National Employee Wellness Month Gains Corporate Support

For five years, National Employee Wellness Month (June) has helped business leaders learn how companies are successfully engaging employees in healthy lifestyles. The annual initiative can help you to see how prevention, coupled with supportive social communities like the workplace, can improve your corporate wellness in terms of employee wellbeing and productivity, lower healthcare costs, and a healthy workplace culture.

National Employee Wellness Month has several sponsors, such as Chris Boyce, CEO of Virgin HealthMiles. ‘Companies should look to move beyond the static Wellness 1.0 approach and find new ways to engage and motivate employees to help them bring their best selves to work and be more productive as well as more physically and mentally sharp,’ he advised. ‘This annual initiative helps drive greater awareness by highlighting the successes of forward-thinking employers – those focused on supporting their employees’ total quality of life and making their businesses a best place to work.’

For Scott Kahan, MD, MPH, director of the STOP Obesity Alliance, weight is an important issue in the workplace. ‘Overcoming obesity requires creating environments where people have opportunities to make healthful decisions,’ he said. ‘STOP Obesity Alliance is proud to continue its support of National Employee Wellness Month as the initiative creates awareness that the workplace is another area where we can work together to manage and support efforts to address health.’

According to Kenneth Thorpe, PhD, Chairman of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, ‘The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease is proud to support National Employee Wellness Month, as supporting wellness in the workplace not only helps prevent and manage chronic disease, but also makes a positive impact on companies’ bottom lines. Helping people stay healthier is essential to reducing the human and financial burden of chronic disease.’

Finally, Anne C. Ruddy, CCP, president and CEO, WorldatWork, noted, ‘Managing rising healthcare costs while providing employees with valuable healthcare benefits is a momentous challenge for organisations and benefits professionals. Encouraging and promoting a healthy workforce is no longer simply the right thing to do, it’s a business necessity. National Employee Wellness Month provides organizations with an excellent opportunity to make employee health engagement a top priority. WorldatWork is proud to support this important initiative.’

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