Workplace Wellness

In the early 1970s, executive fitness programs were introduced at U.S. workplaces to keep top management teams fit. As the benefits of such programs became clear, health promotion programs were expanded to include companies’ entire workforces, and moved beyond fitness to “wellness.”

Today, “more than 81 percent of U.S. businesses with 50 or more employees have some form of health promotion program.” And it’s a good thing, because American workers are not the world’s healthiest. Obesity is fast becoming America’s biggest health problem, and stress can be a killer.

Our cover story tells you why workplace wellness programs work. If your company doesn’t already have one in place, our article has some excellent tips on how to start one.

Then, is your city, county, or state trying to lure new business or industry to your neck of the woods? If so, Jim Friar, Economic Development Director in Dorchester County, South Carolina, has some good advice—namely, that discreetness and even secrecy are the order of the day. “When considering economic development,” writes Friar, “confidentiality may or may not come to mind as an immediate concern, but there are reasons to make it a priority.”

Next, if you’re seeking investors for your business, you’ll enjoy reading Peter Meyer’s article, “Buying Money for Your Business.” Meyer, a California management consultant who is a Contributing Editor to Business & Economic Review, says there are three types of money “suppliers”: private investors, corporations, and your customers. The question, says Meyer, is not who will give you cash. It is “with whom . . . you want to do business . . . and what you will trade to get that funding.”