DOES IT MAKE DOLLARS AND CENTS TO HAVE WELLNESS PROGRAMS AT WORK? Bob certainly thinks so; see why, here.

I am certainly concerned about the health and welfare of my family. That includes my private family and my family of employees. I've made significant plans to provide health benefits for my wife and children. And, as a caring CEO and a smart businessman, I am also concerned about the health and welfare of my employees, because they also are like a family to me. That's why I've been 100% behind my HR team's initiative to develop a Health and Wellness Fair, which we had, to great success, on June 14.

A lot of outside help went into this in-house Fair, such as participating vendors that included ING Financial Group, Benefits Resource Group (who sponsored a healthy lunch for all employees), Guardian, Medical Mutual and our local Westlake Recreation Department. But the biggest round of applause goes to the Shamrock HR team, who put this program together.

While my caring employer side knows it's imperative to provide support for the well being of our employees, my smart businessman side understands the practical issues, too.

A recent story in The Wall Street Journal (Employee Wellness) said that, "Despite the effects of the recession, many employers are spending more money on wellness programs that aim to help people eat right, get regular exercise, manage stress and quit smoking." Because research clearly shows that wellness programs make for happier, healthier employees.

Helping Shamrock employees to better cope with stress is a priority, too. The mantra at Shamrock has always been that we help one another out. When I hear of an employee who is ill, or has an ill family member, I gather the troops and we do everything possible to help that employee and his or her family out during difficult times.

ONE LAST THING...

I consider Shamrock to be a company that cares deeply about the health and wellness of its employees. It is who we are. But it also makes good business sense to have a healthy and happy group of employees. Recent studies indicate that:

• Every dollar a company invests in the health and wellness intervention of its employees yields $6 in health care savings.
• Well-executed company health and wellness initiatives are justified by the fact that lost workdays decline by 80%.
• Employees that are healthy tend to stay with the company that cares about their health matters.

With the success of this in-house health fair, and the success of others we've had in the past, it's quite likely we'll be having more of the same healthy food and advice in the future.