PPB March 2015

Problem No. 2:

The annual price tag on occupational

injuries and illnesses is $250 billion.

A study by University of California-Davis puts the annual

price tag of U.S. work-related injuries and illnesses at $250 bil-

lion—a figure substantially higher than the indirect costs of ill-

nesses such as cancer, diabetes and strokes.

Specifically, an average work-related injury incurs an aver-

age direct cost of $38,000, according to the National Safety

Council. Included in the direct costs are the emergency room,

doctor visits, medical bills, medicine and rehabilitation. The

indirect costs, however, can amount to four times the direct

cost of the injury. These include administrative time, increases

in insurance costs, replacing the employee’s lost hours, hiring a

replacement, unwanted media attention and negative publicity

among employees and customers.

This brings the total average cost of an injury to $190,000.

For a business operating at a 10-percent profit margin, the

company will need $1.9 million in new revenue in order to off-

set the loss of just one work-related injury. The cost of one

typical injury is far more expensive than the cost of a safety

program.

This is a problem that you can solve for clients. Your solu-

tions will allow your clients to make smart business decisions

that will make them more competitive in their marketplace, and

will save them money and make them money.

Poor Lifestyle Choices Cost Companies Billions More In

Lost Productivity

A Gallup poll estimates that 86 percent of employees are

above their ideal weight, which causes them to miss 450 mil-

lion days of work per year compared to workers at their ideal

weight. The cost of overweight workers alone to American

businesses is estimated to be between $150 and $225 billion in

lost productivity.

Add to this the cost of smoking, excessive alcohol and drug

use, sedentary lifestyles and other poor lifestyle choices, and

the costs are staggering. Employers also pay higher health care

premiums for workers who make these life choices. Combined,

the cost to American businesses may exceed a half a trillion

dollars.

Katherine Baicker, professor of health economics at Harvard

University, reports that medical costs fall by $3.27 for every

dollar spent on wellness programs, and that absenteeism costs

Help! Insurance Costs Are Killing My Business

ECOND IN A FIVE

PART SERIES

70 •

PPB

• MARCH 2015

GROW

INNING

ELLNESS

AMPAIGN

DEAS

Goal:

Motivate Employees To Join A Wellness Program

Strategy:

Would employees of a Texas school district walk 90 miles for a

t-shirt? That is, 90 miles over a five-month period? District administrators were

betting they would. The district's wellness program was announced in

newsletters and flyers. In this way, teachers, administrators and maintenance

and service workers learned of the various organized activities-aerobics, walk-

ing and jogging, seminars, smoking cessation classes among others- that were

available to them. As incentives to join and continue in the wellness program,

promotional products were awarded to employees as they completed various

activities. Displaying the promotion slogan, ”Enjoy Life...Be Well,” the items

included sports bottles, nutrition booklets, mugs, golf towels and insulated

lunch bags.

Results:

The estimated 20-percent participation by district employees was

double the projection set for the program. The promotional products, reported

the wellness supervisor, were an “essential element in increasing participation

and motivating our employees.”

These PPAI Pyramid Award-winning campaigns, pulled from PPAI Idea

Source, will get you started on developing healthy programs for clients.