The benefit to your organisation

There is immense benefit to your organisation/business in focussing on
employee health. The decision to invest in a wellness program for staff
can come from a culture of care or a culture of compliance… either way
there are tremendous benefits for your organisation. Of course, a culture
of care will always be evident to workers and this will ultimately have a
positive impact on staff loyalty.

Wellness Programs

Businesses that have implemented workplace programs focusing on
employee health have enjoyed many benefits which all equate to cost
savings and increased productivity. Could your business benefit from the
following outcomes of a wellness program:

While direct costs such as the hiring of a temporary replacement worker
can be tangible, the indirect costs of unplanned sick days include delays in
project completion and co-workers having to take on extra responsibility.
Absenteeism is measureable and addressable through corporate wellness
programs.

Improve Presenteeism: Often employees are at work, however they are
not functioning to the best of their ability due to a range of physical or
mental health issues. It has been estimated that presenteeism costs
companies up to four times as much as absenteeism through loss of
productivity on the job. (Reference: www.fwaw.com)

Recent work health data

Recent Victorian work health data showed:

• 30% of males are at high risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes and
  17% of females
• 27% of workers have high cholesterol
• 32% of males had high blood pressure and 16% of females.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) suggests that 60% of Australians
are overweight or obese so this adds further to potential risks for injury or
chronic disease and means that it is not one in three employees, but one
in two that are potentially at risk of chronic ill health… therefore
decreased productivity and increased absenteeism is waiting to happen.

4% of Australians have diabetes, that’s around 999,000 and it’s thought
that just as many are still yet to be diagnosed. If diabetes was a country it
would be the 3rd largest country in the world. One person in 10 in
Australia has Type 2 diabetes, so it’s highly likely that you have a person
with diabetes working in your organisation. Over half our population is
overweight so this puts them at high risk of diabetes and other chronic
illnesses which will impact on productivity at work and sick days.

Australians with diabetes are twice as likely to have a disability compared
with the general population, according to a new report from the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare. People with diabetes also had higher rates
of hypertension, cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, depression, vision loss
and kidney disorders, the report found.

Medibank Private (2005) report:

The research is unanimous… poor health and physical inactivity is
impacting on profits and productivity. The incidence of lifestyle disease in
workers is also likely to escalate further as the Australian workforce ages,
with a consequent reduction in productivity, increased risk of injury and
elevated workplace costs. (Australian Government Productivity Commission, 2004;
Giles-Corti et al., 2004; Howatt & Ritchie 2004; Shephard, 1999).

Download: Effective Health and Wellbeing Programs – Putting You First

The programs

Health and wellbeing programs need to have staff ‘buy in’ so it’s critical to
set up a system that involves staff and includes system changes to ensure
your wellness initiatives are not just one hit wonders that don’t change
anyone’s behaviour let alone positively affect health outcomes.

Body Warfare has a series of wellness packages to suit any organisation
and programs can be tailored to your individual company needs.