Employee Health Is About Your Bottom Line

If you haven’t heard the term “Employee Health” in your conversations at work, don’t feel bad. The parlance is another reference to the field and practice of “Occupational Medicine,” which is a branch of medicine covering industry-specific healthcare. Philosophically, however, Employee Health goes beyond Occupational Medicine, and you might be interested why – and how, it affects you.

Here in Alaska, we understand the term “Occ Med” better than most places because a good number of us have worked, or know someone who has worked, in an industry heavily regulated. Whether it was you, or a family member or friend, most of us have had a drug test at some point in our careers, or undergone a physical examination for a job, or a hearing test because of a noisy workplace. Testing is not really foreign to most Alaskans. That said, the breadth of “Employee Health” today might surprise you.

Occupational Medicine programs are sometimes purely designed to check a regulatory box. Don’t get me wrong, I know dedicated and passionate safety professionals and business leaders dedicated to preventing injuries and improving the environments for their workforce. Many programs can accomplish the rudiments of protecting employees from harm. Yet, since 1911, when a fire killed 140 workers in a textile plant in New York City (the Triangle Shirtwaist Company actually, credit where credit is due), the Federal government has “helped” industry make decisions about employee health and safety with nudges and directives, and sometimes outright mandates compelling adherence. Occasionally, these programs are developed for other compliance or business reasons. Today, we are realizing good safety programs also lead to healthier employees, more efficient workplaces, and reduced costs of operation. Industries have stopped reacting to regulation and started managing employee health. Everybody benefits as a result.

Finding the right size and shape for an Employee Health program is a challenge for small and medium-sized employers who don’t have a team of compliance specialists at their disposal. In our state, there are resources available to business owners and managers looking to implement or change their employee health programs.

A good start is to simply look around your work sites, shops, warehouses and offices. Is your workplace noisy? Do your employees engage in repetitive activities? Do your employees paint or use and apply chemicals that expose themselves to fumes (i.e. think basic vulnerable body parts like skin, eyes, and lungs being affected). Has your human resources or worker compensation insurer informed you that you have a higher-than-normal injury rate? Those are signs that a business owner may need help with their program. Take broad strokes early, like drug and alcohol testing policies (i.e. new hires and randoms), hearing protection programs, and respiratory protection programs. These are classical “occ med” programs, and fortunately, there are trained professionals that can counsel and advise your business if requested.

Once the far-reaching policy-driven changes are made that you’re regulated under, start zooming in on the basics. How do your process and engineering controls lead to, not just a safer, but a healthier workplace? Ergonomic evaluations in the workplace is a modern consideration, and manifestly relevant to avoiding injuries and protecting your bottom line. You’d be surprised by what an evaluation from a trained industrial hygienist can reveal. Do you have an assembly process that requires repetitive motions? Is shelving in your warehouse too high to be comfortably reached? Some of these environmental aspects can be remedied relatively easy. However, some workplace conditions require revised job flows and procedures, and consideration of your employees’ health and physical well-being. Once you’ve complied with the broad regulatory expectations, and fine-tuned efficiency relating to employee safety and physical acumen, then you can center on the most integral, complex and important piece of machinery in any workplace: The people. Sure, you’ve checked all the regulatory boxes and maybe even developed the perfect environment for your staff to operate in, but what if your staff was in top shape too?

Proactively managing employee health is where employers can tangibly benefit from a return on their healthcare investments. Ailments like colds, flu, sequelae of diabetes mellitus, or hypertension can all impact productivity and efficiency while decreasing quality of life and happiness. And we all know the domino effect when an employee is absent and the process stream of delivery is interrupted or delayed. This matters at a level that many don’t realize in terms of dollars-and-cents. The Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed., states that stress costs companies as much as $200-$300 billion (with a ‘B’) annually. Stress! And healthy people are better equipped to handle stress. Diet, physical fitness, and emotional stability are all relevant. No ground-breaking news here.

Maybe it’s time you, whether an employee, employer or the loved one of someone who is, consider the important and vital need for an updated and effective occupational medicine, Employee Health plan. Employers in Alaska are steadily partnering with local medical clinics for help in developing Employee Health plans for their work force, and focusing on the lifelong health and safety of their employees. They recognize the need and prudence to act. And the best news is the evolution of employee health as a concentration is no longer reactionary to injuries or regulatory requirements, but a growing part of business plans and practice. Occupational Medicine and Employee Health planning should be part of every businesses scope. Employees and their families deserve no less, and commerce in Alaska will thrive as a result.

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Dennis Spencer is a retired military combat veteran, Certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist, current Director of Employee Health at Capstone Clinics, past President of the Alaska Academy of Physician Assistants, and an active Physician Assistant with nearly two decades in practice.