By David Duncan

UnumProvident Corporation, a national insurer with offices in Chatanooga, Worcester, MA and Portland, ME provides group and individual disability income protection insurance. You'd expect a company like that to pay attention to the health of its own employees. So it's not surprising that UnumProvident has been honored with a "Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles" award at the Obesity Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. Here's a look at the UnumProvident program.

The UnumProvident Strategy

Employee health problems are a major drain on a company's financial resources. UnumProvident has 11,000 employees. "As a company we made a business decision to implement a long-term healthcare strategy. We realized that there was only so far that we could continue to push costs to employees," says Sally Saunders, Director of Health and Group Insurance Plans. "The real driver of our healthcare costs was the behavior and risk patterns of our employees."

UnumProvident's goal was to create programs and tools to help employees voluntarily:

• Identify their personal health risks, and
• Modify their lifestyles to reduce those risks.

The Online Health Risk Assessment

One of the tools UnumProvident created was an online health risk assessment asking employees about their age, weight, height, blood pressure, cholesterol numbers, use of vitamins and herbal products, physical activity, medical history, tobacco and alcohol use. The assessment also asks employees to list the last time they saw a doctor and why.

After completing the assessment, each employee receives a personalized report pointing out current and future health risks and providing suggestions for risk reduction and overall health improvement.

Potential problem cases are flagged for follow up. "If my blood pressure and cholesterol are outside the norm, my personal report would give me suggestions, not the least of which would be: Go see your doctor," explains Saunders. A nurse in UnumProvident's disease management program would then call the employee to discuss the risks and how to manage them.

"Employees participating in the program can sit down with a nurse on a regular basis to discuss their progress," notes Saunders. Nurses provide counseling on nutrition and help the employee develop an appropriate diet plan and exercise program. Nurses also tell employees about resources available in their community and where they can go for more advanced counseling, Saunders adds.

Easing Employees into Exercise

Since UnumProvident introduced its new wellness project in January 2005, 70% of employees have created an online health risk assessment. Getting employees to actually exercise poses more of a challenge.

Most employees need to be eased in gradually. "They don't have to become a marathon runner overnight," says Saunders. "What we try to do is not have people feel overwhelmed and that they need this grandiose plan that they won't follow," Saunders says. "We set very simple goals so the person can feel successful. We're trying to break down the negative connotation and fear that people have with the word exercise."

Nurses often suggest that employees start with simple, discrete tasks that they can do without altering their lifestyles and routines, such as walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or parking their vehicles farther away so they can get in some extra walking. Employees also learn that they can get their exercise without leaving home. For example, gardening and house cleaning qualify as exercise.

Other Health Initiatives

Employees who drink and/or smoke are given information on health implications and offered suggestions and resources for quitting. Other UnumProvident initiatives:

• Creating healthier food choices in staff cafeterias, and
• Encouraging people to join teams and lose weight or work to maintain current weight as a group, through the UnumProvident Lighten Up campaign.

The company also offers WeightWatchers programs and on-site exercise facilities at several of its facilities. Where such facilities don't exist, UnumProvident subsidizes employee memberships to fitness clubs.

Conclusion

UnumProvident reports that it's been happy with the results. For example, one 'Lighten Up' participant reported cutting down on snack food consumption and becoming much more aware of healthy food choices. Another participant said that while, "the hard part is just pulling yourself off the couch and moving," the teamwork approach helped tremendously.

Collectively, 1,863 UnumProvident workers who participated in the campaign have lost a total of 6,000 pounds to date.

SafetyXChange readers wanting more information on UnumProvident's employee programs can contact Sally Saunders at ssaunders@unumprovident.com.

A Call for Success Stories

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Glenn Demby
Editor-in-Chief
SafetyXChange

ABSENTEEISM

TOP 7 PREVENTABLE REASONS EMPLOYEES CALL IN SICK

1. Depression/Anxiety/Other Mental Health Disorders: 66%
2. Stress: 60%
3. Bad Relationship with the Supervisor or Manager: 44%
4. Conflict with a Co-Worker: 28%
5. Childcare/Parenting Issues: 21%
6. Addictions/Substance Abuse Issues: 20%
7. Eldercare Issues: 19%

Source: Ipsos-Reid Study, March 18, 2004

WELLNESS PROGRAM SUCCESSES

BY THE NUMBERS

$1.42: The amount DuPont accrued for each dollar it invested over two years in a wellness program that cut absenteeism

34%: The amount Johnson & Johnson cut hospital costs within three years of beginning a wellness program

1 to 1.79: The net cost-benefit ratio achieved by a California county as a result of offering classes and fitness training to employees that cut sick days related to back injuries

$2.3 million: How much Coors saved in lost wages due to absenteeism after introducing a wellness program

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