Economic stress and healthcare costs are both on the rise. At the same time many people are making unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Those factors have created what Dr. Frank Jeremy calls an "Imperfect Storm" for employees and employers. The
Borgess Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and the Borgess CorpFit Wellness Program are now available to area businesses dealing with gale force conditions.
Jeremy helped initiate the Borgess Employee Assistance Program in 1978 and went on to help organizations throughout the United States with their employee wellness programs. He has returned to Kalamazoo to help local companies address employee personal or health problems before they become a workplace problem.
"The same types of problems exist for small and large organizations, as they did 30 years ago," Jeremy says. But a high unemployment rate and ballooning health care costs are now twice as imposing to both employees and employers.
"More than 80 percent of Americans say their lives are more stressful today than five years ago with work as the primary cause," Jeremy says. "And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of employees' healthcare costs and productivity losses are related to employee lifestyle choices."
Stressors usually show up in time and attendance issues, on-the-job accidents, conflict with co-workers and decreased engagement in the workplace. Early action and intervention is a key in responding to problems before they reach a crisis point. Treating employee problems proactively through an Employee Assistance Program can help to keep up employee productivity and morale.
EAP services are traditionally offered as part of the employee benefit package and are offered at no charge to employees and their immediate family members.
And in an era where many companies have employees get health coaching over the phone or computer, the Borgess Employee Assistance Program includes in-person counseling and in-person crisis counseling.
Borgess CorpFit Wellness Program is a program to keep employees healthy and lower health-care costs. It offers offers health experts who go to area workplaces.
"Employee problems are so diverse, even the top managers and human resource professionals often need help to find solutions," says Cheryl Rogers, Borgess Employee Assistance Program Coordinator. "Our philosophy is to act as a partner with the client and organization. We are a resource for solutions to timely and confidential responses to problems."
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Frank Jeremy, Borgess
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