Corporate Wellness: Making The Case For On Site Massage

The following excerpt was taken from David Palmer’s “21st Century Workplace Seated Massage.”

The revolution

The future of workplace massage is tied to the economics of health care policy. At long last, corporate, governmental and academic policy makers have come to the conclusion that a health care system whose primary focus is sickness care is doomed to bankruptcy. They have concluded the ultimate foundation of an economically viable health care system has to be prevention and wellness.

This radical paradigm shift is stamped indelibly into the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. While the media and partisan politicians were obsessing about the constitutionality of ObamaCare and its new framework for financing health care, mostly overlooked was the fact that the 954-page ACA legislation specifically “directs the creation of a national prevention and health promotion strategy.”

The law created the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council(National Prevention Council), composed of the heads of 17 Federal agencies and chaired by the Surgeon General. This high-level federal action group works closely with a 25-member Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health, also mandated in the legislation. Both of these groups are developing plans and recommendations that will impact every strata of society, including workplace wellness.

“Most people will agree that high-quality chair massage is an instant stress reducer.”

The prevention intervention

The medical community has traditionally limited prevention to proven clinical screenings—mammograms, colonoscopies, blood pressure screenings, treadmill tests and the like. In the new health care model, prevention also includes dealing with lifestyle and pre-clinical conditions, a particular strength of chair massage.

Seated massage has always been good at preventing little problems from becoming big problems. The reason someone wakes up with a crick in her neck is never because, as she might claim, she “slept wrong.” Rather, it is because of weeks or months of accumulated psychological or physical stress finally reaching a tipping point that resulted in a muscle spasm. Regular chair massage alleviates the results of these minor stresses and prevents muscles from reaching that involuntary contraction threshold.

Corporate Massage Gaining Popularity Amongst Philly Companies

Whether companies use it to support their wellness program or as a perk to boost employee morale, massage is finding it’s way into more Philadelphia office settings.

Earlier this month, the Philadelphia Business Journal published “Best Places To Work 2012.”  In the article, you can discover what types of benefits and perks top-rated Philadelphia area companies are offering their employees.

According to editor, Sonja Sherwood, “Valet dry cleaning service. Discounted movie tickets. Chair massages. On-site car wash. Game room. Company outings to ski resorts, beaches or to drive NASCAR stock cars” were just some of the unique perks companies made available to employees.

So, what companies reported ‘regular massage’ as one of their employee-prized perks?

• Mobile device management provider, Fiberlink (Blue Bell, PA)
• Staffing company, Staffing Plus Inc. (Haverford, PA)
• Law firm, Martin Banks (Philadelphia, PA)

Want to bring chair massage to your office? ‘Like’ this post and receive 20% off your first corporate chair massage with Relax ‘N Go Massage. (Philadelphia area companies only, please.)

Related articles

• Employee Explains Why Massage Makes Her More Productive (relaxngomassage.wordpress.com)
• Employee Wellness (dhmsblog.wordpress.com)
• Get Paid to Stay Healthy (marketwatch.com)

Employee Explains Why Massage Makes Her More Productive

Enhance your wellness program with massage

Have you been considering corporate chair massage for your office?  Staff writer, Kelly Metz-Matthews of Massage Table Outlet (www.massagetableoutlet.com), spells out why massage is important to her and some persuasive facts you can share with your boss.

Beyond the research that supports the healthy benefits of massage, such as reducing blood pressure, decreasing stress hormone levels, and increasing the body’s natural anti-depressant, serotonin, Ms. Matthews makes a case employers should consider when looking to reduce costs and increase productivity.

“Why Should Employers Care”

#1 Human Capital

“Happy employees are worth their weight in gold. Happy and skilled employees are priceless.” Boosting morale and recognizing hard work (especially during busier-than-normal quarters), fosters loyalty and dedication.

#2 Return On Investment

Did you know the the average ROI in wellness programs is $3.48:1 due to reduced medical costs, and $5.82:1 due to reduced absenteeism?

Is It Affordable?

As Kelly describes, “these [massage] programs don’t necessarily require huge upfront costs…Google employees have access to a subsidized (yes, subsidized) massage program.”

At other companies, employees are expected to pick up the tab. But, as she argues, “its accessibility to employees is monumentally important. By making it convenient…companies are facilitating wellness-oriented opportunities for their employees.”

Is corporate massage right for your company? Let’s discuss it.  Call us at (215)326-9352 or go to our website www.relaxngomassage.com

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• The Benefits of Investing On Your Employees’ Health and Fitness (successful-blog.com)

Don’t Know If You’re Stressed Out? Ask A Co-Worker

photo courtesy of http://flic.kr/p/5tffVo

Although you may think you have your stress under control, chances are, others around you see it differently.

In Tom Searcy’s “3 Signs That You Are Stressed Out (And How To Fix It),” he describes his mentor perfectly organizing her sock drawer when things begin to spin out of control. “When my sock drawer is perfectly folded, sorted and lined up, I know that I am out of control in my life.”

Why Stress Can Actually Kill You

Infographic from Stress.org “Stress Is Killing You”

Chronic stress is serious business.  According to stress.org, “Stress is the basic cause of 60% of all human illness and disease.”  For some, prolonged, elevated levels of stress may even prove life threatening.

When our body senses danger, real or imagined, it sends out various elevated levels of hormones that make the heart beat faster, increase blood pressure, slow down the digestive system, etc, to “protect” itself.  While in the short term, our bodies can typically handle the onslaught of “stress hormones,” over time it can damage any of the body’s delicate systems.

Research has suggested that when the heart is continually “under stress,” it can cause inflammation in the coronary arteries, which, some believe, can lead to a heart attack.

Stress increases the risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke by an average of 38%.[Source: http://www.stress.org]

Is Your Job A Pain In The Neck…Literally?

The workplace can be a major contributor to muscular aches and pains, affecting job performance and decreasing overall productivity.  A 2010 The Bureau of Labor Statistics report states over 346,000 cases of musculoskeletal disorders exist, causing an average of 11 missed workdays per person.  

On site chair massage is an effective employee perk many companies provide to counter workday aches and pains.