S.C. Employers are Working Well

Tobacco use, poor nutrition and physical inactivity are three top risk factors leading to early and preventable disease in the United States. These risk factors have greatly impacted employers, resulting in higher absenteeism (sick days), lost productivity, and poor employee health and morale. The simple truth is that unhealthy employees are less productive, happy and engaged than their healthier peers. Indirect costs of poor employee health from sick leave, disability and presenteeism (underperformance due to illness or injury) can be two to three times the direct medical costs (Partnership for Prevention, 2011). Employers can expect to pay $5,800 extra per year for an employee that uses tobacco, $2,676 for an employee that is overweight or obese, and $1,984 for an employee that is physically inactive (The Ohio State University, 2013; Be Active North Carolina, 2005).

            The good news is that employers have a unique opportunity to impact population health. Employees spend the majority of their waking hours at work, making the workplace an ideal environment to impact health behavior. About half of U.S. employers offer workplace wellness initiatives to improve employee health and combat these rising costs (Mattke, Liu, Caloyeras, Huang, Van Busum, Khodyakov and Shier, 2013). Employers that invest in creating a comprehensive workplace wellness strategy can reasonably expect to receive a savings-to-cost ratio of $5.8-to-$1, including a 26 percent reduction in healthcare costs, a 27 percent reduction in sick leave, and a 32 percent reduction in disability and worker’s compensation (Partnership for Prevention, 2011).

            The Working Well initiative, affiliated with the South Carolina Hospital Association, is on a mission to improve population health and create cultures of well-being throughout workplaces in South Carolina. Working Well is an evidence-based strategy, implementing key components of healthy eating and active, tobacco-free living in more than 100 worksites to date across South Carolina. The participating organizations represent a cross sector of employers, including hospitals, businesses, state agencies, colleges and universities, school districts and municipalities committed to supporting their employees in achieving optimal health, not only for cost savings but because it’s the right thing to do.

            In 2015, Working Well assisted more than 70 organizations employing more than 113,000 South Carolinians. Working Well recognizes organizations that have achieved the highest standard of excellence in each of four pillar areas: Culture of Wellness, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Tobacco.  Twenty-seven worksites have achieved the Gold Star for tobacco-free people and places, 21 have achieved the Gold Apple for healthy food environments, 10 have achieved the Gold Medal for physically active worksites, and eight have received the pinnacle Excellence Recognition for Gold in all pillars. Overall, more than 60,000 South Carolinians work in a Gold Standard environment. In addition, the A Healthier State collaboration between Working Well, the governor’s office, the 16 cabinet agencies, and S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is finishing up a very successful year with almost all agencies accomplishing improvement in more than one pillar, one even achieving Gold. Working Well has excitedly accepted a role as the evidence-based worksite wellness strategy in the S.C. Obesity Action Plan, ScaleDown (visit ScaleDown.org).

            Improving employee health and changing workplace culture takes time, effort and a strong commitment from organizational leadership. Employees are an organization’s most valuable asset, so the investment in human capital is more than worth it.

For more information on Working Well, email Emily O’Sullivan, program manager, at [email protected] or visit scha.org/working-well.