Work site wellness for their employees, employers are discovering, is good for the health of their businesses as well. Health and wellness programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity and poor work quality.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 US companies indicated a significant paradigm shift in how companies view health benefits for their employees.

Work site wellness for their employees, employers are discovering, is good for the health of their businesses as well. Health and wellness programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity and poor work quality.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 US companies indicated a significant paradigm shift in how companies view health benefits for their employees.

Work can be stressful at the best of times, so longer hours on the job often mean more stress and, as a result, more work-related injuries. These can include muscle and joint pain resulting from long hours sitting in the same position, repetitive strain injuries from performing (as the name suggests) repetitive tasks, work errors due to stress and fatigue, and illnesses aggravated by stress, including physical problems such as colds and flus and mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

Emotional health is a state of wellness that comes from understanding and acknowledging our emotions and finding appropriate ways to express them. As employees, we often bring emotional problems from our childhood or current family life into the workplace because we haven't dealt with them effectively outside of work. This can seriously damage workplace relationships and lead to poor performance and negative feelings all around.

In Chinese, the word for crisis has two characters. One character is for "problem," the other for "opportunity." As absenteeism, disability claims and employee turnover increase, we find ourselves in a workplace health-care crisis.

In a 2001 study entitled, Increasing Participation in Corporate Wellness Programs: A Segmentation Study of Employee Differences, Paula Haynes of the University of Tennessee underlines how important it is to provide a wide variety of services in corporate health and wellness programs to address our healthy workplace crisis.

Work can be stressful at the best of times, so longer hours on the job often mean more stress and, as a result, more work-related injuries. These can include muscle and joint pain resulting from long hours sitting in the same position, repetitive strain injuries from performing (as the name suggests) repetitive tasks, work errors due to stress and fatigue, and illnesses aggravated by stress, including physical problems such as colds and flus and mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

We spend a large part of our lives at work. We make friends, network with colleagues and plan our retirement years based on our active lives in the workplace. But for all the time we spend at work, how healthy is the work climate?

The answer to this question has become the focus for a growing number of companies that provide employee assistance programs.

We spend a large part of our lives at work. We make friends, network with colleagues and plan our retirement years based on our active lives in the workplace. But for all the time we spend at work, how healthy is the work climate?

The answer to this question has become the focus for a growing number of companies that provide employee assistance programs.

Life and health insurance companies want you to live a long healthy life. But are their motives altogether altruistic? Insurance companies are in the business of maximizing profits, and it stands to reason that the healthier you are and the longer you live, the more money they make. The same goes for the company or corporation you work for. They want you healthy and productive, not sick at home.

Life and health insurance companies want you to live a long healthy life. But are their motives altogether altruistic? Insurance companies are in the business of maximizing profits, and it stands to reason that the healthier you are and the longer you live, the more money they make. The same goes for the company or corporation you work for. They want you healthy and productive, not sick at home.