More and more Oregon worksites are taking steps to improve wellness, with large public employers and businesses much more likely than their smaller counterparts to have employee wellness strategies in place, according to two new surveys. Both the 2013 Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs’ (OAME)annual membership survey and the Oregon Health Authority’s Employer Survey Report, a statewide survey conducted three times in the past eight years, show employers are interested in and value worksite wellness.
The OAME survey found that 90 percent of respondents see employee health as a bottom-line issue. Sam Brooks, OAME president and founder, is “pleased” at the resounding interest in wellness by members, mostly small businesses “There is nothing we can do that will be better than (improving) the health of our employees and our businesses and the community at large,” he said. Roughly half of businesses in the OAME survey identified cost as the biggest barrier to implementing a worksite wellness program.
The Oregon Employer Survey collected responses from over 1,500 worksites of all types and sizes that employ more than 180,000 Oregonians. According to the survey, more and more worksites are creating policies for a smoke-free workplace and providing healthy foods in cafeterias and incentives for reaching health goals. Over the past eight years, worksite wellness has gained momentum in Oregon, although small and rural businesses are slower to adopt wellness strategies.
Studies show that comprehensive worksite wellness programs and policies improve the bottom line. A culture of health at work can energize employees, cut absenteeism and workers’ compensation claims, and improve employee recruitment and retention. Worksites of all sizes can make changes to improve health, said Dawn Robbins, program manager of Wellness@Work, a state-wide initiative that helps employers improve wellness and safety by making it easier to eat healthy food, move more, be tobacco free, and manage stress at work.“Small businesses have to deal with competing priorities. But anyone can make small, easy steps that can make a big difference. And it doesn’t need to break the bank.”
Wellness@Work is a public-private initiative house at the Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI), a not-for-profit whose mission is to improve the health of Oregonians through advocacy and support of effective public health policy and activities. Through a grant from Kaiser Permanente, OPHI is seeking ways to support small, minority-owned, and rural businesses to create a culture of health. For more information about Wellness@Work, contact Dawn Robbins or call 503-227-5502 Ext. 225.
