HR Managers Address Health & Empowerment Issues
New Jersey like other states is facing a “jobless recovery. From a rate of 4.4% in North Dakota to 14.6% in Michigan, New Jersey’s unemployment rate of 10.3 % is more or less in the middle*. However if you were to translate that into dollars lost, with NJ’s high wage jobs, the garden state would probably be at the top of the heap!
Many New Jersey employers, have responded to the downturn by asking their current employees to become more productive. In fact, according to John Sarno, President of the Employers Association of New Jersey (www.eanj.org), the need for increased productivity is likely to become a permanent feature of the new business climate in the state.
There are a number of ways to improve productivity such as telecommuting, flex time or cost and effective technology. These methods approach productivity on a purely quantitative level. There are two factors however that more directly affect quality of life and are also inter-connected. These are safety supports and wellness services provided to employees.
“Doing more with less is a permanent feature of the new normal,” says Sarno. “Supervisors and workers will need to be healthy and engaged to get the job done. Productivity, safety, wellness and health care must be aligned for maximum performance.”
This is not an issue that employers are only now becoming aware of, according to Joan Smyth, a Principal of Mercer, reportedly the world’s largest human resources consulting firm and a leading global provider of outsourcing and investment services. “As healthcare costs have skyrocketed, HR professionals at major corporations have been talking about this for the past four or five years,” she says. “Smaller companies, however, are just beginning to focus on the issue of employee wellness as part of the larger problem of employee satisfaction, retention and morale.”
While smaller employers realize that they need to address the problem, they cannot afford complex, expensive solutions. Instead, they are looking for relatively inexpensive yet effective measures that their employees are likely to take advantage of. Small employers know that they need more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away!
One such cost effective measure that virtually every company can afford is smoking cessation. Someone who smokes a pack a day in NJ spends $2,200 a year on cigarettes. According to the CDC estimates for 2002, $2.48 billion is spent annually in New Jersey alone for the direct medical costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses (*3). The productivity losses to smoking in NJ are estimated at $2.6 billion (*4).
Another wellness need that cuts across the board to both large companies and small is obesity. The National Institutes of Health estimates that between 1983 and 2003 there was a 200% jump in adult obesity. According to a white paper released by Leade Health, the Medical costs for obese employees are 77 percent higher than for healthy weight employees; obesity-related disabilities cost employers up to $8,720 per claimant.
To get a better idea of the types of programs that New Jersey employers are offering, we contacted HR executives from eight different companies of various sizes throughout the state. All are concerned with employee wellness in general, and each has implemented a number of specific programs to address the problem. One of the most popular solutions, in fact, is provision of relatively inexpensive in-house fitness facilities for employee use. These range from outdoor walking trails to exercise equipment in facilities with locker rooms and showers available.
“We have a large campus with a walking path around the building,” says Cynthia Berger, Special Programs Coordinator for NJM Insurance Group (www.njm.com) of West Trenton. “After hours, we have Yoga and Jazzercize in-house. During the business day, we offer Time and Stress Management classes and a number of other programs for employees, including Weight Watchers.”
Rhodia Inc. (www.rhodia.com), a global specialty chemicals manufacturer with U.S. Headquarters in Cranbury, offers its employees a small fitness center including locker rooms and showers. “We also have a walking path behind our facility that winds around a lake,” says Cheryl Staton, Manager, North American Benefits & Mgmt. Development in the Human Resources Department. “We also have a Registered Nurse who conducts regular blood pressure monitoring and also administers the flu vaccine every year.”
One of the most innovative in-house fitness facilities we discovered through our interviews is the first-ever corporate Satori Space (www.satorispace.com) by Prescription Audio (www.prescriptionaudio.com) at The Star Group (www.stargroup1.com), a creative advertising and marketing communications agency headquartered in Voorhees. “Star’s Satori Space offers employees the opportunity to physically, mentally and emotionally refresh, rebalance and revitalize,” explains Kathy Katheder, VP/HR/Benefits Manager. “In a peaceful private room, audio therapy delivered through headphones is blended with vibrational sound frequencies from the Satori chair. A combination of music, sounds, tones and vibrations are combined to deliver different therapies, offering a variety of stress relief options.
The Satori Space works by gently guiding brainwave patterns to levels of meditation, while synchronizing the body with the vibrations from the Satori chair. Additionally, the Satori Space has programs to promote weight loss and smoking cessation, which uses Prescription Audio sound therapy combined with positive affirmations. For example, we have an internal and voluntary ‘Biggest Loser’ competition, which runs from January through April, concurrently with the TV show, during which participants use Prescription Audio’s weight loss program and Satori Space sessions. We have also added fruit and healthy snacks to our cafés, which are available to our employees at no expense.”
Another popular offering is periodic workshops held by visiting professionals. “In addition to our in-house workout room, which is accessible by card key 24 hours a day and includes men’s and ladies shower facilities, we have monthly seminars that are open to all associates,” says Melinda Lapan, HR Senior Manager with Seacastle Chassis (www.seacastleinc.com) of Princeton, which leases intermodal equipment, including containers and containerships, used in the global containerized cargo trade. “In 2009, one of the programs we offered was on stress management. In 2010, the training program will include efficiency-related topics such as time management, as well as public speaking and presentation, both of which can be quite stressful.”
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (www.mathematica-mpr.com) of Princeton, which offers a variety of research, program evaluation and data management services, provides its employees with a fully equipped exercise room with shower facilities and sponsors other activities as well. “Mathematica’s HR Department has organized successful ‘Wellness Fairs’ in the past and plans to do so again,” says Linda Legge, Director of Employment and Training. “These events included free screenings of blood pressure, glucose, body mass index, cholesterol, sun damage and bone density. Employees received useful tips on how to remain healthy or improve their health. The company also offered free massages and provided plenty of healthy snacks. The events have always been a big hit with staff.”
Seacastle’s Lapan will be honored as HR Person of the Year, while Mathematica’s Legge and her team will be honored as HR Department of the Year at a special Awards Dinner on Monday, February 8 at the Princeton Hyatt Regency (see HR Executives To Be Honored At Association Awards Dinner for details).
As an alternative to on-site facilities or bringing in visiting professionals, some employers choose to subsidize visits by employees to local fitness facilities and professional services. “We encourage our employees to visit local fitness facilities and take advantage of the services they offer that we cannot,” says Debbie Agostinelli, Personnel Manager for Precision Custom Coatings LLC (www.pcc-usa.com) of Totowa. The company is a leading producer and supplier of non-woven and knitted fusible interlinings for apparel, home furnishings, footwear, luggage, food packaging and automotive fabrics. “We currently offer at least partial reimbursement for visits to weight loss and stop smoking clinics, and with business starting to pick up, management is looking at expanding the program.”
Novo Nordisk Inc. (www.novonordisk-us.com) of Princeton, a world leader in diabetes care, also rewards its employees for taking part in outside health care activities. “We reward our employees for joining a health reimbursement plan, participating in physical activities and getting an annual physical,” says Stephen Chinn, VP – Compensation & Benefits. “We’ll be adding monthly “Lunch & Learns” on various employee benefits during 2010.”
All of the HR executives we contacted agreed that investing in employee wellness yields benefits to both the company and to the employees themselves. The majority of respondents cited “Reduced Absenteeism Because Of Fewer Illnesses” as the primary benefit. Other employee benefits mentioned included fewer accidents because of lower obesity, lower stress levels because of improved overall wellness, and better alertness because of more balanced nutrition. Company benefits cited included increased company loyalty, higher workplace morale, increased employee responsibility and improved work performance.
The Employers Association of New Jersey (EANJ), which supports the HR needs of NJ employers, will be offering a series of seminars entitled, “Getting Ready for the New Normal.”
Topics to be covered during the seminars include How Wellness and Disease Prevention Programs Improve the Bottom Line, Identifying Supervisory Training That Really Works, What Upper Management Can Do to Make a Difference, Safety Programs That Increase Morale and How EANJ Can Help. Dates and locations of the seminars are:
• March 18th – Saddle Brook Marriott
• March 24th – Crowne Plaza, Clark
• April 15th – Holiday Inn, Toms River
• April 22nd – Holiday Inn, Princeton
• April 30th – Sheraton, Parsippany
The cost of each seminar is $35 for EANJ members, $75 for non-members.For more information, contact Amy Vasquez of EANJ at amy@eanj.org.
According to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press (http://people-press.org), the Economy and Jobs are the top two priorities for 2010, cited by over 80 percent of the respondents, with Health Care Costs, cited by 57 percent, ranking eighth. “These two subjects are inextricably linked in the opinion of the public, especially members of the ‘Sandwich Generation’ with both young children and elderly parents in need of support,” says EANJ’s Sarno.
“Both employees and employers are looking for advice in this area,” concurs Mercer’s Smyth. “It is one of the most critical issues that we need to address as we move forward into the 21st Century.”
Yes, its official now NJ. Employers and their HR Managers do know that it takes more than an apple a day to keep that doctor away.”
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