20 Sep Bring on the Treadmills.

At Googleplex, the (you guessed it) Google Headquarters in California, one can find a healthy cafeteria, massage therapists for de-stressing, and games when you need a break. Chesapeake Energy offers employees a 72,000 square foot gym while Cicso brings in car care companies twice a week to take care of oil changes. Gyms? Coffee shops? Foosball tables? Sounds more like a carnival than a workplace if you ask me!

No, this article isn’t pushing in your face the perks you don’t have at your current job nor bragging about other companies out there. Obviously, said companies have numerous resources at their disposal. Merely stated,  a change is occurring across the nation tying healthcare with the environment in which a person spends the majority of their day.

A new report by Aon Hewitt recommends eight human behaviors that must be contained to bend the cost curve of projected health expenditures. Such behaviors include poor diet, physical inactivity, poor stress management, among others. The behaviors contribute to fifteen chronic conditions including diabetes, coronary artery disease, obesity, and cancer. To top it off, a report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have projected that by 2030, half of U.S. adults will be obese. An article from CNN articulated the summary quite nicely: “Healthcare costs to bulge along with US waistlines.”

Apparently, the carnival mentioned above has some legitimacy – incentives, gyms, and other programs are being implemented to cut healthcare costs, with the unsaid purpose of promoting a healthy lifestyle. Now obviously, an employer cannot influence every module of an employee’s life, but small steps in health and wellness, along with stress management, just might save some bucks.

So, get your boss to bring on the treadmills and massage therapists.