Chapter 14
How Behavioral and Biometric Health Risk Factors Can Predict Medical and Productivity Costs for Employers
14.1 Introduction
Just as businesses provide regular maintenance for equipment to ensure that machinery is tuned and running at optimal levels, investing in the health, well-being, and safety of workers, -an organization's human capital, is just as vital to the success of the enterprise. One way for businesses to invest in the health, well-being, and safety of employees is to offer multicomponent worksite health-promotion and disease-prevention programs that address individual and environmental health and safety risks. Businesses that provide worksite health-promotion and disease-prevention programs to their employees may accrue benefits on two fronts by helping employees better manage high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, eat a healthier diet, increase their physical activity, manage weight gain, reduce excess alcohol consumption, and adopt safe motor vehicle habits such as wearing seatbelts, many debilitating diseases and injuries may be avoided. There is now compelling evidence that well-crafted programs that are based in behavioral and social-ecological theory can improve health and reduce health risks in employees that adopt positive lifestyle habits (Task Force Community Preventive Services, 2007).
Second, studies have shown that worksite health-promotion programs ...
