Vail (Colo.) Valley Medical Center has started paying some employees to volunteer in the community through its Corporate Volunteer Program, according to a Vail Daily report.

Many businesses are rediscovering a challenge they may not have faced for years: What is the best way to recruit and retain employees in a rebounding job market?

As interest increases in employers offering voluntary benefits, a particularly large number of employers are beginning to add a more robust range of voluntary benefits to improve morale of existing employees and attract new talent.

An exploding number of households headed by older Americans are carrying federal student debt, according to an analysis by the Government Accountability Office. 

As the gap widens on whether e-cigarettes are part of the solution or still part of the greater problem of employee smoking cessation, their popularity is still on the rise. Experts from the health management group HealthFitness have provided some additional tips for employers taking on the challenge of creating e-cigarette policies in the workplace.

When business leaders consider the positive aspects of a workplace wellness program, they often bring up expected reasons: It can keep employees healthy, productive and happy; allow the company to differentiate itself in a highly competitive marketplace for top talent; and limit overall health care costs.

Voluntary benefits are increasingly seen by employers as an affordable way to fill gaps in benefit programs. According to legal solutions provider ARAG, four factors can play a critical role in the success of an employer's voluntary benefit participation.

Cold and flu season can make for a lot of extra work for practices, but by planning ahead, your office can take care of patients' seasonal needs more efficiently and with less stress.

The single best way to prevent seasonal flu is to get a yearly flu vaccine, but good health habits and antiviral medications are other measures that can help protect against the flu. To help businesses, employers and their employees learn about these strategies for preventing flu, CDC provides the following Toolkit, flyers, posters and other materials to post and distribute in the workplace.

Although hospitals have long used therapy dogs to help patients, the animals can also help relieve the stress of emergency room doctors and nurses who must handle life-and-death situations every day.

Gold standards are starting to emerge for corporate wellness programs. Virgin Pulse, which has been monitoring wellness program adoption and design, says there are basically two categories extant in the corporate world today: wellness 1.0 and wellness 2.0.

The rebranding of one of the nation's largest pharmacy retailers last week is sending "new entrant" ripples through the health care industry. "We've changed our company name to CVS Health to reflect our purpose of helping people on their path to better health," officials at the company formerly known as CVS Caremark Corp. stated last week.

Wellness programs aren't just a fad that employers and insurers are temporarily implementing; they're here to stay, according to a recent survey from Optum Resource Center.

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes are among the most prevalent, costly and preventable of all health problems. To understand local opportunities for behavioral change, our public health department led a community health assessment, which was a critical starting point.

Employees suffering from high stress levels have lower engagement, are less productive and have higher absentee levels than those not operating under excessive pressure, according to research from Towers Watson. 

As more doctors use food as a medical tool, health care providers are making nutritious options more readily available – even farmers markets.