Running head: HEALTH AWARENESS IN SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS 1

Healthy Awareness in Successful Business

Michael Calara
Nevada State College







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Health Awareness in Successful Business
The structure of the business and how higher executives can lead their employees are
integral for the success of the business. Taking into consideration their employees health as a
factor, worksite wellness programs are effective investments, as they can provide necessary help
to stop unhealthy habits or even start the person on the right path to being more healthy. The
mental health and overall wellbeing of an employee can be considered as a factor that contributes
to how successful a business is. This can be defined as employee satisfaction; the employees are
in a working environment that where they are committed to their duties because they are able to
take pride in their role. There is encouragement and support from others within the company
shows that they are not a disposable resource, waiting to be replaced by someone else.
From a health & wellness stand point the idea is this; healthier people are able to
contribute more to their well-being, workplace, and overall productivity. There are many chronic
diseases on the rise - diabetes, the various cancers, hypertension, and heart disorders. These are
added complications and if the standards are not there for those who need help, then it can be
detrimental. If given the right attitude about one's own personal health and lifestyle, then those
contributing disease factors can be less dangerous, which can be a big potential change. The
employees, as well as the executives should be well aware if their health is going to be a liability,
they should take effective steps to prevent a health incident from occurring. In order to create
this culture of better health, there has to be a leader that can effectively motivate others to start
being more aware. The McKinsey 7S model will be discussed and how it can be beneficial to the
company and how to incorporate the wellness program. A brief overview of this model is that
there are seven areas that can be individually looked at as well as different segments that connect
with one another.
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One area that could potentially be harmful to a company is the chronic work place
diseases. The cost to cover chronic diseases has increased over the years which make it difficult
to cover, and if a company cannot offer the proper working environment, then this can lead to
unhealthier work habits. According to George DeVries and his writings, These costs can lead to
over one trillion dollars a year. (DeVries, 2010). This can potentially lead to inadequate
spending that a company cannot afford to do. However there are some prevenative steps in
wellness programs that could negate the costs of spending resources to cover chronic diseases in
the work pace. A huge push that helped this industry was the increased use in technology. With
the use of new devices, better structured and comprhensive plans are developed, effective
methods, and new incentives to achieve better wellness and participation, and ultimately
overcome past challenges. In this journal article, George Devries identifies six different areas
that contribute to a better wellness plan and the six categories are: Wireless Techonology,
Integrated Wellness Solutions, Telephone Health Coaching, More Robust Programs to Enhance
Participation, More meaningful Incentives, and Expanded Wellness programs (DeVries, 2010).
Wireless technology as developed to the point where a small device can keep track the
number of steps a person has walked during a work shift and transmit that data to their computer
and able to download the password protected and private information. This type of techonolgy is
creative in a way that it encourages the workers to get up and move. If every employee had that
small device clipped on, overtime the steps add up, and hundreds of miles will have been
calculated. The next three areas are all equally important, but they piggy-back off each in a few
ways. Intergrated wellness solutions and telephone health coaching are more taylored to the
individual but a common problem is weight gain and smoking. A wellness solution typically
includes a specialist in stopping the habit of smoking - as this is considered pretty common, and
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with over the phone coaching, both can point the direction of a healthier way. The more robust
wellness programs want to have the employees to be actively enaged by offering incentives to
those that join. Participation is huge because with no membership, the organization cannot
implement health improvements to show the effect of change, reduce medical costs, and improve
on employee production. Stress is another factor and these plans must have programs ready for
this. Offering stress management classes, discounted gym memberships, relaxation thearpy, these
are just a few ways to promote a work healthy attitude and the benefits.
Another thought that should be taken into consideration is the effectiveness of worksite
health promotion (WHP) (Nohammer, Stummer, Schusterschitz, 2011). Are the methods already
in action benefitting the company or is it a slow methodically changes? To further look into this
three different areas were taken into consideration for the overall wellbeing - physical/cognitive
element, social component, and emotional factor. Nohammer, ET all, have stated,
Strengthening the emotional components of WHP information and program elements is
proposed for increasing participation rates and the subsequent individual benefits derived
(2011). The point is to change behaviors and thoughts towards a more productive and healthier
alternative. The encouragement from the worksite health promotion is perpetuating that healthy
attitude. Instead of salty and sweet snacks, there are fresh fruit available, or instead of a 'smoke
break' employees are encouraged to take alternative directions like walking around.
These small miss-steps eventually add up and contribute to the rise of chronic diseases.
With the change in physical levels, it is implied that a mental change comes along. Promoting
positive influences at the work place and find ways to handle work related stress. However part
of the commitment comes from the workers as participants enrolled in WHP. The increased
awareness becomes more evident as a general trend is to stay away from the negative influences
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and focus on the positive ones. It becomes almost integrated into the brain that these old habits
are bad, and a person could be putting a lot at risk if they do not want to change their habits. A
sign of improvement from the investment of WHP is if the employees are self-aware of their
choices, motivation, and job satisfaction have changed in a positive trend, then it is shown to be
an effective plan.
An important factor that should be taken into consideration is employees with disabilities.
Disabilities should not hinder a person from working, but if the organization cannot provide the
proper support, it becomes more difficult to ensure safety for that worker. They become a
potential liability, as they can struggle to complete tasks. A stigma associated with disabilities in
workers is that because of the nonstandard work arrangements that are needed, many employers
see that disability as an inability to work. Having that kind of attitude can negatively impact the
disabled worker and can perpetuate negative biases. However, these types of attitudes and
behaviors are more prevalent in middle to lower income workers or nonunionized organizations
it is harder for these types of companies to provide support for those with health issues and
without those handicapped experience lowered wages, fewer benefits, and great job insecurity
(Shuey & Jovic, 2013).
In order to determine the effectiveness of wellness programs, Companies can use sets of
return on investment (ROI) to determine the how beneficial the program has. A return on
investment is different from profits as profits directly measure how well the company is doing.
Return on investment is money invested into a company or program and the return on the money
is based on the total net profit for that business. Essentially if there are reduces costs that
company is spending on their employees, than it is worth investing. The same is applied to
companies willing to invest in wellness programs. Barlow and Weber in their article states that,
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Simply put, if it can be demonstrated that the effects of a particular health care program reduced
the companys costs over what they would have been without the program, we measureable
savings and the basis for a valid ROI measurement (Barlow & Weber, 2012). Some current
methods to determine if the ROI is positive are: Test/Control Group Methods (within here they
had different set ups for the control groups); Population wide Analyses/ Historical Control
Analyses; Longitudinal Studies of Participants; Qualitative Assessments. It is within the best
interest that companies look to using more than one method to analyze their return on
investments as it lead to producing more definite outcomes.
The first method of using test and control group is looking at participants who are
currently using the health programs versus those who are not enrolled. In this case the control
group can be further sorted by employee demographics and then can be sorted by characteristics
of the control group to match those of the test group (Age, gender, salary, medical care costs,
chronic conditions, etc.); a more complex yet more accurate way to measure investments using
this method. Taking out the human factor, this method only analyzes the raw numbers and data
to see how much money is being spent on employees and savings if program was absent. It does
not mention if the program works individually.
Referred to as measurement of negative medical events (Barlow & Weber, 2012),
Population analysis looks at the entirety of those in utilizing the program and the different
medical or health related events. Medical events can include, number of sick days, hospital
admission, emergency room visits, number of surgeries, new diabetic cases, etc. the list is quite
extensive. By comparing these events, it can help determine what may be repeatable events that
are costing the company.
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Next methodology is longitudinal studies of participants, and this focuses on employees
who currently have some sort of medical condition. They are looked at before starting the
wellness program and afterwards to see if there was a difference in these medical events. This
requires both medical vendor and the company to work together to analyze if the program has
been effective. So for example an employee with back or spinal related issues can be a candidate
for this method and if then they are observed to see how frequent has those spinal related issues
have surfaced before entering the wellness program and then if the number of those incidents has
decreased after entering said program, then it a positive result and worth the investment.
However this requires the employer to work with every one of those individuals with any
medical conditions and this requires the investment of time and effort more so than money.
Something to keep in mind is that there may chance for regression than progression.
The last type is qualitative assessments and this basically reports, forms, some sort of
written feedback to compliment the raw data from the above methods. The purpose is to help
explain what the numbers mean to employers is the investment working for those in the
enrolled in the program or is the company losing money trying to get their employees in this
program. This the opportunity to get input from those utilizing the program and hopefully give
the company a more clear direction to focus what can be improved for the wellness program. In
general if the reports reflect the numbers and it shows the company is still able to meet demands
then it is essentially a positive return on investment.
Incorporating wellness programs to benefit the employees to help drive success for the
company, can analyzed by using the McKinsey 7S Model. Essentially, seven different areas can
be analyzed individually or even when group together with their respective counterparts. The
seven areas are shared mission, vision, values; strategy; structure; systems; staff; style; and skill.
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When all areas are connected it a forms an intricate web that a company can use as their
foundation for their workers. There are three areas of alignment that are important to effectively
lead a team and motivate, especially if a company wants to better utilize the wellness program.
The first area is known as the strategic link to success which aligns the strategy to the mission,
vision, and values to the staff. Considered the backbone this area is where the right leaders are
formed to implement the focus of the company with how they handle workers and customers.
The next are is the Hard Ss which connect strategy to systems to structure. This section is how
can leaders effectively execute their plan to achieve their vision of the company. On the opposite
are the Soft Ss which the shared mission, vision & values to style to staff and to skills. The
section is to ensure consistent efficient plan is implemented by the workers. Watson stated in his
article about the 7S model, The key factors distinguishing the 7-S framework from the
traditional approach to organizational effectiveness, in fact, focus on the change levers which
leaders, as distinct from managers, have always manipulated to effect organizational change and
to achieve superior performance (Watson, 1983). Essentially once all areas are looked at and
even adjusted to better fit the overall vision; it will inevitably mean better sales, motivated
workers, effective communication and overall better business.
Part of the requirement of a successful business is staffing the right people to be leaders
and get others motivated to keep up this culture of health. Motivation is a strong factor in
business and this can be defined as the combination of forces that drive individuals to take
certain actions and avoid others in pursuit of individual objective (Bovee & Thill, 2013), this is
their definition of motivation. In other words, leaders have to get their workers motivated to stay
committed to their work, aware of their surroundings, and support the company and its values.
Leaders have to be engaging as in that mindset it helps bring that worker to perform at their best.
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If the employees are not satisfied with how things are running, or their work experience is
terrible, then chances are it will be detrimental for the company and will stop supporting the
company. Rootedness can be referred to as the possibility of an employee quitting or staying
those who are more engaged and feel as if they belong to this company, and then they are likely
to stay with the company and stay motivated
. Jerica Turek is who works closely with other students for Nevada State Colleges
Student Government is seen as a mentor, leader, and friend, but she still finds ways to keep her
team motivated. In an interview with Jerica Turek about motivation she has stated, I meet with
students in groups and individually, and in every meeting, I focus on their goals and dreams. I
help them to formulate strategies to meet those goals. I cheer with them when there is success,
and am there as a shoulder to cry on when there is not. As a supervisor, I do the same for myself
in the workplace (M. Calara, personal communication, November 1, 2013). Through proper
motivation, commitment can be achieved and sometimes having the right kind of mentor can be
very integral towards success.
A company that is moving forward with the right type of leadership and motivation, is an
organization known as Valve Corporation. Valve Corporation is a software based company and
the founders of the company have structured it in way that it is not based on patriarchy type
leadership. How Valve Corporation has structured their company is called horizontal
organization or flat organization. According to Richard Hung, in his article he describes this as
A horizontal management style should structure around core processes and increase the
interaction of employees from different departments and foster close working relationships and
better communication (Hung, 2006). Essentially, everyone is treated as an equal; no one is
below or above one another. Even the founders of Valve Corporation are not ranked higher their
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regular employee. According to Valve Corporations New Employee Handbook, Thats why
Valve is flat. Its our shorthand way of saying that we dont have any management, and nobody
reports to anybody else. We do have a founder/president, but even he isnt your manager. This
company is yours to steertoward opportunities and away from risks. You have the power to
green-light projects (Valve Corporation, 2012). This company is relinquishing control to their
workers, allowing them to work on any projects they so desire. They value the talents and
skillsets each employee brings and wants them to further develop these talents. Inevitably there
will come a time where a leader is required, but that person is seen as a resource for those
assigned to that project, not as someone assigning tasks to be completed. Empowering their own
employees allows for a less stressful working environment, where potentially more work can be
done is going to lead towards success.
A proper combination of business structure, employee management, and if it is worth the
investment, worksite wellness programs can contribute towards success. Employees should be
aware of their health status and take preventative steps before any further problems arise. This
can be achieved via wellness programs as long as the commitment becomes vital to their health.
Any company is willing to let their own employees make their own directives and still become
successful or potentially world renown, then it is clear the company founders have figured out
how to properly lead their team.



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Bovee, C., & Thill, J. (2013). Business in Action. New Jersey: Pretence Hall.
Calara, M. (2013, November 1). Personal Interview with Jerica Turek.
DeVries, G. T. (2010). Innovations in Workplace Wellness: Six New Tools to Enhance Programs
and Maximize Employee Health and Productivity. Compensation & Benefits Review, 46-
51.
Hung, R. (2006). Business Process Management as Competitive Advantage: a Review and
Empirical Study. Total Quality Management, 21-40.
Nohammer, E. S. (2011). Improving employee well-being through worksite health promotion?
The employees perspective. Journal Of Public Health, 121-129.
Shuey, K., & Jovic, E. (2013). Disability Accommodation in Nonstandard and Precarious
Employement Arrangements. Work and Occupations, 174-205.
Valve Corporation. (2012). Handbook For New Employees. Bellevue: Valve Press.
Watson, C. (1983). Leadership, Managment, and the Seven Keys. The McKinsey Quarterly, 44-
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