Lyndon B. Johnson photo

The President's Statement to the Cabinet on Approving New Guidelines for Employee Health Service Programs.

June 20, 1965

THE EFFICIENCY and productivity of Government employees is one of our primary concerns. We have made excellent progress in reducing costs and improving operations and will continue to press vigorously for savings and increased efficiency.

Employee productivity depends on a number of factors--motivation, training, challenging work, fair pay, and recognition of superior performance. But there is another factor that we must not overlook--good health. In some ways it is the key factor.

Good health and good work go together. Within the Government itself, we must do all we can to avoid the waste that results from sickness and disease. The Federal health benefits program provides prepaid health and medical protection to our employees. But it is just as important to provide for a strong preventive health service program.

--Each year about 20 million days of sick leave are taken by Federal civilian employees.

--If we can reduce the amount of sick leave taken by the average employee by just one-half day, it means the equivalent of over 1 million man-days per year. We will improve the motivation and productivity of our employees and at the same time reduce costs through better placement and utilization.

In the final analysis, it is up to each employee-and each top official--to take care of his own health. Health is a personal responsibility. I want to emphasize that.

But we can be a good employer. We can help our workers to maintain their health and thereby prevent the kind of illness and disablement that brings discouragement, hardship, and loss of productivity.

Private industry in the United States discovered long ago that a good employee health maintenance program is a paying proposition. The Federal Government has not kept up with the example set by private employers.

I want that situation to change.

I want the Federal Government to start to catch up with the practices of our efficient private enterprise--and in time become a model.

We must be prepared--to the best of our ability--to assure our employees of

--prompt attention to on-the-job illness and injury,

--correction of working conditions that may be detrimental to employees' health,

--education in health maintenance,

--health examinations, including in-service examinations as needed, and

--disease screening examinations and immunizations.

I repeat that the individual employee must bear the primary responsibility to obtain frequent health checkups, and otherwise to take proper care of himself.

In 1950, President Truman issued health service guidelines to the Federal agencies but there has been no updating since that time. I have approved new guidelines for employee health service programs to be issued by the Director of the Budget. The Chairman of the Civil Service Commission will take the leadership in developing and improving this program in cooperation with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Secretary of Labor.

Note: On June 18, 1965, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget issued a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and establishments on Federal employees' occupational health service programs (Circular No. A-72, 5 PP., mimeographed).

Lyndon B. Johnson, The President's Statement to the Cabinet on Approving New Guidelines for Employee Health Service Programs. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241732

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