Technology Brings Workplace Wellness to Small Business

With health care costs soaring and business scampering to find ways to become more profitable workplace wellness has become a hot topic. This fledgling industry is now estimated to be a 500 billion dollar industry and it's just getting started. Although the trend started in the US growth has accelerated even faster in international companies. The benefits to the employer and employee are just to high not to implement an effective workplace wellness program.

Effective wellness Programs can have a host of positive effects such as:

20% productivity boosts
28% reduction in sick leave absenteeism
26% reduction in use of the health care benefit
30% reduced worker's comp clams and disability management

Yet as beneficial as workplace wellness is to the bottom line it's mostly been only in the realm of big business and the public sector. It's an economy of scale. While new estimates reveal that 93% of businesses with over 200 employees have a workplace wellness program in place, the numbers for small business are dismal. With the majority of employees being employed by small business it's unlikely that these employees will be offered a conventional workplace wellness program.

Large firms and government agencies can easily set aside areas for employee fitness. When you divide the cost up among the number of employees the numbers become very low yet the benefits high. Outside gym memberships can be purchased in bulk for pennies on the dollar and workplace wellness consultants are affordable when working on a large scale. All of this has a high return on investment for big business. Recent studies show an ROI of between three and fifteen dollars per dollar invested. A pretty worthwhile investment.

But none of this works for small business. It's not only not affordable on the small scale small business owners just don't have the time to implement a program. The problem is being addressed at the federal level. The new health care reform bill has grants in place to help small business put programs in place. But throwing money at the problem may not be the answer. Maybe a little ingenuity is.

New web technology has made workplace wellness affordable, effective, and easy to implement. Starting at free these technologies such as Break Pal -Fitness at your desk (www.breakpal.com) deliver office safe exercise right to the desktop via streaming video. A widget installed on the workers computer reminds them to exercise and when they get their exercise done they can interact with others on the site which builds camaraderie and a social network around exercise. Workers have virtual workout buddies who can easily tell if they've been staying on track with the fitness regimen.

Naysayers would argue that the breaks would cut into the workday. That the employer is losing money while the employees take these micro breaks. But research as even shown small increases in productivity for those who use facebook throughout the day. Not only does a physical exercise break do wonders but the social interaction tends to clear the mind and actually get the user back on track at work.

The power of social media just may be the answer to helping employees stay healthy and fit when stuck behind a computer. We've long known that the most powerful motivator is a persons peers. The social network allows peers to be anywhere. Users connect with other users from around the world and a community is formed around the concept of staying healthy at work. Costs are negligible and implementation is nearly plug and play. It's an incredible win for business, employees, and in the long run our economy as a whole.