The most important thing executives can do is send a very clear message to their employees that they care about each person's overall wellbeing and that they want to be a part of helping it improve over time.
I'm killing two birds at once, so to speak. Animal-based food kills people. This way, by going vegan... we get healthy and save animals. I'm being selfish, too, because if I can get my employees healthier, we cut down on sick days and gain more productivity.
Listen, I've been sick ever since I started working here, but today I'm well and I won't be in anymore.
I've spoken with a few employers who have moved away from what has to be some of the least attractive language you could use about health risk to start talking about wellbeing.
People don't actually want to think about their own health and don't take action until they are sick. Yet employers are very motivated to get their employees healthy, since they bear most of the burden of their health care costs.
I would not wish to imply that most industrial accidents are due to intemperance. But, certainly, temperance has never failed to reduce their number.
In my own business, I took on the insurance companies and built my own self-insured plan for my employees that was cost effective and included no caps on coverage, coverage for pre-existing conditions, and allowed kids to stay on their parents' plan until they turned 26.
In my case, I pay a standard premium to participate in the Federal Employees' Health Benefits Plan for my wife and myself out of each month's paycheck.
If my colleagues stop eating donuts and are more active, it saves me money on next year's insurance premium, and I get to work with people who have more energy and creativity each day. Yet most organizations fail to make health a cultural priority. Instead, they treat healthcare like any other expense.
Should one of your employees have a physical or mental health problem, I would argue that it is as much something for the employer as the individual to contend with.
It is vital that a company's culture shows a willingness to invest in employee wellbeing with no stigma or penalty attached to prioritising good health.
Indeed, the whole company, although thin in flesh, and generally of slight forms, and limbs, especially, are as good looking and intelligent a body of men as we usually meet with.
Companies understand that if their employees are sick, it's really expensive. So despite the rhetoric I hear, thank God employers are still in the health-care system.
I don't see anything wrong with overworking bureaucrats. I have yet to see the first one drop dead.
Our highest priorities are safe operations and the well-being of the people and communities we serve.
