Stress in the American workplace is front and center for organizational leaders at companies of all sizes across the country. Management is constantly balancing the general stress that comes with work, and the negative effects that stress has on company culture and employee health. As corporate wellness initiatives gain prevalence as a solution to the cost of stress here are some staggering statistics that illustrate the importance of corporate wellness and stress management in the workplace.

• According to the World Health Organization, the monetary cost of stress on American businesses is as high as $300 billion, and climbing
• Recent studies from Harvard Business School indicate American employers spend 200-300% more for the indirect costs of health care, hit on costs of absenteeism, sick days, and lower employee productivity, than those companies spend on actual health plan costs
• The CDC estimates that 75% of all health care spending is on chronic, but preventable illnesses

Statistics like these prove the case for corporate wellness in every workplace. No matter the size of your company, or healthcare budget corporate wellness proves out its ROI based on recent research. Using simple tactics like offering incentives to employees for healthy behavior that mitigates risk factors for preventable, yet costly stress related illnesses such as obesity, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Rewarding employees for reaching health and fitness goals, like weight loss, or reaching and maintaining a healthy cholesterol level fosters an environment of corporate wellness that indicate to employees that organization wellness is important. The incentives given do not have to be big. Small denomination gift cards to healthy retailers like Whole Foods Market, NutriSystem, and GNC can still fit well within your budget, and help control the budget by improving corporate wellness across the board. Stress is an epidemic in our country and our workforce, using corporate wellness is an easy way to combat stress and all get better together.

For more information on corporate wellness and combatting the effects of stress in our workforce check out this article from Ariana Huffington of the Huffington Post.

Rachel Merkin is a digital marketing professional . She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time at the beach as she can.