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Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: BannedFromDU on January 22, 2013, 05:46:03 PM
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HiPointDem (11,252 posts)
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What To Do When the Boss Catches Wellness Fever (Coercive 'wellness' programs)
Wellness programs are designed to bring down employers’ health insurance costs by preventing illness. Some provide gym memberships or smoking cessation programs. Others require workers to pay more for their insurance if they don’t get certain screenings. The most coercive programs require workers to meet health targets or pay a penalty.
“If employers are really concerned, why don’t they start with something they can control and provide a safe and healthy workplace?†asks Nancy Lessin, a health and safety specialist with the Steelworkers.
AT THE BARGAINING TABLE
- Insist that if management wants its workforce to be healthy, it should address all the factors under management’s control, rather than policing employees’ actions during their own time.
These include night shifts or rotating shifts, long hours, chemicals, repetitive motion, stress, and lack of control over workplace decisions. Management should make sure members have adequate time to eat and to take their breaks.
- Pooled risk. Remind management that the whole point of group insurance is that risk is shared across a population. That’s the opposite of hitting the sick with extra costs...
http://labornotes.org/2013/01/what-do-when-boss-catches-wellness-fever
Just like a union monkey to bellyache about wellness programs meant to...hello...MAKE THEM HEALTHIER. (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022237155)
This from the group of people who swear they are the healthiest on the world. Imagine bargaining a WELLNESS PROGRAM.
Management: We'd like to implement a wellness program to help bring our healthcare costs down.
Union Monkeys: Hell no. Give us Cheetos and beer.
Management: But wouldn't you like to be healthier and have a more fulfilling life?
Union Monkeys: Not if YOU want us to!
PICKET LINE, NEXT DAY:
Union Monkeys, in unison: "Hey Hey Ho Ho, Health and Fitness has to go! What do we want? PIZZA AND DONUTS! When do we want it? ALL DAY EVERY DAY! Why do we want it? BECAUSE WE'RE ****ING STUPID SHEEP!
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How many cheered when Herr Bloomberg made it a penalty under law to sell 32.1oz of soda?
At least private companies cannot use armed agents of the state to enforce their decrees.
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I wonder if this part of the almost 3000 page bill that is called 0bamacare.
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Haven't the courts decided that a company can fire people for smoking? Then why not fire people who have other unhealthy lifestyle choices, like over eating or being gay ?
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Haven't the courts decided that a company can fire people for smoking? Then why not fire people who have other unhealthy lifestyle choices, like over eating or being gay ?
Hold on primitives, it's going to be a looong four more years for your cheetos-eating, flopsweat producing, cottage cheese dented, marshmallow-y bodies!
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Management should make sure members have adequate time to eat and to take their breaks.
It has been my experience that some union members tend to goof off on their lunch break and then eat their lunch when they should be working.
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It has been my experience that some union members tend to goof off on their lunch break and then eat their lunch when they should be working.
I have never heard the phrase "goof off" as a euphemism for "get high and/or drunk," but hey, why not.
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I wonder if this part of the almost 3000 page bill that is called 0bamacare.
It certainly doesn't help. Companies are desperate to cut costs, or at least transfer some of the burden to those people who have chronic conditions or unhealthy lifestyles. I know where I work we have a tobacco premium for those who use cigarettes or chew, but by the same token they'll pay for OTC patches, gum, etc.
Now where I'd draw the line is height/weight limits, particularly with the BS charts they use these days.
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We get a discount off of our rates at work if we are tobacco-free (for six months or a year, can't remember-- never used the stuff), and submit to a physical. I've never done the physical, but if you let them draw blood each year, then it counts as the physical.
For us, it's been that way for years. We are self-insured, though.
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Management should make sure members have adequate time to eat and to take their breaks.
:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
Ask a nurse about that one. On an average 12 hour shift I might get a 20 minute break but that is broken up throughout the day.:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
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It has been my experience that some union members tend to goof off on their lunch break and then eat their lunch when they should be working.
Some have been caught on tape :cheersmate: and :stoner: their their lunch, but those were UAW members.
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:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
Ask a nurse about that one. On an average 12 hour shift I might get a 20 minute break but that is broken up throughout the day.:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
It was the same way when I worked as a cook. You might work an 8-10 hour shift and if you didn't eat before or after, you didn't eat.
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When their demigod 0bama decrees wellness programs the low IQers will fall right in line and say that it is the best thing ever.
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Being healthy is a employess problem not the company. It is up to us to make sure we live a healthy life style outside of work, to keep us fit for work....
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Being healthy is a employess problem not the company. It is up to us to make sure we live a healthy life style outside of work, to keep us fit for work....
I hear ya, however, when group insurance rates increase due to too much experience (too many claims), everyone gets the increase in cost. And the companies still pay the lion's share. Which is why companies are going to ramp up cramming wellness down employees throats. The employer gets penalized if the cost of insurance isn't within a certain margin for an employee. Well, it will next year at any rate.
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Other then when I was in the military no, no one bugged me about my health. Then again I also wasn't built like El Guapo the intrepid reporter for some no name POS paper in Kalifornia either.
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:ha:
Other then when I was in the military no, no one bugged me about my health. Then again I also wasn't built like El Guapo the intrepid reporter for some no name POS paper in Kalifornia either.
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Being healthy is a employess problem not the company. It is up to us to make sure we live a healthy life style outside of work, to keep us fit for work....
An unhealthy employee directly affects the company's bottom line.
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An unhealthy employee directly affects the company's bottom line.
And not just in insurance costs, but in lost productivity.
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My pet peeve, is a lack of personal hygiene. Doesn't shower, or brush their teeth. ugh....
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My pet peeve, is a lack of personal hygiene. Doesn't shower, or brush their teeth. ugh....
You work with a few primitives, madam?
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You work with a few primitives, madam?
sigh...unfortunately many of them are.......
it is just laziness on their part really....I mean who wants to look at a cashier, with bad breath, and/or body odor that could kill an elephant???
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I can't imagine not grooming properly for work (well, unless you work on a fishing boat or oil rig, etc.).
Hey Tots, if you wander back in here, can you elaborate just a little on this?
The employer gets penalized if the cost of insurance isn't within a certain margin for an employee. Well, it will next year at any rate.
Sparks, I agree with you on any and all of those charts. Everyone's frame is built differently, and muscle mass has much to do with weight.
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I can't imagine not grooming properly for work (well, unless you work on a fishing boat or oil rig, etc.).
Hey Tots, if you wander back in here, can you elaborate just a little on this?
Sparks, I agree with you on any and all of those charts. Everyone's frame is built differently, and muscle mass has much to do with weight.
Mornin! Sure thing. Due to HCR, the lowest level of coverage has to be no more than 9.5% of employee's w-2 wages, otherwise we are facing penalties, as listed below.
I. Penalties (begin January 1, 2014 regardless of plan year)
A. “No Coverage†Penalty
 Applies if the large employer does not offer all (or substantially all) full-time employees (“FTEs) and their dependents minimum essential coverage (group health plan coverage) and one FTE receives a subsidy in the Exchange
 $2,000 X total number of FTEs in excess of 30
B. “Offer Coverage†Penalty
 Applies if the large employer offers coverage to all (or substantially all) FTEs, but that coverage is unaffordable or does not provide a minimum value and one FTE receives a subsidy in the Exchange
 $3,000 X the total number of FTEs who receive the government subsidy in the Exchange (maximum penalty is the “no coverage†penalty)
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My pet peeve, is a lack of personal hygiene. Doesn't shower, or brush their teeth. ugh....
I have worked with two people who smelled really bad. One was a woman who smoked. FYI for those who smoke, when you have terrible breath it smells even worse than normal smoking breath. She must have had a lot of tooth decay or something going on in her mouth.
The other person was at the same employer as the terrible breath smoker. He had a metallic smell to him. He was quite unfortunate looking. Poor pasty guy. I think he had a medical issue and that was why he smelled the way he did. I think it was from some treatment he was going through.
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Now where I'd draw the line is height/weight limits, particularly with the BS charts they use these days.
Those charts are bullshit. Some people (high bone mass, serious weight trainers) have to look damn near anorexic to meet them.
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i could definitely need to lose some weightage, but I am going to the gym, and take care of myself overall....
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As a smoker, I would understand if my insurance premiums were more than a non-smoker. Heck...if the difference is big, it may give me incentive to quit.
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Those charts are bullshit. Some people (high bone mass, serious weight trainers) have to look damn near anorexic to meet them.
I did BMI checks on a bunch of family members at Christmas to get our New Year's resolutions going. My grandmother is a size 0, weighs 120 at 5'3". She is considered a "healthy" weight for her height and looks borderline anorexic. She has been ill and has trouble keeping her weight up.
I ended up with a higher BMI than my mom, but I'm three inches taller and I wear smaller clothes. I'm much more muscular than she is, but based on the weight charts I'm more unhealthy than she is. I don't deny that I need to lose weight, but I strongly dislike BMI charts.
Don't get me started on the pediatric weight charts. I still remember being 16 and a doctor very bluntly telling me how much I had to lose, and telling me that I should be working out every day ( I was doing kick boxing 4 days a week at that point, but she didn't think that was good enough). Looking back, I was maybe 10-15 pounds overweight based on an adult chart, but I was above the 99th percentile on the pediatric chart, so I was obese according to the doctor.
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And kickboxing is hard!
I know a girl who climbs mountains, hikes, skis, everything outdoors and strenuous, you name it, she'll do it all weekend long. (And eats so healthy you really just want to slap her.) She's still built to have some extra meat on the bones. It's just who people are.
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I did BMI checks on a bunch of family members at Christmas to get our New Year's resolutions going. My grandmother is a size 0, weighs 120 at 5'3". She is considered a "healthy" weight for her height and looks borderline anorexic. She has been ill and has trouble keeping her weight up.
I ended up with a higher BMI than my mom, but I'm three inches taller and I wear smaller clothes. I'm much more muscular than she is, but based on the weight charts I'm more unhealthy than she is. I don't deny that I need to lose weight, but I strongly dislike BMI charts.
Don't get me started on the pediatric weight charts. I still remember being 16 and a doctor very bluntly telling me how much I had to lose, and telling me that I should be working out every day ( I was doing kick boxing 4 days a week at that point, but she didn't think that was good enough). Looking back, I was maybe 10-15 pounds overweight based on an adult chart, but I was above the 99th percentile on the pediatric chart, so I was obese according to the doctor.
I remember when I was at FT Campbell and ran into one of the cooks from the Battalion next door one time after weekend chow. Poor guy was getting kicked out because of the BMI said he was over weight but it was the fact he was lifting weights and had not real fat on him that was the issue. So much for working out and staying in shape to meet the PT standards or exceed them. I don't know if that guy got it worked out or not but they were straight up screwing him. This was back in the 1980's when they started the whole BMI thing to weed out those that couldn't make weight.
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I did BMI checks on a bunch of family members at Christmas to get our New Year's resolutions going. My grandmother is a size 0, weighs 120 at 5'3". She is considered a "healthy" weight for her height and looks borderline anorexic. She has been ill and has trouble keeping her weight up.
I ended up with a higher BMI than my mom, but I'm three inches taller and I wear smaller clothes. I'm much more muscular than she is, but based on the weight charts I'm more unhealthy than she is. I don't deny that I need to lose weight, but I strongly dislike BMI charts.
Don't get me started on the pediatric weight charts. I still remember being 16 and a doctor very bluntly telling me how much I had to lose, and telling me that I should be working out every day ( I was doing kick boxing 4 days a week at that point, but she didn't think that was good enough). Looking back, I was maybe 10-15 pounds overweight based on an adult chart, but I was above the 99th percentile on the pediatric chart, so I was obese according to the doctor.
The only true way to get an accurate BMI is in a submersion tank. Even the resistance meters can be wildly inaccurate depending on grip, sweat etc.