Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life
Job-hunting tips from the September 15, 2008, issue of
QuintZine.
Would six weeks off to refresh, rejuvenate, and recharge improve your workplace wellness? Pat Katepoo of the Websites
Work Options and our Site of the Issue,
Time Off Tactics,
is offering a product called Six Weeks Off: A Sabbatical Proposal
Template. It's a no-cost, short PDF document that gives you
the ready-made language to make your sabbatical request to
your employer. Katepoo advises that before you plow into the
proposal, prepare yourself with these topics:
Not only do wellness programs boost employee health, but participants in such programs also are more engaged
employees, according to a recent study.
Employees who participate once a week in a wellness program took significantly less sick time than those who
never do so. Even workers who participated sporadically had better attendance records than those with zero participation.
That may be because of a perception among participants that their employer cares about their well-being, theorizes
Mindy McGrath, vice president of strategy for Maritz's health-care sector.
The Maritz survey, conducted in February 2008 with 2,379
full-time workers, found that:
When offered a reward or incentive, 23 percent participated in a wellness program once a week
When no incentive is offered, participation drops from 23 percent to 16 percent
Non-participation declines slightly from 36 percent to 21 percent when an incentive is offered
Prevention and workplace wellness practices such as vaccines, exercise programs, and cutting-edge drugs
were the highest ranked health priorities, according to the 11th annual Sanofi-Aventis Healthcare Survey
conducted in December 2007.
Related 2008 report: An aging population, sedentary lifestyles, overburdened facilities, and increased levels of many chronic diseases
are shifting the emphasis toward prevention as a longer-term solution to minimizing or avoiding cost and illnesses.
[Source: SHRM news article, August 21, 2008]
On the flip side, the growing popularity of employer-sponsored wellness programs is starting to raise questions about how far
employers can go in their efforts to change employee behaviors.
Many employers are offering incentives, often in the form of lower health-insurance premiums, to employees who enroll in these programs.
For example, some employers are subjecting employees who smoke to a higher health-insurance premium unless these employees quit
smoking or agree to enroll in a smoking-cessation program.
Trouble started in April 2008, when Whirlpool suspended 39 workers for smoking on company premises after they had
signed statements saying that they did not smoke and received a reduced, nonsmoker's health insurance premium. Even though
the disciplinary move was linked to the fact that employees had lied in a signed statement, the case captured international media attention
and put the spotlight squarely on the employers' wellness efforts. [Source: SHRM Compensation & Benefits Library article, June 2008]
Would six weeks off to refresh, rejuvenate, and recharge improve your workplace wellness? Pat Katepoo of the Websites
