The cost of unhealthy employees

Many business owners just don't realize how much it really costs them when they have an employee who is constantly sick or just unhealthy in general.It's sometimes difficult to quantify what this means for an individual person or business, but the costs of being unhealthy are very real and can build up very quickly.Here is a peek into what having unhealthy employees can really cost.

Poor health is the result and can also be a side effect of all kinds of different factors in life.Stress is something that is necessary in order for people to be productive and makes a great deal of progress possible.But improper amounts of stress can really impact the productivity and health of an employee and can also affect the whole office or company.Many experts estimate that job stress costs between $200 and 300 billion each year.Lost productivity, inability to focus on the task at hand and increased employee absenteeism are all results of increased stress levels.While these numbers don't necessarily apply to you or your company, there is an impact that is made and it is very real.You are indirectly paying for all of this stress in the marketplace through decreased profits and increased prices for the services that you buy.

Other factors also contribute real costs to running a business.Over 100 million work days are lost each year to lower back pain.It's estimated that these lost work days cost companies another $20 billion each year.This is only one ailment and when you combine all the other possible medical reasons people have for missing work, it is mind boggling how much money is wasted every year because employees are unhealthy.It was estimated in 1997 that the cost of health care for employers would total more than $2.2 trillion dollars.It is also estimated that most companies spend more than half of their profits on medical care expenses.

The percentage of money that is spent by employers on medical care continues to increase each year and is one of the main reasons why employers are so concerned about having healthy employees.Because there is so much money lost on unhealthy employees, employers are taking measures to ensure that their employees are healthy and able to perform as needed while at work.Many companies choose to implement health and wellness programs and incentives that will allow their employees to take advantage of lower cost health care and financial compensation for being healthy.Almost everyone is aware of the fact that people are becoming less and less healthy and that there are many severe health problems that constantly put the health of people in danger.But many just don't know what to do about it or where to begin when they want to pursue a plan of action.

Some of the most common health problems that can become very expensive to a company include obesity, smoking and the side effects and other chronic disease.Obesity and many other conditions that accompany it can be very expensive to your business.Obesity can lead to chronic pain and heart conditions.These are some of the most deadly and expensive medical conditions in America and cost businesses a great deal of money.Health insurance costs can increase dramatically when a company has people that are obese employed as this can become a tremendous burden to insurance companies in the long run.The fact of the matter is that insurance companies are really only interested in paying out as little money as possible to their policy holders and having unhealthy employees makes it more likely they will need to pay out large sums of money.This is just another reason why having healthy employees is good for you and for them.