Exploring the Link Between Employee Health and Business Performance

In Episode 6 of Captivating Health Insights, Captive Resources Vice President Maddison Bezdicek sits down with Dr. Claire Muselman—a behavioral scientist, educator, and founder of DCM—to explore how employee health directly influences workplace performance.

The conversation centers on Dr. Muselman's "Life Force Pyramid," which outlines four key drivers of human performance: sleep, movement, nutrition, and hydration. According to Dr. Muselman, these foundational habits account for up to 85 percent of how employees show up each day, influencing cognition, decision-making, and safety outcomes.

The episode also highlights actionable strategies employers can implement to support well-being, including hydration challenges, access to fitness resources, and wellness-based team incentives. Dr. Muselman emphasizes that even small cultural shifts can improve brain function, reduce claims, and foster long-term organizational loyalty.

Additional insights include the following.

• Recognizing early warning signs of disengagement through claims trends, absenteeism data, and benefit utilization patterns.
• Bridging the communication gap around benefit offerings through consistent, strategic messaging.
• Aligning silos across wellness, workers compensation, and employee benefits to optimize both care and cost outcomes.

Ultimately, the conversation positions employee well-being not as a perk but as a business strategy—one that can enhance organizational resilience, performance, and retention.

The full episode is available on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and other platforms.

Captive Insurance Company Reports (CICR) subscribers can access a range of articles by Dr. Claire Muselman through Vertafore ReferenceConnect or IRMI Online. Her work focuses on behavioral science, claims strategy, and improving outcomes within captive workers compensation programs. Featured CICR articles include the following.

• "Understanding the Empathy Gap in Captive Insurance Workers Compensation Claims"
• "Connecting Injury to Care: A Guide for Captive Insurers"
• "New to Work Comp and Captive Insurance? Start Here"
• "Navigating the Maze of Unwitnessed Workers Compensation Injuries"
• "The Impact of Specialty Drugs on Employers and the Captive Insurance Market: Navigating a New Era in Healthcare Costs"
• "The Crucial Role of Nurse Case Managers in Workers Compensation"
• "Elevating Standards for Workers' Recovery: Lessons for Employer Members of Captive Programs"
• "Unveiling Opportunities: How an Effective Loss Trend Analysis Empowers Risk Management"
• "Enhancing Risk Management in Workers Compensation: Evolving KPIs and Objectives for Greater Impact"
• "Ethics in Risk Management: Understanding the Importance of Professional Standards"
• "Enhancing Connections and Facilitating Workers' Recovery: A Comprehensive Approach for Employers"
• "Bundled Versus Unbundled: Focus on What Matters"
• "Humanity in Workers Compensation Captives: It's Time To Demand More for Our Employees"
• "Why Focus on Workers' Recovery in a Captive?"