Helping employees stay fit and well means fewer sick days and less job churn, writes Kim Kind.
When your workplace has a gym, yoga classes, a weekly fresh-food growers' market, well-being seminars, Weight Watchers meetings and an annual health expo, it is hard to be unhealthy.
Just ask the campus programs co-ordinator with telecommunications giant Optus, Megan McLaren. The 48-year-old married mother of two has lost 12 kilograms and is fitter and stronger than ever thanks to Optus's multi-award-winning My Wellbeing employee health program.
"I'm really good at putting barriers in front of myself!" says McLaren, who excelled at avoiding the gym - until her job moved to the Optus headquarters in Sydney's Macquarie Park in 2007 and the gym was at work. Then she ran out of excuses. She joined up and started exercising every morning.
"I got strong and healthy and enjoyed the motivation and adrenalin that I'd get in the morning. I'd just come in a happier person," she says.
But it was not until a dietitian measured her waistline during the annual Optus Health Expo and told her she was obese that she was really shocked into action. McLaren joined Weight Watchers and convinced management to bring the popular program to the Optus campus. It has been a huge success for McLaren and scores of her colleagues, who have lost a combined 340 kilograms since the on-site meetings began a year ago.
"We've got one lady in our group who's lost over 25 kilograms. She would never have joined and done this had we not had this program here," McLaren says.
Optus staff clearly value the program but the importance of caring for employee health goes way beyond morale and goodwill - it is a smart business strategy.
"Supporting your workforce so they can take care of themselves or be encouraged to practise prevention or minimise the impact of some of their health risks makes a lot of sense," says Dr Toby Ford, president of the Health and Productivity Institute of
Australia, the peak body for corporate wellness providers. "It will in turn enable people to work longer and more effectively."
Ford says businesses can expect a measurable return on investment of about $4 for every $1 spent on employee health programs.
According to NSW Health, the national cost of unhealthy employees and absenteeism is about $7 billion annually and Medibank Private research found healthy employees were three times more productive than their unhealthy counterparts and took nine times less sick leave. Research also shows health programs help retain staff, with organisations four times more likely to lose talent if they do not have one.
Ford says the workplace is a ripe environment in which to promote behavioural change because people are more likely to see their health as an asset at work. "Out in the community, prevention and well-being is hard to sell. When you're at work, you think,
'I'd like to get ahead so I need to be well'."
That applies to McLaren, who says: "When you're in your late 40s, you've really got to make sure you keep up with the pack, otherwise you could just fall off the runners. I've got 20 years ahead of me yet. I've got to stay strong!"
And not just physically strong. Mental healthcare is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the corporate health industry — with good reason.
The executive director of mental health advocacy group SANE Australia, Barbara Hocking, says one in five Australians will experience mental health problems in any given year.
"Employers need to be much more knowledgeable and understanding about mental health issues so that good people at work can stay at work and continue to be good employees, even if they have mental health problems," she says.
Education is vital to ensure early signs of stress, depression, anxiety or other mental illnesses are recognised and workers get the support and treatment they need before a crisis occurs.
SANE offers a program, Mindful Employer, to help, as well as a free advice hotline (see below).
Free psychology sessions for employees are also becoming increasingly common, with some employers even providing work-life balance seminars and life coaching.
McLaren says meditation sessions are one of the most popular classes in the Optus My Wellbeing program.
LINKS
sane.org or 1800 187 263
gethealthynsw.com.au
mindfulemployer.org
workhealth.vic.gov.au