"Engaging businesses to improve health is a good business decision and return of investment," says John Claypool, executive director of the American Institute of Architects Philadelphia chapter. "Social investing starts with the premise that the investor is looking for a return. This is the same as an employer's investment in its employees," he explained, emphasizing that high-risk employees, or those who engage in health risk behaviors, cost a business more than low-risk individuals because they are less productive, are absent more often, submit larger healthcare claims, and spend more time in the hospital. "Contributing to the physical and mental well-being of employees adds to their level of productivity and, therefore, the bottom line of the company," he said.

According to Claypool, businesses also benefit from the marketing exposure and positive public relations that are a direct result of community involvement. Claypool explained that as a business becomes more involved in community activities, name recognition increases and residents begin to associate the name of the business with individuals from the business whom they meet at community functions. "By investing time, expertise, leadership, products, or services [in a community], businesses can expect that the community will provide a return on the investment," he assured attendees.

Claypool's thoughts are shared by Pete Butler, engineering manager at Proctor & Gamble. "Society believes that companies are in business to make a profit, but if they show concern for causes that consumers relate to, then people in the community [will] continue to support the company through product consumption," he explained.

Stressing the importance of integrating community issues and interests with the company's mission, Butler presented different concepts used by Proctor & Gamble to contribute to the health of its community. "Direct financial assistance is the smaller part of what we do to help the local population" said Butler. "The volunteer efforts and the special skills of our employees are far more important. That is why we encourage the community volunteer work of our employees through small grants programs that assist with their efforts to purchase medical equipment and supplies for local hospitals. [As volunteers, our employees] also provide expertise in negotiating better insurance rates for medical staff, participate in hospital board meetings, and lead fundraising efforts."

Engaging businesses to improve health by drawing on personal commitment and involvement was also raised by David Davis, president of Kilmorrey Inc. and chairman of the Board of the Institute for Healthy Communities. According to Davis, community initiatives and businesses need to see how they benefit from joint collaboration. A very important aspect of this is personal commitment to and involvement in community health.

"A general concern for the welfare of society is a common motivator among business leaders for contributing to community health [programs] because they live in this society and raise their families there. On the other hand, community leaders must understand that business is not separate from the community, but a part of it," said Davis. According to him, personal concern motivates community change through the individual commitment of society members and their interaction at the personal level.

Tim Twardzik, executive vice president of Ateeco Inc., stressed the importance small and family-owned businesses play in improving the economic health of a community. He outlined a cause-related marketing paradigm that helps business identify and address the main concerns of their community. "It is critical to incorporate a community's economic development into your business plan," said Twardzik, underscoring that "it is also important to give back, especially as a big fish in a small town. [Your giving] will be returned to you ten-fold and encourage other companies to participate as well."

The presentations of the American experts were followed by a discussion during which Hungarian business leaders focused on strategies to enhance their corporate efforts to improve the health of their communities.

HAHC Coordinators Learn How to Work Together To Accomplish Common Goal

Learning how to network and collaborate more effectively beyond traditional boundaries, across diverse organizations, and by engaging local businesses to support community health programs was the focus of the seminar for Hungarian Association of Healthy Cities (HAHC) coordinators.

HAHC Coordinators during a team work exercise focused on the goals and challenges of improving community health. (Photo: John Capati)

The HAHC coordinators were also trained on how to coach and guide the group process, provide effective lobbying and advocacy at the local and regional levels, strengthen interaction and trust among diverse stakeholders, and manage conflicting interests and behaviors. In addition, the training introduced several consensus building tools and techniques for prioritizing and selecting feasible projects and programs that have the greatest chance of impacting women's health.

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