Niko,

Your comment about small business is often made to me. Certainly, small businesses do not have the critical mass of employees to do some of what we do, like setting up on-site clinics. In fact, about half of our U.S. population, the Pitney Bowes Management Services employees who work on customer sites, resemble a collection of small businesses in their demographics. We average about 20 per site, not enough to set up onsite clinical outreach.

On the other hand, small businesses have an even greater stake in the health of their employees because every employee typically has multiple responsibilities and is less replaceable than an employee in a large business. Years ago, a female small business owner told me how conflicted she was in hiring a particular woman with chronic health problems. She hired the person, but felt more vulnerable than someone running a big business because the woman would be the only person performing a wide variety of mission-critical tasks.

Small and mid-sized businesses do not have the ability to get low medical cost premiums the way we can, but they can help create a culture of health that will reduce health care costs over the long run, but, more importantly, reduce absenteeism, workers compensation, and “presenteeism” expenses in the short run.

- mike

John,

We have had portable defibrillators in our fitness centers and our medical centers for some time. It is challenging to have them elsewhere because there are extensive training, equipment maintenance, and compliance requirements, and these defibrillators get used so infrequently that trained employees often move to other jobs or other locations after training, but before the equipment would get used. As a broader rule, we support the concept of first responders, but find out that the practical problem is one of keeping a stable group of responders to address the specific problem they are trained to address.

- mike

My mother likes to say “Money gives you choices”, which holds true on a broader scale. Because you care about health, and PB has the resources, you’re able to carry out your agenda. But for the many small to midsize companies who don’t care about their employees or are operating on fumes, what can be done? I hope you can share some of your humanity and expertise with others, because this crisis needed to be resolved yesterday.

Unfortunately most companies are reactive - implementing programs AFTER an illness, injury or death has occurred, and often simply to avoid a lawsuit, which really has little to do with employee wellness. A Proactive company seeks (and implements) programs to improve worker health & safety BEFORE the incident occurs.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the #1 cause of death in the United States, taking an estimated 400,000 lives every year (OSHA)that’s more than prostate cancer, breast cancer and AIDS - combined, yet few companies have a CPR/AED workplace program or on-site AEDs, which increase the survival rate to better than 90%.

Insist on a CPR/AED workplace program in your facility. Please visit http://www.fres-cpr.com to learn more.

Thank you for the forum

I believe the reason why more Americans are overweight today verse “back then” is due to both working parents, dealing with daycare (centers and in-home), managing in a very competitive workforce and long commutes to and from work. I am most certain that the majority is aware of better health habits but, there is more to this that meets the stomach.

As a society, we deal with stress from the time we get out of bed and it is an ongoing challenge, mentally. I feel that companies should have couple fulltime psychologists that are more accessible than what EPA plans offer (i.e. social workers). If we provide an easy avenue for employees to talk about what is eating them internally it would relieve the majority of health issues we all deal with today. Also, it would be beneficial if we held ‘quality life’ workshops at our work facilities, instead of a 30 minute slide show presentation given by “Value Options” at your desk (i.e. webex, e-meeting, etc).

Excising the ‘Mind’ to better health has major advantages and I feel were not doing enough to assist those in need. Putting bananas by the cash registers is not going to entice the individual to eat healthier if their not feeling good about themselves in the first place.

Thank you,
~PM

Best wishes, Bill