Article# 10

Employers Have Responsibility For Healthy Workforce

Imagine that you are sitting in the lunchroom of your office looking around at your colleagues. If you counted up those who looked trim and healthy, how high could you count? How about your office friends? Have they talked about their high blood pressure medications, how high their blood cholesterol level is, or which new diet isn’t working for them this week, and how many pounds they would like to lose?
Companies are becoming increasingly aware of how important it is for their business to have a "quality workforce," which means individuals who are productive, loyal and healthy.
However, when it comes to the health of our current workforce, the statistics are staggering. Some 365,000 deaths are estimated each year due to obesity and its complications; almost 40 percent of all deaths may be due to avoidable factors such as tobacco use, lack of physical activity, poor eating habits, and alcohol consumption/abuse. And finally, almost 60 percent of the American population remains sedentary, doing little or no exercise. All this, in a country where studies have proven over and over, that just a little exercise creates huge benefits to our health and longevity.