Tale of two Tims: A Case Study

Tim Before is a good guy. And he’s a good employee.

He’s middle-aged, has a wife and a couple kids. When it comes to physical activity, he’s a weekend warrior. During the week, however, he’s a little busy. Aren’t we all?

Here’s how the day usually plays out for Tim.  (Warning – don’t get anxious for Tim Before. There’s a solution to what ails him.)

Tim wakes up, rushes to get out the door, and grabs some coffee and a bowl of cereal. Or maybe it’s a waffle because that’s what the kids are eating. He gets to work, but on the way he was already thinking about the unread emails he knows are there. So he’s already a little stressed out because he knows he has to respond to those emails, but he’s…got…meetings!

So he tries to bust out some responses in between the meetings, which puts him behind on the other scheduled stuff he was supposed to do that morning. And now he’s using the lunch hour to finish catching up – although he’s only putting himself farther behind. So he grabs something from the vending machine, or a quick bite from the cafeteria. Soda? Candy bar? We don’t know.

The work day ends on a frantic note. Tim leaves the office and rushes to his kids’ baseball game where he gets a soda and popcorn – or peanuts if he’s lucky. On the way home they stop for a celebratory fast food meal. And that night, tired and worn out, he hangs out and watches part of a movie with his wife. She goes to bed, but he decides to stay up because he hasn’t gotten any Tim Time yet. Maybe he has a cup of ice cream.

Repeat the process day 2-5 – do things get better or worse? Does it matter?

It may not, and here’s why. Tim may be fairly active with the kids. He gets a fair amount of exercise on the weekends. He doesn’t eat a lot, so he’s not obese. In fact, if you looked at him you’d say he looks relatively healthy.

But under the hood, Tim’s got problems.

Tim eats refined carbs every day that give him quick spikes of energy, but because of his stress load, he generates a lot of cortisol and insulin – the kind of stuff that is destroying his kidneys and liver. He’s losing his ability to think creatively over time – mostly because he spends his entire life in a fight or flight mode, as if a saber tooth tiger were trying to kill him. And it’s all exacerbated by the fact that he doesn’t sleep well. His body is living in a perpetual state of shock and survival. All those refined carbs are turning into fat – not necessarily the kind you see in obesity, but the kind that surrounds his internal organs.

The prognosis on Tim? He’s a prime candidate for Type 2 diabetes in the next couple years. So let’s say you’re currently paying about $500 per year for Tim’s healthcare. And then let’s say it takes Tim five years to develop diabetes, which means you’ve paid $2,500 over five years for his healthcare. But once that day comes and he gets diabetes, all of a sudden it’s a $100,000 wallop to the bottom line.

How much would it be worth to you to have Tim avoid diabetes? How much do you think it would be worth to him?  And what if it only took a couple changes to his lifestyle to accomplish that?

Tim Today is also a good guy. And a good employee, yes?

Tim Today comes to work and sees a flyer and some banners. He scoffs a little. But then his CEO does a company-wide splash and all of a sudden there’s a little more credibility to what he’s seeing. He attends an open enrollment meeting where it’s clearly explained to him the company is changing the way they administer health insurance. They’re bringing a new provider on board – someone who’s going to help Tim be more well – even if he’s already healthy.

Tim gets encouraged because he knows there’s no time in his life to work out (he believes), and he’s eager to see if there’s something he can do to get in better shape. He’s also a little surprised that the company is encouraging him to use work time to get healthier – seems like a nice little perk to him.

He gets screened. He admits that he’s a little overwhelmed by all the information that’s out there, and doesn’t know if what he’s currently doing is good or bad. He does know that he’s never had enough energy and feels stressed out all the time. He meets with his wellness coach and learns his risk factors. His blood sugars are really high, and the coach explains his risk for diabetes down the road. They create a health plan, tapping into what really motivates Tim to change. Tim does the work of exploration – the coach just helps him.

Tim Today changes his behavior. He doesn’t grab that quick bowl of cereal, but has a couple eggs instead, or a green smoothie and a couple pieces of fruit. It was easy because he keeps hard-boiled eggs in the fridge for those times he’s rushed. And because Tim’s excited about his new lifestyle, he realizes his wife and kids’ health are important to him, too. He starts to take time on Sunday afternoon to go to the store to buy health food for the next week.

Now during the work day Tim has snacks prepared. He has a bottle of water at his desk, and he tracks how much he’s drinking. He still has just as many emails and meetings, and he still doesn’t always have time for lunch, but because he brought leftovers from home, he has options. On the days when he doesn’t, he goes to the cafeteria and is delighted to see the new Vera-certified meal plans on the menu. Now he doesn’t even have to think about it – because he’s assured that he’ll get what he needs.

Tim takes off from work to go to his kids’ baseball game. He parks further away from the field so he can walk and unwind. He’s brought snacks for him and his wife to munch on, and they skip the fast food jaunt on their way home. At home, the family whips up a quick-to-make dinner. They put the kids to bed, and because one of Tim’s goals is to get more sleep, he goes to bed with his wife that night. (They like each other better today.)

Tim feels great, and he knows he’s only getting fitter every day. He has more energy, his cravings for unhealthy stuff have diminished, his kids and family are getting excited about the same things. His co-workers notice the positive changes – and they’re already doing the same for themselves and their families. Tim has more creative juices flowing for meetings, he’s more focused, better able to think strategically and long-term. He’s not in perpetual crisis-mode.

He starts to become more thankful to his company for showing him they cared. He becomes an advocate for the program.

Bottom line:
So take Tim’s $500 in healthcare per year, plus an additional $500 per year for Vera Workplace. Five years go by and you’ve spent twice as much for Tim Today as you did for Tim Before – $5,000 rather than $2,500.  But year six rolls around, and you don’t get slammed for that $100,000 diabetes diagnosis. And the cost to provide for Tim this year is the same as it was before: $1,000 per year.

Ten years from then, if the company were to stay the same, the costs to provide health care could be anywhere from 400-1,000% better than a program without Vera Workplace.

And not only have you cut costs, you’ve got a healthy, loyal, productive workforce. You get better results for your clients, you win more business, and your company grows.