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Quote of the Day
“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”
– Warren Buffett
Roemer Insurance Invests In Employee Health and Wellness
If an insurance company that specializes in trucking insurance packages for large and small fleets invests in health and wellness programs for its own employees, it follows that its carriers clients – and all fleet owners, for that matter – might want to consider doing the same for their employees. After all, who knows more about risk management and return on investment than an insurance company?
Toledo-based Roemer Insurance, which has a history of actively supporting employee health and wellness, is now offering its employees cash incentives for participating in a WellBiz program. The company considers the WellBiz program and its new on-site fitness center not only an investment in good health but an investment in the firm's bottom line.
Roemer Insurance employees have a wellness reimbursement account that vests over time for health-related expenditures. Twice a month employees are encouraged to receive therapeutic massage, subsidized by Roemer, in the office during work hours. Periodically the company provides fresh fruit and vegetables as healthy snacks for their employees. Now, as Roemer Insurance gears up for its participation in the first year of WellBiz, a three-year pilot workplace wellness program, the company is in the final stages of building a fitness facility inside its headquarters.
Rocky Roemer, president and CEO of Roemer Insurance, sees this emphasis on workplace wellness as a logical progression of the risk-management tactics the company has used in its trucking insurance division. “As insurance professionals, we are well aware of the financial impact of illness and disease,” he states. “We understand that the investment we make in the health of our workforce is an investment in our firm’s bottom line.”
Coincidentally, the WellBiz health screenings for Roemer Insurance employees happened the same day a national study detailing the economic costs of chronic preventable disease was released by the nonprofit Milken Institute. The Milken report said that chronic diseases cost the nation’s economy nearly $300 billion a year for treatment and more than $1 trillion a year in lost productivity. The report also stated that economic costs could be altered dramatically if serious efforts were made to improve Americans’ health. Rocky Roemer feels that the study provides a valuable service by focusing national attention on the issue. According to Roemer, the benefits of a healthy workforce far outweigh the cost of workplace wellness programs. “Most companies have been experiencing increases in health insurance premiums of 15 percent to 30 percent,” he says. “Making a serious effort to promote health and wellness in the workplace is an investment in our future.”
Roemer Insurance is one of Toledo-area companies participating in a three-year pilot program sponsored by The Healthy Communities Foundation, Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce and Harris HealthTrends Inc. The company’s first health screenings were held at corporate headquarters in Toledo and included blood pressure readings, height and weight measurements and checking total blood cholesterol levels including HDL and glucose levels. Employees also took an online health risk assessment, which identified areas for improvement.
“We are committed to educating our employees about health and wellness and supporting their efforts to be healthy,” says Alex Due, executive vice president of Roemer Health Life Benefits division.
Roemer Insurance also offers free flu shots for its employees and discounted flu shots for employee family members.
