AUBURN — Businesses from across the state will gather at the second annual Workplace Wellness Leadership Symposium in September.

The purpose is to learn more about building work-site programs that improve employee morale and productivity, reduce absenteeism, decrease health care costs and moderate ever-increasing insurance premiums.

Dr. Joseph Leutzinger, president of the Academy for Health and Productivity Management and founder of Health Improvement Solutions, is the featured keynote speaker at the symposium, which is scheduled for Sept. 23 at the Hilton Garden Inn Riverwatch in Auburn.

Leutzinger’s presentation is titled “The Health and Productivity Connection: Program Justification Beyond Health Care Claims.” He has written extensively about workplace wellness and has lectured on the topic across the United States and abroad.

This symposium, which pulled in 200 business leaders in 2009, will also feature speakers from Maine’s business and health-care industries to share their experience and knowledge. In addition to Dr. Leutzinger’s presentation, the morning session will feature speakers from the National Worksite Benefit Group, GEI Consultants and MaineHealth.

Topics will center on encouragement of a healthier work force through benefits design, occupational hygiene and the proper and effective use of incentives for wellness programming.

The afternoon offers two breakout sessions. The first will allow participants to choose between three business case studies from companies of various sizes. The second session helps attendees put evidence into practice; highlighting research and trends in the areas of medical self-care, tobacco cessation and depression in the workplace, and offering strategies for making positive changes in these areas.

For more information on the symposium, contact Jaime Laliberte, director, Wellness Council of Maine, at 947-0307 or visit: www.wellnesscouncilofmaine.org/Events.