Employees are encouraged to create a personal wellness curriculum designed to meet individual needs. They chose from 89 programs akin to college courses with credits and concentrations in social, intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, occupational wellness. The Healthy People 2010 report issued last year by the Surgeon General and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services outlines prevention goals and objectives to be achieved by 2010. Garry M. Lindsay, director of business partnerships for Partnership for Prevention in Washington, D.C., said that at least 50 of the national objectives outlined in Healthy People 2010 can be adopted as work-site health promotion objectives. The health of the community impacts the economic health of its businesses.
Employers draw workers from their community.
If the local population smokes too much, drinks too much and exercises too little, these employers will likely have more workers with multiple health risk factors. Lindsay, an M.P.H. and C.H.E.S., has more than 20 years of health education experience, including 10 years managing Mobil Corporation's health promotion initiatives. Many times we just look at the operating margins and then decide whether that is good or bad for the organization, but there are other ways we can affect profitability, such as by managing risk. Va. Pfeiffer is an internationally recognized expert in work-site health promotion. He has developed employee health and productivity initiatives for leading corporations such as Xerox Corporation, The Travelers, UAW-GM, and Applied Materials.