Photo by Linda Comins Chris Calitz of the American Heart Association delivers the keynote address Tuesday at the Ohio Valley Workplace Wellness Conference. His topic was “Optimizing Employee Health.”

TRIADELPHIA — Workplace wellness programs are key elements in reducing health care costs and improving employees’ productivity and loyalty, several area employers were told Tuesday.

“Creating a Healthier Workforce” was the theme of the Ohio Valley Workplace Wellness Conference, held at The Highlands Event Center. The Health Plan, McKinley Carter Wealth Services, Ryan Ferns Healthplex and Team Sledd presented the event.

“The workplace is an ideal setting to engage people in health and well-being. It’s an excellent place to implement comprehensive programs,” said keynote speaker Chris Calitz. He is the director of the American Heart Association’s Center for Workplace Health.

Other speakers included David H. McKinley, president and chief investment officer of McKinley Carter Wealth Services in Wheeling; Ryan Ferns, physical therapist and owner of a health complex in Benwood; and Robert Sincavich, president of Team Sledd in Wheeling.

Citing consequences of high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes and chest pain, Calitz said, “Four of the most expensive health conditions for U.S. employees are related to heart attack and stroke.”

He said 80 percent of heart disease is preventable if people focus on risk factors. Lifestyle behaviors and environmental exposures also affect health.

“We don’t really have a health care system; we have a sick care system,” he said.

Workplace wellness programs are much more likely to work if they are designed comprehensively.

“You need a number of different programs and policies in place to make the healthy choice the easy choice,” Calitz said.

Enough resources — people and money — are needed to implement such programs. Comprehensive programs can improve health and demonstrate a return on investment within three years, he said. Value on investment can be shown through employees’ job satisfaction, engagement, productivity and loyalty.

Citing risks of chronic stress, Calitz said 40 percent of workers say their job is very or extremely stressful, with one in four people saying their job is the top stressor in their life.

“They say they have to do more with less people. I think we all maybe can relate to that,” he said.

In addition, 75 percent of workers think they have more job stress than a generation ago.

“Chronic unmanaged stress is a major risk factor for depression and anxiety,” Calitz said, adding, “Trying to address stress in the workplace is a smart thing to do.”

Employers bear half the costs associated with depression because the condition leads to low productivity and high absenteeism, he said. Programs to build resilience — the ability to withstand, recover and grow in the face of stressors and changing demands — can be helpful, he added.

Calitz recommended that every company have a mental health action plan. It is most important for leaders to demonstrate visible actions “to build a diverse and inclusive culture that supports a mental health-friendly workplace,” he said.

Having a positive culture of health in a competitive job field also helps employers to attract and retain skilled workers, he said.

McKinley also emphasized the importance of managing stress and making good decisions every day.

“Life is generally pretty good, but people are stressed,” McKinley said, adding, “People are struggling to meet basic expenses.”

For example, he said half of all employees carry consistent credit card debt and incur new debt, while 70 percent of employees are living paycheck to paycheck and have less than $1,000 in savings. Sources of financial stress include retirement planning, health care costs, student loan debt and identity theft.

“The statistics show that offering financial wellness tools improve employee retention and engagement,” McKinley said,

Discussing workplace wellness options, Ferns said fitness (gym memberships), nutrition (food tracking) and biometric testing (health metric tracking) have minimal results, but team approaches have very good results.

Ferns said his complex has developed a team approach called PreMed Rx that combines primary care, physical therapy, fitness and nutrition. Currently, this program focuses on type 2 diabetes.