Customized HRAs offer several advantages
While Maynard, MA-based Digital Equipment Corp. made sure that a targeted set of company-specific issues were addressed in its customized HRA (see related story, this page), there are a number of advantages these instruments provide on a broader basis. For example:
• The ability to target more specifically those things you believe are impacting the health of your population. For example, if you have a company where the average employee age is in the 20s, cardiovascular problems may not be your biggest worry; however, stress may be.
• The ability to address a broader spectrum of issues related to total health to go beyond physical health to emotional health and well-being, substance abuse, and so forth.
For example, Digital felt it did not have sufficient absenteeism data to determine if existing policies and procedures were addressing employees’ needs. So, one of their HRA questions asked how many days the employee had been absent in the past 12 months and also asked them to name a cause. Options were: health-related issues, child care issues, and elder care issues.
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