Newsletter Sign-up

Wellness Works

Dear Editor:

What impels me to write this letter is his view that we can successfully prescreen employees to avoid hiring those who abuse substances or are obese. The average American consumes three pounds of sugar per week. Eventually, even the hardiest pancreas will yell, "Whoa!" Almost two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity is such an epidemic that our armed services have clinicians working full-time to determine where they will find their future recruits.

It would be nice if we all came into the workplace without problems, tabula rasa. We don't. We march into our potential employers' offices burdened with a history and, in many cases, histories we have developed during our careers. Especially, as the workforce ages, it becomes more and more difficult to separate the personal ills of the employee from his or her professional ills. Why keep trying? As our presidential candidates grapple with some type of expanded healthcare, it's too bad the dialogue doesn't include any look at 24-hour coverage. But I digress.

This is 2008, not 1955, where a man was a man and a woman was, well, Donna Reed. It's a brave new world and a not-so-brave new workforce. Organizations that don't adapt to demographic changes, including young Americans who for the first time in a century face a shorter life span than their parents, will ultimately fail.

Organizations that implement wellness programs don't do so out of the kindness of their corporate hearts. The statistics keep rolling in--wellness programs work.

NANCY GERMOND, ARM, AIC

PHOENIX

Don't Forget Actuaries

Dear Editor:

To the list of "Risk Certifications: A to Z" included in your October 1, 2007, issue (Page 47), you can add two long-standing certifications held by almost 5,000 risk professionals: Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS) and Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS).

The core practice areas of members of the Casualty Actuarial Society--pricing, reserving and capital management--are critical elements of insurer enterprise risk analysis and modeling. This means that the skills developed through the CAS examination process, and recognized through attainment of CAS designations, are directly applicable within an insurer enterprise risk management framework and beyond.

Because actuarial techniques are essential components of enterprise risk management, your readers should be aware of these risk certifications conferred by the Casualty Actuarial Society.

THOMAS G. MYERS, FCAS, ASA, MAAA

PRESIDENT

CASUALTY ACTUARIAL SOCIETY

RED BANK, N.J.

March 1, 2008

Copyright 2008© LRP Publications