edical benefits. Work Site Health and Stress Management Programs: The research display in this paper establishes the increase of stress related problems in industry, the next logical step is to become proactive; prevent the degradation of mental health through stress management. In a survey performed by J. Fielding (1989) over 59% of companies with 750 employees or more have some type of stress management program in place and 87% have a health and fitness program in place. These statistics demonstrate the commitment companies are making to help the employees' mental health and physical well-being. The facility I work at has a Employee Assistance Program that has its roots in the late 1970's. During this time frame, the company and the union recognized the need for a jointly administered employee assistance program. The program had remained at status quo for a number of years and its effectiveness was questioned, and rightly so. One single, reactive program will not impact a work force the size of a small town in Nebraska (about 1800 employees). In 1989 with an increase in medical staff, a more proactive approach began with the company offering aerobics and karate classes on site at no charge to the employees'. As more employees showed an interest in these programs the Medical Manager decided to expand the companies health and lifestyle improvement program. The first order of business was to find out where the need was. Free health screening was offered to all on-site and was performed by a professional outside company. 752 employees participated in the screening which included a lifestyle questionnaire, blood pressure check, cholesterol check and flexibility test. The survey revealed some enlightening facts; it was discovered that 24.5% of the employees were suffering from hypertension on the job and 34% of the survey group was 20% over-weight. For the employees with hypertension, regular blood pressure monitoring on-site is done. Also,...
