Domino Sugar started wellness programs at its Baltimore sugar refinery about a year ago and is spending about $20,000 to $25,000 a year, said Mark Triche, director of finance. Now the parent company, American Sugar Refining Inc., based in Yonkers, N.Y., is using Baltimore's program as a model in expanding wellness programs companywide, he said.
Domino, which employs 500, has incorporated wellness into the plant's weekly safety meetings, bringing in personal trainers, a doctor, a nutritionist and a healthy cooking demonstration. Plasma screens around the plant offer tips on staying healthy. Employees who participate in a health assessment are reimbursed for one annual physical. Domino held a weight loss competition and awarded a $300 prize. Employees are now competing to see who can walk the most steps.
"The company is behind it because we want a healthy work force," Triche said. "We know it's going to decrease costs."
It's a smart business strategy, said Dr. Steven G. Aldana, founder of work site wellness consulting firm WellSteps. Aldana went to the MAC/PSA event armed with statistics and charts to back up his message. Health care costs are rising at a rate that will be unsustainable for most employers, from $8,160 per person this year to a projected $13,000 per person by 2018, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. And unhealthy behaviors, lack of exercise, lack of proper nutrition, tobacco use, are on the rise.
"As these things merge, we'll see some very serious symptoms," said Aldana, who argues that most chronic diseases stem from unhealthy lifestyles and that problems can be reversed by altering behaviors. Yet only in the past five to 10 years have more employers begun to see connections between their costs and employees' health and begun implementing programs to help workers do that. He said he still encounters resistance from employers who choose not to start wellness programs, mostly because they're not convinced they'll get an adequate return on their investment.
Baltimore-based 180s LLC, maker of behind-the-head ear warmers, gloves and sunglasses, is trying new ways to incorporate wellness into the workday through a partnership with the MAC. Last week, the company offered its 40 workers a free group "spinning" class at MAC's new Harbor East facility. The apparel designer is considering occasionally offering other types of classes, perhaps in yoga or kickboxing.
"The company is catching up with the lifestyle of wellness, as a lot of companies should be, and respecting that we do need time to go work out," said Keith Scully, 180s director of marketing. "The return is happier, harder-working associates."
