Companies find ways to lower health costs

A healthy employee is an employee who will be productive, save the company money on health care costs but above all, one who won't come to work while ill and cause other employees to become sick and unproductive.

As an effective cost-savings effort, many companies promote wellness. Wellness also translates into fewer days off for illness as well as increased productivity. Some companies make flu shots available at no cost to employees. They distribute educational materials about the benefits of keeping blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes under control. Some even stock fruit and vegetables in their break rooms for healthy snacking instead of sugary or fat-laden items, and they pay for smoking cessation classes.

It's all about staying healthy and saving money.

Kevin Cantwell, owner of Big River Telephone in Cape Girardeau, said making smoking cessation a goal resulted in that none of Big River's 50 employees smoke anymore. That not only improved productivity by eliminating the number of employees out on smoke breaks or non-smoking employees demanding similar breaks from work, it created a healthier environment.

Further, "they don't reek of cigarette smoke," he said.

Employees at Big River come there to get their job done. If they're under the weather, they have three sick days, separate from vacation days and bereavement leave. Three sick days may not seem like a lot, but Cantwell says it's appropriate for those cases when an employee is just too sick to come to work.

"Some places carry over (time off) and when they leave, the company may owe money for years" of unused sick leave, Cantwell said. "If you are not sick, I'm not paying you" to be away from work.

AmerenUE offers employees a certain number of vacation days and sick leave days based on seniority, said local manager Jean Mason. Most employers separate sick days from vacation days. However, like some other companies, National Asset Recovery Services (NARS) combines sick days and vacation days into what it calls a "Balanced Life" paid time off policy, said Christine Cervellere of NARS media relations. "The plan is designed to provide employees flexibility to manage their lives effectively while recognizing NARS' need to maintain productivity," she said. Cervellere said employees don't abuse the time off benefit.

"Balanced Life is structured so that employees may take time off as needed, if there are enough PTO days accrued," she said.

At AT&T, however, there are no sick days, said Marsha Haskell, of the local office. An employee too sick to come to work can take a vacation day, she said, or request to be excused from work, but the company does not set aside a given number of days for employees to use when ill or for any other reason.

Haskell said it may sound unusual to some people, but not to her; she hasn't missed a day's work in 28 years, she said.