An Evaluation of Lifestyle Risk Factors and Absenteeism after Two Years in a Worksite Health Promotion Program

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to compare health risk factors and rates of absenteeism of employees at General Mills, Inc. after participating for two years in a voluntary, self-directed health promotion program, called the “TriHealthalon.” Twelve hundred field sales employees were initially targeted to participate in this program, which focused on improving participants' physical, mental, and social well-being. Participants were asked to fill out a computerized lifestyle appraisal form before they started the program in 1985, and again in 1986. The rates of absenteeism were monitored for each individual in the participant and nonparticipant groups for the years 1984 (before the program started), 1985, and 1986. T-tests were performed to compare the rate of absenteeism between the two groups. Observations show that after two years in the TriHealthalon program, there was an increase in healthy lifestyle behaviors in the participant group, with a five percent decrease in the number of smokers, a 37 percent increase in the number of people who use their seat belts, and a 23 percent increase in the number of people who exercise three times a week. There was no significant difference in absenteeism between the groups in 1984, before the program began. Absenteeism was significantly (p < .05) less in the participant group during 1985 and 1986 after the initiation of the program.