Business Briefs: Unum wins honor for healthy lifestyles

Thursday, June 26, 2014

photo Unum

Unum wins honor for healthy lifestyles

For the ninth year, Unum Group has been honored for its continuous efforts to support the health and wellness of its U.S. employees and their families. The Chattanooga-based disability insurer was among 63 employers that received the 2014 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award by the National Business Group on Health's Institute on Innovation in Workforce Well-being. Unum offers employees fitness and wellness programs at its major sites in Chattanooga; Portland, Maine; Worcester, Mass.; and Columbia, S.C.

"Our priority is to encourage our workforce toward becoming their own health care advocates while engaging with their desire to improve and maintain their good health," said Mike Booth, Unum's manager of global health promotions and wellness.


Region boasts lower costs

The cost of living in Chattanooga averaged 6 percent less than the U.S. average in the first quarter of 2014, according to prices in the market basket of 57 items released Wednesday by the Council for Community and Economic Research.

Chattanooga benefited by housing costs 13.3 percent below the U.S. average. Other living costs in Chattanooga were only slightly below the national average.

Among eight Tennessee cities included in the council's cost-of-living comparison this winter, Cookeville had the lowest overall cost of living -- 13.7 percent below the U.S. average.