People who drive 50 or more miles a day — and or an hour-plus — to and from work have a higher risk of health problems than those with shorter commutes, a recent study found. That means higher costs for your health plan.

1. Higher rates of obesity

Left to their own devices, people with long daily commutes tend to exercise less — often they have less free time and want to spend it with loved ones, not working out.

They are also more likely to fall into bad dietary habits — think drive-through breakfasts and coffee shop fare.

2. The ravages of stress

For many of these folks, the most stressful part of their day isn’t what happens at work — it’s hurrying to beat rush-hour traffic to get to work on time and pick up their kids from after-school activities.

Also, according to the study, the average rush hour commuter’s blood pressure and heart rate are higher than that of a fighter pilot heading into combat.

3. ‘Commuter’s amnesia’

People’s brains develop a coping mechanism for handling the stress — the scientific term for it is “commuter’s amnesia.”

Ever driven somewhere and, upon arrival, had no recollection of the drive? You’ve experienced it.

And when someone’s mind regularly goes into shut-down mode like that, its can affect things like workday productivity and safety. That’s especially true for those with poor sleeping habits.

Proven solutions

Far and away, companies with widely used wellness programs are the best equipped to minimize the toll long commutes have on employees’ health.

Telecommuting programs and flex-time are other proven ways to cut the risk.

No doubt you’ve seen those TV ads for prescription sleep meds.

You know the ones: People sleep peacefully as a glowing butterfly floats overhead. Abe Lincoln playing chess with a groundhog.

Ever since the ads launched, use of these meds has skyrocketed.

The good news: Proper use of the meds can have its advantages for employers. When workers get enough sleep they’re more productive and energetic at work.

Costly concerns

The bad news: Unnecessary prescriptions appear to be on the rise — with employers getting clobbered by heavy costs on their health plans.

The cause? Employees with sleep disorders are heading to their primary care doctor and not a sleep specialist.

For people with legitimate sleep disorders (sleep apnea, restless-leg syndrome, etc.), there may be treatments out there other than “sleeping pills” that may help — and even eliminate any future need for costly prescription meds.

Meds as the last resort

The TV drug ads may give employees the impression that medication is the only — or the best — solution to their problem.

But many people can successfully combat sleepiness without meds.

Tell them to try these fixes first:

• cutting caffeine intake in the afternoon and at night
• reducing alcohol consumption
• exercising more — but not in the four hours prior to bedtime, and
• establishing — and sticking to — set sleep and wake-up times.

Here’s the typical dangerous scenario:

Two employees have company-issued cell phones. One employee uses the company phone to send harassing text messages to the other employee’s company-issued phone. The receiving employee files a harassment complaint.

What’s the employer’s responsibility?

The various state laws indicate that electronic messages, such as e-mail, are considered evidence in harassment cases, and must be retained by the employer — to support or refute the charge. Following that ruling, most legal observers agree the term “electronic messages” also covers text messages, meaning an employer could be responsible for storing and producing such messages when they go from company phone to company phone.

That’s another headache no employer or HR department needs, so what’s the solution? Ban texting altogether? That seems extreme and impractical, althought least one employer in Florida has done that.

But the more practical option is to develop a policy about employee-to-employee texting, especially during work hours. Employees should understand, via the policy, that such texting should be done only as a business necessity, and that employees will be held responsible for offensive or harassing text messaages.

The vast majority of HR managers say missing open enrollment has a big impact on employees’ wallets, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey.

How big of an impact?

• 34% of HR managers say missing open enrollment costs employees at least $500 a year in out-of-pocket expenses (for things like medical care and school tuition, which could’ve been covered by their employer)
• 20% say it costs employees more than $1,000, and
• 10% say it costs workers more than $2,500.

That’s distressing news when you consider that half of hiring managers say more than 10% of their workforce misses annual open enrollment deadlines.

In addition, 25% of workers admit they don’t pay attention to benefits changes, figuring their benefits will roll over — or because they feel the whole process is too confusing.

Employees don’t realize what they’re missing

Another big reason employees don’t participate: They don’t realize everything their employer is offering.

When asked which benefits employees aren’t taking advantage of, HR managers said:

• Wellness benefits (45%)
• Flexible healthcare spending (43%)
• Tuition Reimbursement (38)
• Banking programs (25%), and
• Discounts on personal entertainment (24%) and technology (22%).

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 was passed last fall and is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2010.

It says employers will now have to offer equivalent costs and treatment limits for mental health and substance abuse benefits as medical and surgical benefits.

So if your health plan offers mental health or substance abuse benefits, it cannot have:

• lower annual or lifetime dollar maximums for those benefits as medical and surgical benefits
• more restrictive limits on the number of covered office visits or days of inpatient care to treat mental health or substance abuse
• higher copays, deductibles or out-of-pocket limits for mental health and substance abuse treatments
• separate cost sharing applied to mental health and substance abuse benefits, or
• exclusions for out-of-network treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues — if out-of-network treatment is provided for medical and surgical issues.

Employers will need to realign their benefits policies to meet these new requirements. These new regs must also be reflected in at-a-glance summaries and summary plan descriptions.

Note: Employers with 50 or fewer employees during the preceding calendar year are not required to comply with these new regs.

Here are tips from the book “It’s Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been,” by BJ Gallagher:

Giving

• Provide examples of the problem behavior.  For instance, “You shouted at two customers yesterday.” That’s better than “You have a bad attitude with customers.”
• Solicit questions and comments.  Be wary of the employee who broods quietly. That’s often a sign of resentment, not acceptance.  Ask leading questions that draw the employee out and give you some clues to the employee’s thinking. Example: “Tell me what you disagree with and why.”
• Get a commitment to change.  And try to put that commitment in measurable terms. Example: “So, you agree that you’ll be on time every day for the next month.”
• Schedule follow-up. Make it clear that this isn’t a one-and-done deal — that you’ll be checking back to see that there’s been a change and all commitments have been met.

Receiving

• Ask for or acknowledge examples. If the boss says, “I hear you’ve missed a few deadlines lately,” either ask for specifics or acknowledge that, yes, you’re guilty as charged.
• Ask for a chance to do better. Outline what you’re going to do to improve and when you’d like the boss to revisit your performance.
• Say “thanks.” Look at it this way: Negative feedback is a sign that someone cares and is interested in your improvement. Yes, there do seem to be those times when the feedback seems pointless. Still, a thank you is in order.

Get a good night’s sleep.

The more you sleep, the less likely you are to come down with a respiratory virus, found researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.

People who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus than those who sleep eight or more hours per night.

Some scientists even say that for adults to maintain a completely healthy immune system they need to get nine and a half hours of sleep every night.

Looks like employees finally have a good excuse to sleep on the job.

According to one study cited in the Harvard Business Review, men tend to be equal opportunity bullies — targeting men and women about equally. Not so with women, who target other women in more than seven out of every 10 instances.

Some other findings:

• Instances of verbal abuse are more commonly committed by men (57%) than women (41%), but
• Women (54%) are more likely than men (41%) to engage in more subtle forms of bullying, such as sabotaging another’s work, and
• Women (50%) are more likely than men (45%) to abuse their authority over subordinates.

The study goes on to issue a warning to HR managers: Left unchecked, bullying becomes the norm as a business culture. That is, managers and subordinates begin to think of bullying as a standard way of doing business. And in such environments, productivity invariably goes down and turnover goes up.

A bill was introduced last week that, if passed, would require employees to provide at least five paid sick days to workers with a contagious illness who are sent home or told to stay home.

Workers deciding to stay home on their own, claiming to be sick, would not be guaranteed paid sick days.

The legislation, called the Emergency Influenza Containment Act, was introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. It would apply to businesses with 15 or more employees and would take effect 15 days after being signed — and expire after two years.

Reason for the bill: Miller says he’s concerned that more than 40 million workers don’t have paid sick days.

What are the chances of sickness spreading? A sick employee reporting to work infects one in 10 co-workers, says to the Centers for Disease Control.

Currently, 39% of all private-sector workers don’t have paid sick days, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And out of the lowest 25% of wage earners, 63% don’t have paid sick days.

Hearings on the bill have been scheduled for next week.

Good pay, not surprisingly is the most important element, ranked as necessary by 81% of respondents, according to a recent survey by Randstad. Also high on people’s lists were “interesting, challenging work” (66%) and health insurance (65%).

Also important to many people are free lunch (56%) and a lifetime gym membership (40%).

One item that doesn’t factor into most employees’ vision of a perfect job: corporate social responsibility, which was was only list by 32% of respondents.