Wellness

PPG supports efforts of its employees and their families to improve their health and well being.

Figure 1
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PPG’s strategy is to keep employees healthy, productive and engaged. Promotion of employee health is a win-win that benefits the employee and the company.

The total burden on health and productivity has both occupational and non-occupational components, as well as direct and indirect costs. Typically, non occupational health care costs are an order of magnitude greater than health care costs associated with occupational injury and illnesses. Despite this, companies have typically focused the majority of their loss prevention efforts on occupational risk factors. (Figure 1).

Prevention is the key to reducing health care costs and increasing productivity. The total health care burden can be influenced by employee participation in a Health Risk Assessment and by increasing the proportion of employees in the low risk group. Over 21,000 employees have completed the confidential Health Risk Assessment (see below chart).

Different health care systems drive different priorities. In the U.S., direct health care costs are the primary drivers. Outside of the U.S., Health and Productivity Management are the primary drivers. Indirect costs are a common denominator globally.

PPG’s comprehensive approach includes involving employees, their families and retirees in preventive practices, maintaining health in order to expand productivity into older age, modifying unsustainable health care systems, and providing better health plan design.

PPG has identified five areas in which to address health care cost reduction and has established goals, objectives, and measures for each (Figure 2). Health care costs can be reduced by modifying plan design, reducing at risk behavior, improving preventive practices, increasing the quality and efficiency of care, and improving disability management.

Figure 2
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PPG's efforts have been recognized by several external groups. For example, in 2003 PPG received the Occupational and Environmental Health Foundation (OEHF) Award for Innovation in Occupational and Environmental Health (IOEH), for the project “Depression in Primary Care: Worksite Intervention and Coordination of Care”. In 2004, PPG was given an unrestricted educational grant by Pharmacia for the project "Total Burden of Musculoskeletal Related Disorders: Impact of Care Variance on Cost and Productivity"

To learn more about PPG's first-ever Lifestyle Partnership Summit, click here.