The #1 problem in the American workforce is not failure to buckle their seat beats. It isn’t taking too few steps. And it certainly isn’t a broccoli deficiency. It is opioid addiction. It would be nice if the wellness industry — which claims to be responsible for the health and wellness of the workforce — could actually do something useful here.
Unfortunately, the wellness industry model, relying on voluntary disclosure of problems, is not set up to address the problem, since most people will simply deny having it. Employees can’t be referred to “wellness coaches” for help if they don’t self-identify as having a problem. (It’s also not clear that wellness coaches are equipped to address the issue.)
A Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes (actually Constricted Pupils) To Quizzify
But what if an employee didn’t have to self-identify in order to get help? That’s where health literacy comes in. Health literacy is the key to avoidance and (to some degree) treatment of addiction. Understanding the risks of even short-term use of painkillers is critical. Quizzify covers that topic for employees. Since it’s all Q&A and fact-based, there is no need for any employee to disclose anything. Instead they can focus on self-education. An employer or HR Department can see how opioid-literate its workforce is.
That assumes that the employer or HR department is itself opioid-literate. For that, we are pleased to offer two free resources. The first is the Quizzify opioid awareness quiz. See how you — as the person in your organization most responsible for the health of your employees — score on this quiz.
Then, read and share the Linkedin post: “Seven Shocking Opioid Facts Wellness Professionals Need to Know” .
They Said What? 
There was a guy at my old job (I’ve just retired, which gives me more time to read your blogs) whose pupils always struck me as not quite right. I didn’t think twice about it until just now. This explains a lot because he also spent an awful long time in the men’s room. I didn’t think twice about that until just now — just assumed he was constipated. He also seemed a little off a lot of the time. Would not be surprised if he were in that 4.6%!
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Actually, the worksite wellness program model is designed to address this issue, or any other issue for that matter. The two relevant elements of the model are called Awareness Building and Education and Skill Enhancement. The real issue is that vendors and worksite wellness practitioners don’t see addressing the opiate crisis as being part of their role. They couldn’t be more wrong as this post rightly points out. The other side of the coin is that communities don’t see employers having a role in the community’s solution. This of course is wrong too.
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Thanks, bill. A follow up thought: Perhaps 30 years ago, when the industry started, they wouldn’t have seen it as part of their role — and it wouldn’t have been, because it wasn’t an issue. But 30 years later, shouldn’t their role have evolved? I am still seeing HRAs with questions about seat belts on them.
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Yes of course Al the field should have evolved. But what you are talking about is how the model is being implemented, not the model itself. Employers and practitioners have not fully implemented the model. It is no different than employers and practitioners never fully implementing the model of wellness, just the one dimension related to physical health.
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RE TotalWellness catching on with an 08/31 post about opioid abuse in the workplace, “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.”
Substance abuse and addiction are more typically identified as problems for an EAP, not necessarily a wellness vendor, to address. Again, benefits education and general health education could go a long way to helping employees and HR deal with this epidemic.
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Good point and worth a little clarification. EAPs treat the problems. What we try to do at Quizzify is both help employees and employers avoid the problem in the first place, and also where appropriate point people who might need the help to the EAP.
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