For many, the past year has been characterized by unexpected change and additional stress. As a result, sleep physicians around the world are now treating a growing number of patients with symptoms of insomnia.

According to Express Scripts, a major pharmacy benefit manger, prescriptions for sleep medications increased 15% between February and March of 2020.

Risks of sleeplessness

When employees don’t get adequate sleep, injuries are often the result of:

• Loss of muscle coordination
• Increased risk of dropping things
• Stumbling and falling
• Impaired memory, attention, judgment and concentration
• Difficulty making decisions, processing complex data and regulating emotions
• Greater distractibility

Work-related causes of sleeplessness

The current economic environment may also be contributing to lack of sleep.

Now more than ever, many employees are becoming increasingly concerned about job security. For some, working from home is an additional stressor introduced in 2020.

Those who work outside of the home face a different set of unique challenges.

Shift workers commonly get less than the recommended amount of sleep, averaging around five-and-a-half hours, rather than the recommended seven. A study from the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reported that workers with afternoon shifts had a 15% higher risk of injury compared to morning shift workers, and night shift workers had an increased risk of 28%.

Additionally, they also experience higher occurrence of car crashes, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

Long hours also show increased risk of injury due to fatigue. Workers with shifts longer than 10 hours have a 13% higher risk of injury, and those with shifts longer than 12 hours have a 28% higher risk.

What can I do?

As an employer, there are ways you can help ensure your employees are getting the recommended amount of sleep.

Teach your employees about the risks associated with insufficient sleep and how they can create healthy sleep habits.

Ways to combat lack of sleep include:

• Have a consistent sleep schedule by going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning.
• Create a bedtime routine to help the body unwind and grow accustomed to a sleep schedule.

Things like warm showers or baths, soothing music and noncaffeinated, herbal teas may help.

• Sleep in a cool, quiet, comfortable and dark room.
• Get outside during daylight hours to help reset your body’s natural sleep and wake cycles.
• Limit use of technology during the hours before bedtime. Most electronics use blue light, which decreases the body’s production of melatonin and boosts attention, making the body want to stay awake. Additionally, engagement in things like social media and email can make it more difficult to unwind.
• Get regular exercise.
• Avoid caffeine for at least six hours prior to going to sleep.

You can also take measures to make sure your workplace isn’t causing sleep issues for your employees. Some suggestions include:

• Limit shift work as much as possible.
• Minimize overtime, especially if it’s forced.
• Avoid permanent placement on the night shift.
• Give workers as much choice as possible for shift start times.
• Address stressful workplace conditions such as lighting, temperature, noise and access to food.

While there may be a cultural expectation to sacrifice sleep, it doesn’t have to be a part of your organization’s culture. Emphasizing the importance of sleep will benefit your company and your employees in the long run.

Work-related stress has significant costs for worker health and for a business’s bottom line. Three studies looked at stress in the workplace from different angles.

The workplace and health study

A workplace and health study described in the Harvard Gazette reported widespread stress at work, with 43 percent of workers saying their job is bad for their stress, and only 16 percent saying work had a positive impact on their stress levels. Forty-six percent of working women say their job has a bad impact on their stress level, compared to 40 percent of men.

The poll, conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, National Public Radio and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that, “One in five working adults (20 percent) say they have experienced a great deal of stress at work in the past 12 months, while 37 percent have experienced some stress at work.”

Workers facing challenging circumstances, such as workers caring for a sick family member, working 50 or more hours per week or those in self-reported dangerous jobs, were more likely to report that work harmed their stress levels. For the workers who described their job as dangerous, 52 percent say their job had a negative impact on their stress level.

Stress influences workers’ compensation claim frequency and cost

One large study of nearly 17,000 employees across multiple industries examined relationships between employee health risk factors and workers’ compensation claims.

The study by the Center for Health, Work & Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health, “Health risk factors as predictors of workers’ compensation claim occurrence and cost ,” was published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Researchers found that workers who experienced stress at work were more likely to experience a workplace injury, and certain sources of stress influenced the overall cost of the workers’ compensation claim.

“Stress at work is predictive of workplace accidents — if you want to prevent workers’ comp claims, you need to look at causes of stress in the work environment,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Natalie Schwatka, in Risk & Insurance .

Mortality and health costs attributed to workplace stress

The third report analyzed 10 sources of stress and their impact on health care costs.

Professors Joel Gol, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Stefanos A. Zenios determined that workplace stress contributes to a staggering 120,000 deaths a year and costs from $125 to $190 billion a year in their paper, “The relationship between workplace stressors and mortality and health costs in the United States.”

The stress factors related to the workplace included lack of health insurance, work-family conflict, job insecurity and high work demands. According to their mathematical model, job insecurity and high work demands each contribute to about 30,000 deaths a year. High demands at work results in an estimated $48 billion in health care spending.

The Harvard Business School reported on the results, saying, “All of these numbers point to conclusions that they suspected — that workplace stress is a significant contributor to both health problems and costs.”

When looking at all three studies together, the research paints a picture of just how expensive stress can be, both for workers’ health and for their employers.

Workplace safety and health is evolving beyond “do no harm”

A growing body of evidence shows that supporting employee health and well-being pays off for employers.

“A healthier workforce means less absenteeism, better productivity, better quality and higher overall morale,” said Loss Prevention Specialist Dana Mickelson. “A healthy workforce is also a safer workforce.”

Occupational health and safety is broadening to include all aspects of employee well-being, benefiting employees and employers alike.

Moving past ‘do no harm’

In the past, conceptions of workplace safety and health were based on the idea that work should “do no harm.” But we’re now seeing this broaden to a philosophy that work should support health, said Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Nancy Leppink.

“We used to silo the hazards and risks, and then assume that all other work was neutral,” she said. “We now recognize that all work can have a positive or negative impact on people’s lives.”

Some describe this shift as a focus on worker well-being, which can include emotional, mental, physical, financial and relational health. “People are happy, healthy, prosperous, fulfilled, purposeful, contented, comfortable — those are all terms that describe well-being,” Leppink said.

She cited a number of reasons for this evolution, including changing demographics. Millennials expect work that supports their well-being, she said, and on the other end of the age spectrum employees are working longer and therefore wanting to take better care of their health.

The changing nature of work, and especially the role of technology, is also a factor — from sitting all day, to never unplugging from work to dealing with constant distractions, she said. “In any given day you’re receiving texts, you’re receiving email messages. You’re being asked to pay attention and are distracted by multiple devices,” Leppink said. “Consequently, that results in greater levels of stress.”

The value in focusing on worker well-being

As companies embrace workplace well-being initiatives, more research is showing the benefits to employers.

A 2016 American Psychological Association survey linked senior management support for employee well-being to much higher rates of employee motivation, satisfaction and retention.

At companies where senior managers supported well-being, 91% of employees said they felt motivated to do their best versus 38% at other companies, according to the American Psychological Association survey. Similarly, only 25% of employees at companies valuing well-being said they intended to leave their job in the next year versus 51% at other companies.

Higher employee well-being correlates with higher employee productivity, customer loyalty and business unit productivity, according to a 2019 analysis by economists Christian Krekel, George Ward and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve. Their meta-analysis was based on 339 independent Gallup studies encompassing 1.8 million employees.

What employers are doing

Employers of all sizes are finding ways to support employee health in their workplaces.

It can be something as simple as being sure there are healthy food options in the break room vending machines, or offering ergonomic assessments of employees’ workstations and making any needed corrections.

Others provide sit-stand workstations or access to a gym onsite.

For others, it means offering an employee assistance program (EAP) or comprehensive wellness program, or even doing building renovations to make the workplace more supportive of employee well-being.

No matter where you are on the spectrum, there are always opportunities to do more to support the well-being of your workforce.

How to do it

So, how do you practically consider all aspects of your employees’ well-being when designing your work environment?

You can start by asking questions like:

• How do my employees’ work schedules affect their physical and mental health?
• Does our workplace support employees in healthy eating?
• Is our workplace arranged in a way that encourages employees to get up and move throughout their workday?

On an individual scale, it’s about helping your supervisors understand that they need to see the whole person in each of their employees, not just the worker, Mickelson said. That includes awareness of both the physical and the mental.

For example, if supervisors recognize when employees who are in safety-sensitive jobs are distracted or fatigued, they can consider moving them to less dangerous roles for the day.

“It’s really about being tuned in to your employees,” Mickelson said.

In many cases, simply asking your employees what you could do to better support their well-being is a great place to start.

Know that whichever steps you choose to take as an organ­ization, letting employees know that you care about them will pay dividends for your organization and your workforce.

It’s time for workplaces to shine a light on common disorders that often go undiagnosed and unmentioned.

Depression and anxiety. Let’s talk about them.

As two of the most prevalent disorders in the United States, depression and anxiety directly affect the workplace with both social and economic costs.

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that 7.1 percent of U.S. adults – 17.3 million people – experienced a major depressive episode in 2017. Women were more likely to experience depression than men – 8.7 percent to 5.3 percent, respectively.

Anxiety has similarly overwhelming numbers. In the U.S., anxiety sits at number one of the most common mental illnesses. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says it is affecting 40 million adults (18 and older) or 18.1 percent of the population, annually.

Overall, The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates around 280 million people live with depression.

How depression and anxiety affect work

In a 2016 American Psychological Association Work and Wellbeing survey, 16 percent of employees said mental health problems made job challenges more difficult to handle, and 15 percent said mental health issues kept them from achieving their goals at work.

A national survey on anxiety in the workplace , led by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), found that people with anxiety listed difficulty with common job-related situations like meeting deadlines, maintaining personal and professional relationships, participating in meetings, giving presentations, managing staff and dealing with problems that arise.

As a result, those living with anxiety are more likely to call in sick, use short- and long-term disability, or be distracted and restless at work.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) protects employees from job discrimination when their medical needs impact their working ability, but the ADAA survey revealed that many people living with anxiety have a fear of sharing their disorder with anyone at work. The survey says 31 percent of people fear being labeled “weak,” while 22 percent of people fear it could affect opportunities for promotion and another 22 percent fear it would go in their file.

The costs of depression and anxiety are staggering:

• A 2015 study found that depression costs society $210 billion per year .
• Presenteeism, when employees are at work but have reduced productivity because of an illness, accounts for $78 billion of that.
• The CDC estimates more than 200 million lost workdays each year.
• A U.S. Chamber of Commerce report identified depression as one of the top two chronic health conditions driving health-related costs for employers when health-related productivity costs were factored in.

Resources for employees with depression and anxiety

In the APA study, only 41 percent of employees reported that their employer provided the resources necessary for employees to meet their mental health needs.

Because depression and anxiety are so prevalent, it’s important that managers feel prepared if an employee discloses a mental health concern.

Remember that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) includes mental illness in its requirements for ADA compliance. The EEOC has a guide for workers called “Depression, PTSD, & Other Mental Health Condition in the Workplace: Your Legal Rights .”

Additionally, employers can be proactive in demonstrating that they care about their employees’ well-being. The CDC recommends several strategies for employers to support mental health. The three ideas below can be a good starting point:

• Workplace wellness programs
  If you offer a wellness program, is mental health a component? If your company does not have a program, your health insurance carrier may provide wellness resources. Recent research from UCLA found that simply participating in a workplace wellness program could improve employees’ mental health. The same wellness program topics that enhance general employee well-being, such as healthy eating, good sleep habits and mindfulness, can benefit employees with mental health concerns.
• Health benefits and employee assistance programs 
  Employers can help employees access professional mental health care resources through health insurance benefits and/or an employee assistance program (EAP) that provides counseling and referrals. The CDC calls EAPs “one of the most effective ways to support employees with depression or other mental health problems.”
• Educational resources 
  Education programs give employers tools and resources to address depression in the workplace. Right Direction is one such initiative. Created by the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, Right Direction teaches employers and employees how to recognize the symptoms of depression and resources to seek help.

By learning more about how depression and anxiety affect individual employees and what it looks like in the workplace, employers can take steps to provide helpful resources and reduce the harmful effects of this illness.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

“Fear of missing out” applies in the workplace, too.

In a recent survey conducted by Travel Leaders Group, more than 62% of respondents said they check email or voicemail while on vacation.

This may seem like a harmless, or even beneficial, result of technology allowing flexibility in where employees work, but there’s a dark side.

Employees can experience stress and burnout when they don’t take enough time to fully disconnect from work.

A study published by the Academy of Management showed that when employees feel they are expected to monitor email during off hours, it can result in anxiety and strained family relationships. It’s not just time spent dealing with email that causes strain, but simply the “anticipatory stress” of knowing that at any time they might need to stop what they’re doing to respond to an immediate request.

A growing recognition of the impact of expecting employees to be available at all hours has led to laws in France and Italy stating that employee contracts must explicitly address any expectations of after-hours communication.

Safety, productivity also at risk

Just as incessant communication can negatively impact an employee’s home life, it can affect their work life too.

When employees are constantly distracted by incoming emails, texts and social media messages, it can make them less productive and safe.

From a productivity standpoint, research has shown that most people can’t really multitask. If they think they’re doing two things at once, they’re really switching back and forth between them and in the process they’re likely losing time — potentially a lot of time.

Research suggests that it can take up to 20 or 30 minutes to get back to work on your original task after an interruption, according to researchers Adam Gazzaley and Larry Rosen.

From a safety standpoint, we continue to see workplace injuries resulting from being distracted.

For example, an employee walking out of work while reading his phone is hit in the parking ramp by another employee who’s driving while looking at her phone. Or an employee trips and falls while walking down the stairs because he’s looking at his phone. And of course, distracted driving is a growing danger to everyone on the roads, including those who drive for work.

What employers can do

More employers are recognizing the value of encouraging their employees to unplug while off work, and stay focused during working hours.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Encourage employees to use their vacation time
  More than half of American employees don’t use all their vacation time, according to Project Time Off, and those who do are often still connected to the office. You can send a clear message that employees should not feel guilty for using their vacation time nor for disconnecting from communication unless there’s an emergency. The German car company Daimler goes so far as to auto-delete emails sent to employees who are on vacation. The sender is notified that the email was deleted and given the option to email a colleague or resend the email after the employee returns to the office, according to Harvard Business Review.
• Discourage emailing after hours
  It’s up to leaders to set expectations about whether employees can truly unplug when they’re off work. You can foster an environment where it’s clear your employees are allowed to wait to address any issues that come up until they are back at work.
• Educate employees about the value of focused work
  In our distraction-heavy world, your employees might not realize how much of a toll constant dings and buzzes are taking on their productivity and well-being. They may also be unaware that there’s another way to work. Provide them with practical techniques to minimize distractions. Something as simple as turning their cell phones to silent can make a big difference.

While sometimes it can be a good thing that we’re all so accessible, this ease of contact also has its downsides. As a leader, it’s important to think critically about all aspects of constant communication to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm to your employees.

The suicide rate among the working age population in the United States rose by 34 percent from 2000 to 2016, according to a 2018 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Since many adults spend a large portion of their time at work, the CDC has identified the workplace as one of the most important places for suicide prevention efforts.

You may have employees who are struggling with their mental health. Offering assistance and education about mental health can help them get back to a healthy place.

Utilize an employee assistance program

One of the best ways to help employees with mental health issues is to offer an employee assistance program (EAP). Through an employee assistance program, your employees can access services to assist with mental and emotional well-being. Employee assistance programs also offer manager’s assistance lines, which leaders and supervisors can access for guidance when one of their employees is experiencing difficulties.

Sometimes you can also arrange educational sessions at your workplace about mental health through your employee assistance program. It’s important to make those sessions as acceptable and approachable as possible. Many people who experience trouble with mental health don’t want their peers to know, so this may hold them back from attending.

Teach your leaders to watch for signs

When people are struggling with mental illness, there are often changes in their behavior. Teach the managers and supervisors at your company to watch their employees for sudden changes. Things to watch for include:

• Changes in appearance
• Lack of engagement or passion
• Less involvement with the team
• Showing up late or leaving early
• Increased absences
• Struggling to get work done

Not all signs will be obvious. People with mental illness often go through a lot of isolation and shame. They feel like they can’t open up about their difficulties or that it’s something they should figure out how to deal with on their own. As a result, they can be very high functioning and not show signs of struggle. However, if your company works to create an environment where leaders show care and compassion for their employees, people who are going through hard times will feel more comfortable approaching their supervisors to ask for help.

Even if employees aren’t willing to speak up to a leader, they might share with a coworker. Encourage all your employees to speak up if they know someone is struggling. Receiving care and compassion from others can go a long way toward helping someone feel better.

Other resources

There are many organizations dedicated to mental health education and suicide prevention. Websites include:

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
• Suicide Prevention Resource Center
• Your state’s department of health website

All of these websites offer resources that you can use to help your employees. It also helps to make these websites and resources easily and discreetly available to anyone who may be seeking help, but is unwilling to speak up about it.

If you have a benefits broker, they can also offer resources and provide human resources guidance.

At some point, everyone goes through a hard time that takes a toll on their well-being, and your employees are no exception. Having resources ready for when those hard times hit can really make a difference.

More than a third of workers in a recent study  got less than the recommended seven hours of sleep a night – and those in certain occupations were more likely to fall short.

In the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOSH) study , 36.5 percent of workers reported short sleep duration.

This matches the results from Gallup polls on sleep  going back more than 25 years. In polls from 1990 through 2013, Gallup consistently found that 40 percent of Americans get less than seven hours of sleep.

The cost of fatigue

Falling short of the recommendation comes with severe costs to health, safety and the economy. People who experience sleep deprivation may be more at risk for workplace injuries and accidents.

“Short sleep duration has been linked to various negative health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression, as well as to safety issues related to drowsy driving and injuries,” study author Taylor Shockey said.

Combined with the economic costs (the CDC reports 1.2 million lost working days and up to a $411 billion cost to the economy each year), insufficient shut-eye should concern every employer.

Sleep deprivation by occupation

Workers in some industries and with alternative work schedules are more prone to fatigue or sleep deprivation.

The National Safety Council reports that while more than 43 percent of workers are sleep-deprived, 62 percent of night shift workers experience sleep loss. In the CDC research, industries where shift work is more common were more likely to report a shortage of sleep.

The five occupation groups where short sleep duration is most prevalent were:

1. Production (42.9%)
2. Health care support (40.1%)
3. Health care practitioners and technical (40.0%)
4. Food preparation and serving-related (39.8%)
5. Protective service (39.2%)

Three recommendations for sleep-deprived workers

Seven hours of sleep is the recommended amount  for adults ages 18-60, based on findings from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

While you can’t control what your employees do at home, you can take steps to encourage them to get enough sleep each night.

• Build awareness
  At SFM, our safety and wellness committee simply asked employees to record their sleep times for four weeks, with the goal of helping them become more aware of how much (or little) they were typically sleeping. Anyone who participated was entered in a drawing for a prize.
• Adjust the work environment
  In some cases, working conditions can contribute to employees’ poor sleep habits. Does your company culture encourage employees to be responding to email messages during off hours? Do employees have to take on extra shifts due to low staffing? Even the brightness of the work environment can help.
• Help employees learn
  Help employees learn how to get better quality sleep by offering educational opportunities like seminars at the office, articles on your intranet or informational email messages. Encourage shift workers to maintain a consistent sleep schedule, even on days off.

See more ways to improve sleep hygiene at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s Sleep Education website or from the National Safety Council .

Sleep is often undervalued. Emphasizing the benefits of sleep at your workplace will encourage your employees to go from sleep-deprived to well-rested.

Money concerns aren’t usually something people like to talk about, especially at work.

So it may not be apparent to an employer when their employees experience financial stress. Yet recent data suggests financial stress is widespread. Employers can make an effort to recognize when money concerns affect their employees, so they can offer resources to help them move toward financial well-being.

The 2018 Employee Financial Wellness Survey by PwC reported that 53 percent of survey respondents feel financial stress.

The stress takes a toll on their focus and productivity at work. The same survey found that half of financially stressed workers took three or more hours of work time each week to deal with financial issues. Another 30 percent admit their productivity has suffered, and 16 percent occasionally miss work because of financial issues.

Financial stress could even lead to stress-related health issues, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal .

Signs of financial stress to look out for:

• Requesting an advance on a paycheck
• Being mentally distracted during work
• Spending more time on phone calls
• Showing up late or other attendance issues
• Avoiding social occasions with co-workers, such as going out to lunch
• Withdrawing money from a 401(k) early
• Choosing not to participate in a retirement plan

Four elements of personal financial well-being

The opposite of financial stress, financial well-being, comes when people feel both secure about money and that they have the freedom to spend their money how they’d like.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends that individuals review their financial well-being from four distinct perspectives.

People with high levels of financial well-being:

1. Feel in control of daily and monthly finances
2. Have the capacity to absorb a financial shock and have a safety net
3. Have the flexibility to make choices about their finances
4. Are on track to meet goals

Together, these four elements from the CFPB address someone’s financial security and freedom in the present and future.

Resources for your workplace financial wellness program

Developing resources to address financial stress requires knowing what stressors exist for your employees.

Jody Rogers, SFM Senior Vice President, Human Resources, recommends surveying employees about their needs and benefits.

“Even a small employer can put a survey together and hear what employees are asking for and what they need,” she says. “If you are tapped into and know what’s bothering your employees, and if financial stress is one of them, look into resources you can offer.”

Consider using your benefits broker to conduct an anonymous survey. Based on survey results, employers can tailor their financial wellness program to address the issues most common to their workforce, whether that’s budgeting and debt reduction or longer-term retirement savings plans.

According to the PwC survey, two of the most desired benefits employees sought were “access to unbiased counselors” and “help understanding and using their employer benefits.”

Rogers offers several strategies for building financial education into your benefits program, based on her extensive experience and what’s worked for SFM’s benefits program.

Components of a financial wellness program

Financial benefits or a financial wellness program could include any of the following:

• Financial education – Inform new employees of all of the benefits available to them. Education could include group trainings on planning for retirement or an introduction to investing. It could also mean providing access to 1:1 financial counseling.
• Retirement savings plans – According to the U.S. Census Bureau and Bloomberg , “Two-thirds of Americans don’t invest in their company retirement plan at all.” Make participating the default to increase employees’ long-term savings.

  SFM has designed the 401(k) plan to make it easy for employees to participate. Employees are automatically enrolled in SFM’s 401(k) plan and would need to take action to opt out, making participation the default. Employees may choose to automatically increase their contributions by 1 percent each year. SFM matches a portion of the investment as a further incentive. Combined, these techniques lead to a very high participation rate and make reaching savings goals effortless.

• Student loan forgiveness – If your employees or potential employees have student loan debt or attend school while working, a benefit increasing in popularity is student loan repayment or tuition reimbursement. This benefit may give you an edge in a competitive job market.
• Employee Assistance Program – Your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) might offer multiple resources, including referrals to a financial planner, and it’s all anonymous.
• Reputable resources – Provide links to trustworthy sites for further information. Government programs include MyMoney.gov and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . For more on designing your workplace financial wellness program, visit Prosperity Now . Local nonprofits may offer financial counseling services.

Making financial benefits available to employees based on their needs shows you care. Employees can choose the benefits they want to build their financial well-being, for the present and the future.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report titled Winning with Wellness in 2016 that not only makes the case for the business value of workplace wellness programs, but also provides guidance on running an effective one.

First, it’s important to know how prevalent certain health conditions are, and why it’s likely these chronic conditions are impacting your workers.

Seven facts about health and illness cited in the report:

• More than one-third of Americans are overweight or obese. (p. 3)
• As of 2012, 117 million Americans had one or more chronic illnesses, which account for 75 percent of all health care costs in the U.S. (p. 3)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 86 million Americans have prediabetes, and less than 10 percent of them are aware of their condition. (p. 3)
• Top two chronic health conditions driving health-related costs for employers were depression and obesity, research showed. (p. 3)
• Employees who scored low on “life satisfaction” stayed home from work 1.25 more days per month than those with higher scores, adding up to about 15 additional days off per year. (p. 15)
• Approximately 80 percent of people are not ready to take action to change their health behaviors at any given time, according to management research. (p. 9)

Those numbers paint a troubling picture of poor health, chronic conditions and co-morbidities that could affect your workers’ well-being and ability to safely perform their jobs.However, the next wellness statistic holds some good news:

• If an individual does the following five things, they typically spend 33 percent to 50 percent less on health care costs:
1. Walking 30 minutes per day
2. Eating healthy
3. Not smoking
4. Having a waist size less than half their height
5. Drinking alcohol only in moderation (p. 3)

A well-designed workplace wellness program can motivate employees to make healthy choices around these five areas of health. The result could be health care savings, more engaged workers and, possibly, lower risk of injury. That’s why it’s important to know that many employers are investing in wellness programs and have seen positive results from their efforts to build a culture of health.

Three key statistics on wellness program popularity and effectiveness:

• A large majority (87 percent) of employers are committed to workplace wellness, and 73 percent offer a wellness program, according to a survey. (p. 4) In our own survey of SFM policyholders, one-third of respondents offered a wellness program. This percentage went up to 77 percent for the largest employers.
• In a survey, more than 60 percent of employers said workplace wellness programs reduced their organizations’ health care costs. (p. 15)
• Studies show that well-designed wellness programs have a return on investment of $1.50 to $3 per dollar spent over a two- to nine-year timeframe. (p. 16)

More resources to design your workplace wellness program

See the “Winning with Wellness” report for full citations of the research these statistics were drawn from, as well as case studies and details on how you can design your wellness program for maximum effectiveness.

If you’re ready to launch or refresh your organization’s program, you’ll want to read our blog post on two key factors for a successful workplace wellness program.

For creative wellness program ideas, download SFM’s Wellness in the workplace CompTalk or see our other blog posts about workplace wellness programs.

This post was originally published on June 16, 2016, and updated on August 15, 2018.

Smoking’s dire health consequences need no repeating here.

Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. It’s expensive too.

A study from 2013 “estimated that the annual cost to employ a smoker was, on average, nearly $6,000 greater than the cost to employ a non­smoker,” according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health .

Because of the health risks and costs associated with smoking, an employee’s individual choice to smoke impacts the workplace. Costs arise in the form of more medical care, lost productivity and more costly workers’ compensation claims.

How smoking affects workers’ compensation

Smoking can significantly increase the length and cost of a workers’ compensation claim.

It’s one of several contributing factors – along with obesity, diabetes, hypertension and substance abuse – called a comorbidity. The presence of one or more of these comorbidities has been shown to increase an injured worker’s number of medical visits and the overall cost of the claim.

The costs come in two different ways: Studies have shown that people who smoke have higher rates of injury to begin with. On top of that, smokers can take considerably longer to recover from an injury, missing more work and requiring more medical intervention. That means workers’ compensation pays for longer periods of disability and higher medical costs. A more costly lost-time claim can then impact the employer’s future workers’ compensation premiums.

The latest data on smoking and e-cigarettes

While smoking remains a major cause of disease, statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a promising trend away from tobacco use.

Smoking rates are going down – cigarette use has declined to about 15 percent of U.S. adults. And, the CDC reported that nearly 70 percent of adult cigarette smokers want to stop smoking, and 55 percent have attempted to quit smoking within the past year.

Most likely, your employees who smoke would welcome help quitting.

However, the use of e-cigarettes, especially among young people, is trending in the wrong direction.

According to the CDC, about 3 percent of adults were current e-cigarette users in 2016. That same year, a U.S. Surgeon General report cited a 900 percent increase in the use of e-cigarettes by high school students from 2011-2015. Vaping use among employees could be on the rise.

Resources to help employees quit smoking

Employers have a role to play in creating an environment conducive to quitting smoking and connecting employees with the tools they need to do so.

In addition to complying with state and local laws that may prohibit smoking in certain spaces, consider creating a smoke-free workplace policy.

NIOSH recommends smoke-free workplace policies that prohibit tobacco use indoors, in work vehicles and in areas immediately outside building entrances. The evidence shows these policies effectively reduce both smoking rates and exposure to secondhand smoke. Depending on the laws in your state, e-cigarettes may not be included in standard smoke-free laws and policies. E-cigarettes or vapor products may need to be explicitly mentioned in your policy to be included.

Your health insurance plan or employee assistance program could also cover cessation treatment for employees. Making smoking cessation part of your wellness program could add motivation for employees to participate.

The national and state resources listed below are designed to coach people through quitting with personalized support.

National

• Smokefree.gov : Free, accurate, evidence-based information and professional assistance to help support the immediate and long-term needs of people trying to quit smoking. It includes a texting service and apps.
• American Lung Association
• American Cancer Society

State hotlines

• Minnesota QUITPLAN : 1-888-354-PLAN (7526)
• Wisconsin Quit Line : 800-Quit-now (800-784-8669)
• Quitline Iowa : 800-Quit-now (800-784-8669)
• KanQuit Kansas Tobacco Quitline : 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669)
• Nebraska Tobacco Quitline : 800-Quit-now (800-784-8669)
• South Dakota QuitLine : 1-866-SD-QUITS (1-866-737-8487)