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5 Steps Companies Should Take Before Launching a Wellness Program

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Healthier employees lead to lower premiums. If companies can help their workers improve their health without cutting benefits or shifting more premium costs to employees, where is the downside? After all, Fortune 1,000 companies have been using wellness programs for years to combat the rising costs of healthcare.

So the question is, why aren’t smaller companies using this proven method to lower their health care costs?

Randy Boss, a risk architect for Ottawa Kent Insurance in Jenison, MI, helps companies implement successful wellness programs. And he says he can understand how employers feel. “They’re frustrated because most likely they have tried things that didn’t work,” says Boss. “There seems to be a wellness vendor on every street corner these days and many use ROIs from Fortune 1,000 wellness programs as their own, yet they had nothing to do with that program.”

All wellness programs are not equal. “This is a very important problem and something companies need to understand when selecting the appropriate wellness program for their company,” said Boss.

Yet, the benefits of having healthy workers transcend reduced health care costs, including workers compensation and lower absenteeism. Healthy workers are less prone to injury and when injured, they recover quicker than less healthy workers. Conversely, out-of-shape workers are at a higher risk for injury and healing is often delayed and complicated by other health factors. If workers change and modify their lifestyle and reduce their health risks, medical costs decline.

While this may seem intuitive, the connection between wellness and workers compensation has been slow to take root. The reasons appear to be separate risk management departments overseeing workers comp and group health, concerns about expanding the employers’ liability for work-related injuries, a focus on workplace safety rather than workers’ health, and a number of small companies with high workers comp costs that do not offer health insurance have all been contributing factors. Still, one of the major areas of concern for employers is an out-of-shape employee.

According to a Duke University study, the cost of obesity among full-time employees is estimated to be $73.1 billion a year. This is the first study to quantify the total value of lost job productivity as a result of health problems, which is more costly than medical expenditures.

The report recommends that employers promote healthy foods in the workplace, encourage a culture of wellness from the CEO on down, and provide economic and other incentives to employees who show signs of improvement. And there is evidence that this plan can work for employers.

A University of Michigan study of a Midwest utility company’s workplace wellness program found that over nine years, the utility company spent $7.3 million for the program and reaped $12.1 million in savings. Medical and pharmacy costs, time off and workers compensation factored into the savings. The study, which took into account a number of costs, including indirect costs of implementing wellness programs, such as recruitment and the cost of changing menus, showed that wellness programs work long-term even though employees aged during the course of the study.

Overall, the program cost the employer $100 per employee. The cost of lost work time, workers compensation, and pharmacy and medical expenses among employees who participated each year increased by $96, compared with a $355 increase among employees who did not participate.

This is good news for employers. Amid heightened cost pressures and leaner staffs brought about by the prolonged economic downturn, employers need to reduce all types of absences to help maintain productivity. While employers tend to focus their energies on controlling the highly visible health care costs, which are more easily shifted, there are significant opportunities to control other costs with wellness programs.

On average, employers can see a 30% reduction in Workers’ Compensation and disability claim costs, according to a review of 42 published studies involving the economic returns of wellness programs. Moreover, wellness programs will reduce the costs of absences that, according to the 2010 Kronos/Mercer Survey on the Total Financial Impact of Employee Absences, add up to 8.7% of payroll costs, more than half the cost of health care.

It stands to reason that healthier employees will use less sick time. But ultimately, companies need to make a commitment to helping their employees stay in better shape. “Employers should focus on health and wellness at work,” says Randy Boss. “Businesses should allocate 2%-3% of their budget to an effective program that includes at least 90% participation by employees and a wellness coach on site to effect behavior change.”

Although budget and company size will dictate the type of program a company can undertake, there are five steps that companies should take before launching a wellness program:

  1. Evaluate. Know your cost drivers. Analyze Workers’ Compensation, health care and absenteeism data to identify common issues and trends. Understand the legal regulations governing wellness programs.
  2. Do a workplace assessment. Examine the physical and cultural framework in which the wellness program will operate. Consider opportunities for on-site physical activity, partnerships with community wellness providers, local gyms or health and nutrition classes, on-site vending machines and cafeteria, etc. Identify the interests and motivation of employees as well as barriers to employee participation through surveys, wellness committees, along with an analysis of past efforts.
  3. Educate. For several years, businesses have been shifting more of the costs of health insurance to workers through increased premiums and higher deductibles. Since 2005 workers’ contributions to premiums have gone up 47%, while wages have increased 18%. Employees are feeling the pinch. Show them how participating in a wellness program can affect premiums as a result of making less use of medical care.
  4. Obtain management support. A wellness program will not succeed without the ongoing support of management. Communicate the goals of the program and assess the commitment of supervisors and management.
  5. Identify goals and metrics for measuring success. When implementing a wellness initiative, senior management will want to see a return on investment. Establishing a consensus on the goals or metrics for measuring the success of the program will help shape the program and ensure its success.

When it comes to implementing a wellness plan at your place of business, it’s really all about risk versus reward. And the rewards can be huge, but only if the plan is properly implemented and the management team is committed to its success.

 

Biggest ID Theft Bust in U.S. History

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In the largest bust of its kind, authorities arrested 111 people in connection with a massive identity theft operation based in Queens, New York. The suspects are allegedly responsible for fraud losses that amounted to more than $13 million in the 16-month period between May 2010 and September 2011.

The group, who apparently have ties to gangs in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, were under surveillance for two years in a sting called “Operation Swiper,” in which police placed wiretaps on dozens of phones in the area, intercepting thousands of conversations in Russian, Mandarin and Arabic.

This is how the thieves apparently operated their massive scheme:

Bosses of each crime ring received blank credit cards from suppliers in Russia, Libya, Lebanon and China. The bosses then hired “skimmers” who posed for jobs such as waiters and retail shop workers so they could use electronic devices to steal information from customer credit cards. That information was then sent to a “manufacturer” who programed the information into the magnetic strips of blank credit cards.

The crime rings also used card printing machines to forge credit cards and state drivers licenses to match them. “They can actually make a license from any state in the union, print credit cards of any color and even put the holograms on there,” said NYPD deputy inspector Gregory Antonsen.

Police then said “shoppers” in the crime rings would use the forged credit cards and IDs to go on weekly shopping sprees around the U.S. at retailers such as Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, Gucci and Best Buy and sell those items mostly to people overseas.

But by far, Antonsen said, thieves spent the most time buying computer products from Apple. “This is primarily an Apple case,” Antonsen said. “Apple is a big ticket item and a very easy sell.” Antonsen added forged credit cards were easy for criminals to make here because U.S. credit cards are less sophisticated than those in Europe, where fraud of this magnitude would have been much more difficult.

Which brings us to the topic of U.S. credit card companies and their lack of initiative regarding credit card security. Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown mentioned just that when he accused U.S. credit card companies of “putting too much money into marketing and not enough into security.” He stated that these companies would rather take the losses than invest in much-needed security measures.

Europe has already caught on to the fact that credit cards need the highest level of security embedded into them. European cardholders are required to enter a personal identification number on a keypad during purchases. These “smart cards” also contain computer chips that encrypt the customer’s transaction information. U.S. banks issue cards with a simple magnetic strip on the back, which are more vulnerable to thieves.

American banks realize they need to change, but are reluctant to do so because, of course, it costs money. The good news is, however, that change must come — and soon. Both Visa and Mastercard have announced that retailers who do not support smart cards by 2015 and 2013, respectively, would be liable for fraudulent transaction.

Is the smart card our answer to credit card fraud by way of ID theft?

Maybe. But only until thieves figure out a way to outsmart the smart card.

Disaster Planning for Any Business

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Lying in the wake of some of the most recent flooding, wildfires and earthquakes our nation has seen are the risk and loss concerns harvested by business owners.

Whether a disaster is natural or man-made, recent events have certainly taught business owners about the importance of proactive planning.

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This form of preparation can and should be a part of every business’ risk management strategy. Proper risk management solutions take into consideration all areas of potential loss, including those caused by Mother Nature and beyond.

Although the term “disaster” may infer a catastrophic event such as large-scale flooding, fires or earthquakes, the most common claim-worthy disasters tend to be smaller in scale, such as flooding from a burst pipe, heavy snowfall resulting in a leaky roof, contamination and so on.

In order to plan, one must be aware of the risk exposures you face as well as what to expect. With that said, what potential disasters may your business fall victim to?

  • Fire
  • Water (i.e., flooding, leaking roof or pipes)
  • Physical Damage (i.e., vibrations from an earthquake, damage from an employee, etc.
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    )

  • Pests (i.e., rodents or insects)
  • Contaminants (i.e., dust or gasses)
  • Criminal (i.e., robbery, isolated theft, vandalism)

Once you’ve determined the forces you are up against, it’s critical that you develop a plan to safeguard your commercial investment. One tactic can include implementing a “collections risks assessment.” Ask yourself a series of questions, in regards to the aspects of your business which may be affected by a disaster – what is the potential resulting loss in value? What is the likelihood that a natural or man-made disaster will occur? What percentage of my company or goods and services are vulnerable?

Taking the time now, to prepare and help prevent significant loss, is a surefire way to protect your commercial enterprise.

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It costs far less to put the proper risk management plans in place than to recover from the full force of an unexpected disaster.

Gordon B. Coyle, CPCU, ARM, AMIM, is owner of independent risk management agency The Coyle Group.

Steve Jobs: The Passing of an Icon

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The passing of Steve Jobs is a watershed event for the today’s digital world. He may not have invented the computer or the MP3 player or mobile phone or the tablet, but his innovations revolutionized the way we interact both with our technology and with each other. His impact cannot be understated. As President Obama said in response to Jobs’ death, “There may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success that the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” Similarly, I’m typing this on a Mac and I’m sure many of you are reading it on your own Macs, iPhones and iPads. As one writer put it, he now joins the pantheon of American innovators like Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller. For many, he was and will remain a hero.

Back in 2005, Jobs delivered the commencement address at Stanford University. As was his style, it was a direct and inspiring address. The YouTube video is below and the transcript can be found here. Many quotes stand out but I wanted to highlight a couple that resonated for me. The first came after he told the story of how he was fired form Apple in 1985:

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

The next came after he spoke of his fight with pancreatic cancer:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Coincidentally, I also wrote a bit about Steve Jobs and his departure from Apple in the Preface of the October issue of Risk Management. In it I talked about Apple’s next steps in light of their founder’s departure. The article is not available online, so I share it here:

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced his retirement in August, the internet exploded as countless Apple fanboys wondered about the future of their beloved company. The unenviable task of replacing Jobs now falls to Tim Cook, who formerly served as Apple’s COO. He certainly has his work cut out for him. During Jobs’ 14-year tenure as CEO, Apple’s stock has risen more than 9,000%, taking it from a tech start-up on the verge of bankruptcy to a firm that now vies with Exxon Mobil for the title of “most valuable company in the world.” Perhaps more importantly, Jobs was the visionary behind such innovations as iTunes, iPods, iPhones and iPads that have not only changed markets but helped transform the way people interact. Talk about a tough act to follow.

Despite the size of the shoes he has to fill, it is unlikely that Apple will suffer with Cook at the helm. After all, he has been with the company for 13 years and even served as acting CEO during Jobs’ medical leaves. It is, however, a different world than it was when Jobs took over Apple in 1997. Hacking is no longer simply a hobby for basement-dwelling computer geeks. Now it is big business. And what better target than the products of the world’s most valuable company? Malware and viruses that were once virtually nonexistent on the Mac platform are already starting to proliferate as motivated hackers have become more creative. Case in point: hackers recently discovered a vulnerability in MacBook batteries—a place no one ever thought to look—that would allow them to take over the computer or even set it on fire. Based on this, perhaps Apple’s new CEO will need to focus less on growing the company and more on protecting it.

As I read through various message boards about Jobs, I came across a quote shared by many people in one variation or another that shows the impact he had on so many people. “Three apples changed the world forever. The first once seduced Eve, the second fell on Newton and the third was offered to the world by Steve Jobs.”

Modern society is typically given to hyperbole that is, in many cases, unearned. Steve Jobs is not one of those cases. It is the rare CEO that can inspire devotion and admiration beyond the products or services their company sells. But as the many tributes you are likely to see in the coming days will attest, Jobs was no ordinary businessman. He was a visionary and an icon and he will be missed.

Rest in peace, Mr. Jobs.