Know Your Numbers

The title of this blog should begin to sound familiar to many people.  Some may even be tired of it by now.  It’s becoming the next mantra in the health care industry and employee benefits.  Recently, our company invested in bringing in a professional group that took the biometrics, such as cholesterol, weight, body fat, etc., of each staff member.  Within a matter of 15 minutes we all “knew our numbers.”

This was not an insignificant investment, especially for a small company like ours.  Both the vendor and the time employees took away from their job to get their numbers cost money.  But, of all the Wellness initiatives our company participates in – and we do a lot, I found this one to be the most useful of all.

Without leaving my office I was able to get a report card on my physical health.  Though not a comprehensive doctor’s visit, it still armed me with information about how my lifestyle choices and genetics are working for me or against me.

We hear all the time how people avoid going to their doctor unless they’re sick, and even then it sometimes doesn’t happen without a nagging spouse.  Without that tap on the shoulder to remind us, encourage us and enable us to take a peek under the hood, so to speak, we just keep plugging away through our life expecting the next day to be physically the same as the day before.  But, that’s just not the way life unfolds.  Our biometrics has a lot of information to share with us about impending issues, if we are willing to listen.

Why is this important for an employer?  Why would an employer want to pay to have this service provided for their staff?  After all, it’s their health – they should be responsible for it.  The reason is that the health of your staff directly impacts your bottom line.  You can have a competitive advantage if your workforce is healthier than the next guy.  You can have a more loyal work force if you staff feels like you care about them.  And, you can have a significant impact on the cost of your insurance if you catch a problem sooner rather than later.  These reasons and more have a direct and indirect impact on your profit and loss statement.  Look into it and see how feasible it is to do.  You may just find that it’s not feasible not to do.

Holly has over 20 years of marketing and business development experience.  She has a diverse background working in various industries.  As an experienced business professional, Holly has specific insight into employer needs and concerns with respect to employee benefit programs and the need for integration, administration and support of human resource initiatives and how they support overall corporate objectives.