter this issue, organizations arrange different types of Workplace Health Care and Wellness Program at the workplace (Healey & Walker, 2009). These wellness programs bring a significant change in the lives of employees by communicating them the benefits of a healthy life style and the negative impacts of the unhealthy habits (Cooper, 1994). They convince the unhealthy employees to adopt the healthy living habits that ultimately contribute towards an increased organizational productivity (Duncan, 2008).
These Workplace Health Care and Wellness Programs need heavy investments by the Organizations; therefore it has been under practice in the business world that the employer charges the costs of these investments from their employees (Bray & Bray, 2009). For the last few years, an issue relating to these Workplace Health Care and Wellness Programs has been a topic of debate in the business community of the world which have strained the managers to think whether all the healthy and unhealthy people should pay an equal premium for health insurance and be subject to an equal deduction for health care services or not (Cooper, 1994)?
This paper critically analyses the different aspect of Workplace Health Care and Wellness Programs and give explanation to the various issues relating to the costs and effectiveness of these programs for the organizations.
Workplace Health Care and Wellness Programs
What is a Workplace Health and Welfare Program?
A workplace health and welfare or wellness program promotes a safe and risk free working environment for the employees of an organization (Duncan, 2008). It aims to provide them the best working conditions that can enhance their performance capabilities and improve the organizational productivity (Bray & Bray, 2009). The program is run by highly experienced organizational members that perform the functions of risk assessment, training and workshops on the health and safety issues, and the provision of health care and wellness allowances to every worker (Cooper, 1994).
A workplace health and welfare program not only aims to protect the workers from hazardous working conditions, but also intends to bequeath a healthier social circle and a better future for their family members (Duncan, 2008). Keeping in view the benefits of these programs, both profit and non-profit organizations have started implementing them at their workplace (Bray & Bray, 2009).
What constitutes a Workplace Health and Welfare Program?
Every organization designs a suitable health and wellness program that fits the needs and requirements of its workers (Healey & Walker, 2009). However there are some essential components that a workplace welfare program must constitute. Before highlighting these components, it is worth mentioning that the success of a welfare program essentially requires a blend of the Management's consciousness towards employee welfare, presence of a long-term objective of this program, and the employees' own interest in instituting such a system in their working environment (Cooper, 1994).
A well-formulated workplace welfare program constitutes the following components;
1. Objectives of the Workplace Welfare Program
2. Health Risks Assessment
3. Assessment of the need for Financial Resources required for the Program
4. Allocation of Financial resources to different areas of the Program (Cooper, 1994)
5. Training sessions, workshops, and classes to develop understanding of the Health, Safety, and Welfare issues, etc. (Bray & Bray, 2009).
Should healthy people have to pay Medicare and other health costs for the health problems of unhealthy people?
The lifestyles, habits, personal traits, and characteristics of every employee are different from all his colleagues, subordinates, and supervisors within the workplace (Healey & Walker, 2009). Some organizations distribute their budget for workplace health and welfare programs according to the composition of their healthy and unhealthy people in the total workforce (Duncan, 2008). Converse to this, some organizations charge an equal health and life insurance premium from all their employees irrespective of whether they have unhealthy habits or not (Cooper, 1994).
The following sections explain why organizations need to charge a higher premium from those employees who are obese, smokers, or alcoholic than the others with no such unhealthy habit.
Major Costs of Welfare Programs for Healthy and Unhealthy People for an Organization:
Although every employee is paid a good amount as medical allowance which is mostly according to their designation and basic salary, but health insurance...
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