Abstract: This paper deals with the question of the efficacy of an Employee Assistance Program. The question is whether embracing health and fitness programs and making these programs a workplace priority will generate a positive return on investment for the employer in terms of improvements in overall workplace productivity, as well as creating a more positive working relationship between the employee and its employer and the concurrent positive effect on the quality of life for employees of the company at every level. The paper itself will show a significant correlation between the effort and expense employers incur in funding employee safety programs on the job, and wellness programs that encourage workers to adopt a healthier lifestyle and accept the idea that prevention and early detection of illnesses is the best way to ensure they remain healthy.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is an old adage that has been on the minds of risk managers at the forefront of workplace safety efforts. Gavin Souter writing in Business Insurance (1999) reminds readers that government mandated health and safety requirements are nothing more than the bare minimum benchmark for health and safety risk management programs. An effective safety program will go beyond the government mandates. These programs will use a range of internal and external resources and techniques to maximize their effectiveness in preventing injuries and reducing the costs of work relating injuries and illnesses. Going above and beyond what is required by law ultimately increases the profitability of the company and the quality of life for its employees according to Souter (Souter, 1999, 27).
Handel Destinvil writing in National Underwriter Property and Casualty (2004) suggests that by including the indirect costs of injuries including overtime for uninjured workers, training costs and lost productivity that each dollar of direct costs form work related inj...