It seems you can't turn around these days without being smacked in the face with news about healthcare, how to live a healthy life, or just plain how to be healthy. Health is big news these days; the question is why, and why should you, as and employer, care?

Not Just Altruism

You should care about your employees' health, because you're a decent human being, and decent human beings care about their fellow beings' welfare. That said, your fellow beings are all adults (mostly) and are supposedly capable of taking care of themselves without you or the government sticking your nose into how they live. This is a true and very valid point; however, a good number of these people work for you, and this fact makes their health your business because you, as their employer, must provide health insurance for your staff.

Unless you don't meet the minimum requirements, the law says you, the employer, are responsible for providing health insurance for your staff. Leaving politics aside, being forced to purchase health care for your staff, and paying fifty percent or more of the premiums for each and every employee gives you, the employer, a vested interest in how your employees take care of themselves. It's a given that healthcare costs will go up, and the more your insurance is used, the more it goes up as well.

It's a Ponzi Scheme

Insurance is, in many respects, a Ponzi scheme, but with a twist. The insurer makes the healthy people who are betting they may get sick or have an accident pay for the ones who already have. This requires a larger base of healthy people in the insurance pool in order for the scheme to not come tumbling down. As the population ages, the pool has become lopsided, as the number of young, healthy individuals is smaller than the pool of aging workers.

An older worker is not necessarily an unhealthy one, just as a young worker is not necessarily healthy, but the odds are more in favor of the older one developing health issues. It's in your best interests to keep your staff healthy, to keep your insurance premiums at a reasonable cost.

Productivity

A healthy staff is one that's on the job, not one that's out sick a large proportion of the time. Being on the job means being able to be productive, and this is good for the company's fiscal health, especially for workers in critical positions. A critical position has more impact on your bottom line when the employee is out sick, even for a few days, if there's a project coming due. Everybody gets sick once in a while, but overworked, overstressed people get sick a lot, especially if they've not been paying attention to their health. Sick days cost. Do what you can to minimize them; it saves money in the long run.

So, What Can You Do?

You, the employer, have several options to help keep your staff fit and healthy. Start a wellness program, and offer financial incentives to join it. Misery loves company, as they say, and exercise to most people is misery. Provide a gym, or gym passes to a nearby facility, and encourage its use. Start a walker's club, and have it take long walks on lunch hours three times a week.

Make it easy for your staff to eat healthy while on the job. Vending machines are a fixture in every office, but what you put in them is pretty much up to you. Cold machines are available, allowing you to stock them with healthy frozen meals. Cool machines are available, allowing you to fill them with fruits such as apples, oranges, tangerines, avocados, pears, plums, peaches, and berries. Stock the room temperature vending machine with several kinds of nuts Ð pecans, pistachios, almonds, peanuts, or mixed nuts. Offer baked chips instead of fried chips, or if you stock fried chips, get them fried in healthy oils. A bag of fried chips once in a while will not make or break a healthy eating plan, so don't obsess over this one. The same is true of candy. A candy bar once in a while is not a killer; provide healthy choices for the most part, but don't leave out the occasional treat.

Soda machines are a given, but you have choices as to what goes in them. Include the standard choices, but throw in a few natural sodas as an option. Offer bottled water as well. You may find your staff prefers bottled water to what comes out of the city-supplied water fountains (water which you pay for, by the way) so make sure there's plenty for them in the machines.

Pay attention to the cafe in your building, and if you have any input into who's given the lease, find out about the menus they plan to have there. Encourage them to provide a salad bar, and a well-stocked one, not just a bowl of mixed salad greens and a few dressings. Let them know you want your staff to have choices other than fried hamburgers and greasy French fries.

A Healthy Conclusion

You, like the people you work with, and the people who work for you, should be encouraged to eat as healthily as they can while on the job. This serves two purposes; it helps them get and stay healthy, and it lowers your healthcare costs. It's a win-win situation.