How a Good Corporate Wellness Plan Can Improve Equity and Inclusion Within Your Company
Whether you are a company of 5 or 5000, the thing that ties your entire organization together is people. Regardless of how technologically advanced your operations are, you are, in some form or fashion, still reliant on human beings to keep your business moving forward. But not all of the people that make up your company are the same or have the same circumstances. Ages vary, health concerns (or “pre-existing conditions”) vary, wages vary, free time varies, and sometimes the health coverage varies depending on whether or not you offer multiple options.
It comes as no surprise that health benefits can be a big deciding factor of whether or not a prospective employee takes a job offer or a current employee keeps their position within your company. After all, healthcare costs continue to rise in this country with healthcare spending increasing from $1.4T in 1996 to $3.1T in 2016. Of the $3.1T spent in 2016, neck and low back pain were the greatest costs at $134.5B. The second greatest cost was “other” musculoskeletal conditions at $129.8B and diabetes came in third place at $111.2B. Other expensive conditions were heart disease at $89.3B, falls at $87.4B, osteoarthritis at $80B, and hypertension at $79B.
While this may seem like an overwhelming challenge to overcome, the common element of all of these conditions is that they are all preventable and well managed with lifestyle modifications. With the proper education, support, and plan of care many of these costs could be reduced by avoiding unnecessary imaging, medications, and surgeries.
What does this have to do with your company?
Lost productivity due to absenteeism and the high cost of insurance and disability premiums are expenses that any company would like to reduce regardless of workforce size. And as your company grows, it becomes more likely that your employees will have backgrounds, education levels, socioeconomic statuses, and geographic locations that differ from each other. They will also have varying levels of baseline health that may influence their utilization of the health benefits offered to them.
We have plenty of evidence to suggest that healthcare in this country is not a level playing field. Even if you offer the best insurance plan that money can buy, the system as a whole is not one that favors all citizens the same. We’ve written about this before in a previous blog titled Social Determinants of Health: How Privilege Impacts Health Outcomes. The concept of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) refers to the fact that a person’s overall health outcomes are significantly impacted by where they live, their health insurance coverage, their income, their education level, and other daily stressors outside of their control. If you take a quick second to think of all the employees in your workforce it won’t be too difficult to see just how varied your workforce is and how each person’s life circumstances may put them in either a more or less advantageous position as it pertains to their health and wellness.
Now, take all the concerns about the rising healthcare costs that could be avoided and couple that with the fact that health insurance premiums and deductibles are expected to rise (again) in 2022. Employees with high deductibles and less disposable income need other solutions to manage their health than to wait 20 minutes in their doctor’s offices only to be billed $400 for a 5 minute conversation.
So while we can see how creating an equitable healthcare platform can benefit your company from a financial standpoint, investing in the right wellness platform for your employees shows a commitment to valuing the diversity and inclusion of all your employees.
So what does a level playing field look like?
You can’t control where all of your employees live. You can make a difference in their income but you can’t control what that income needs to be used for. You can’t turn back the clock and influence what decisions they have made to impact their present day health status or what education they have received.
The one thing that you can do to create a level playing field is provide education, and to provide education in the things that matter most as it pertains to health and wellness.
Let us give you a glimpse into the educational platform of Headquarters Physical Therapy’s Organizational Wellness Platform and why these aspects are important to the diversity, equity, and inclusion of your workforce.
Mortality/Life-expectancy/Heart Health
Black women have a 69% higher death rate from coronary heart disease than non-Hispanic white women.
A 74% increase in obese adults was noted between 1994 and 2004, mostly in women.
A 2010 prospective study found that men and women between the ages of 50-71 residing in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status were likely to experience death, with cardiovascular disease being the greatest culprit.
Nutrition
A 2010 literature review found numerous research studies that food deserts (areas that have low access to nutritious and fresh foods) are correlated with areas of transportation difficulties, lower socioeconomic status, neighborhoods with higher minority populations, and cities with a higher convenience store to grocery store chain ratios. All these contributors severely impact the ability for minority groups and poor citizens to access healthy nutrition for their overall wellbeing.
Sleep
2005 study found night shift workers to have be 3.5 - 8 times more likely to exhibit multiple symptoms of fatigue and lower mental alertness that made accidents and injuries more likely to occur on the job.
Exercise/Physical Activity
Rates of inactivity or irregularity of exercise are higher in women, older persons, Blacks, and Mexican Americans, in that order.
Chronic Stress/Mental Health
The perception, or personal experience of, racism is a strong contributor of chronic stress to Black women regardless of socioeconomic status. This can influence biological risk factors for CVD such as blood pressure.
So while these are the main platforms of our organizational wellness platform the entire suite of services can be customized to the needs of your workforce. Our delivery methods allow us to speak to the group as a whole but also connect with each employee individually to ensure that the core concepts make a true difference in the health and wellness of those who make your company special.
We would love to work with you to provide a health and wellness platform for your employees that will create a lasting and true impact. If you are looking for a wellness platform that truly delivers click the link below or email Judy@headquarterspt.com directly.
Dieleman JL, Cao J, Chapin A, et al. US Health Care Spending by Payer and Health Condition, 1996-2016. JAMA. 2020;323(9):863–884. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.0734
Bello, N., & Mosca, L. (2004). Epidemiology of coronary heart disease in women.
Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 46(4), 287–295.
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Major JM, Doubeni CA, Freedman ND, et al. Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and mortality: NIH-AARP diet and health study. PLoS One. 2010;5(11):e15538. Published 2010 Nov 23. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015538
Walker, R. E., Keane, C. R., & Burke, J. G. (2010). Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: A review of food deserts literature. Health & Place, 16(5), 876–884. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.04.013
Burch, James B. PhD; Yost, Michael G. PhD; Johnson, Wendy MS; Allen, Emily MS Melatonin, Sleep, and Shift Work Adaptation, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine: September 2005 - Volume 47 - Issue 9 - p 893-901 doi: 10.1097/01.jom.0000177336.21147.9f
Crespo CJ, Keteyian SJ, Heath GW, Sempos CT. Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among US Adults: Results From the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Arch Intern Med. 1996;156(1):93–98. doi:10.1001/archinte.1996.00440010113015
Vines AI, Baird DD, McNeilly M, Hertz-Picciotto I, Light KC, Stevens J. Social correlates of the chronic stress of perceived racism among Black women. Ethn Dis. 2006;16(1):101-107.