Opinion: Wellness in NH is Declining, Costing Businesses plenty

By Joe McCue

Since 2008, Gallup, a national opinion research company, and Healthways, a global well-being solutions provider, have interviewed people from all over the United States about their wellness and the results are published as the annual Well-Being Index (WBI). Last month Gallup-Healthways released their 2014 State Well-Being Rankings. Although the full State of American Well-Being for 2014 hasn’t been published yet, they have listed the composite wellness scores of the 50 states and it is not looking good for New Hampshire.

Through 2013, the people surveyed were asked to respond in six general areas: Life Evaluation, Emotional Health, Work Environment, Physical Health, Healthy Behaviors and Basic Access. The scores in each of these areas were then combined to produce a composite total for that state. In 2008, New Hampshire’s overall well-being score placed us 16th in the country. In 2009 and 2010, we got to 14th and 15th place respectively. 2011 saw us at #11 and in 2012 we peaked as the 8th state in the country with the highest well-being score. In 2013, we slipped back into the 2nd quintile at number 11. Although this may not seem that bad, the internals tell a different story.

Between 2011 and 2013, we made gains in some areas. Most notably, we went from 23rd to 14th in Life Evaluation and from 28th to 12th in Emotional Health. In that same time frame however, we dropped from 2nd place to 18th in Healthy Behaviors and as a logical consequence of that, we fell twenty spots from 2nd to 22nd in the area of Physical Health. Clearly something is going on and it isn’t good.

The 2014 WBI composite rankings hold potentially more bad news for the Granite State. We have dropped yet again and we are now behind all three border states. Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts come in at 13th, 15th and 17th place respectively. New Hampshire is now 21st in the country.

Although this certainly isn’t good news, it may not be that bad. We won’t know until the full report is published. The issue at hand is that last year Gallup-Healthways changed the wellness areas in which people were surveyed. There are now only five areas instead of six and they are: Purpose, Social, Financial, Community and Physical. This may be an attempt to become more congruent with the six dimensions of wellness model promoted by organizations such as the National Wellness Institute.

The fact remains however that regardless of this change, we now find ourselves in 21st place. The internals of our latest composite score breakdown as follows: For Purpose, we come in at 36th. Social & Financial have us in 18th and 24th place respectively. We score highest in Community putting us in 11th place and for Physical we are in the bottom half at 27th place. I find the first and last areas to be the most troubling. Gallup-Healthways defines Purpose as “Liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals.” and Physical is “Having good health and enough energy to get things done daily.” Juxtaposing the low scores in these two areas, it could be inferred that the direction we are headed is unsustainable.

The trend in Physical Wellness, going from 2nd place to 27th in four years, also presents an expensive challenge to New Hampshire businesses through increased costs and decreased productivity. Conversely, businesses that actively seek to address and reverse this trend can not only strengthen their bottom line and competitive advantage but also, and perhaps more importantly, help their employees lead richer, more fulfilling and possibly even longer lives. This is demonstrated by research conducted over the past several years which shows that well designed worksite wellness programs can yield an average return on investment of over 300%. The bulk of these gains are realized through lower healthcare utilization, decreased absenteeism and decreased presenteeism (reduced productivity due to health issues).

As an example, let’s look at the problem of obesity and how it can directly and indirectly drives up business expenses. From the 2013 Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being:

“In 2013, physical health reached it’s lowest point in the past six years, in large part due to rising rates of obesity, based on self-reported height and weight. The rise in obesity, which had eased somewhat, resumed at alarming rates in 2013.”

Right now, about 35% of Americans are considered obese. So in a company with 150 employees, around 52 of them will be dealing with this condition. A typical business pays an extra $1,350 per employee per year in excess medical costs for obesity. So right off the bat, they’re paying an extra $70,200. Absenteeism due to obesity is estimated to cost businesses about 1.4% (PEPY) in lost productivity. Assuming the average compensation for the 150 employees in our sample company is $45,000 per year, obesity-related absenteeism will cost them another $32,750 annually. Obesity-related presenteeism can result in an additional 8.3% (PEPY) reduction in employee output. In our example, this comes out to $194,200 in indirect costs.

This one condition adds close to $300,000 annually to our sample company’s budget. Other conditions such as depression, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, migraines, tobacco use, physical inactivity, etc. can also negatively impact a company’s health.

Joe McCue is the owner of American Wellness Solutions, LLC, a worksite wellness consulting company based in Portsmouth, NH committed to helping organizations design, implement and evaluate effective, employee-focused wellness programs. Learn more at AmericanWellnessSolutions.com/worksite-wellness.html