By: Bikal Dhungel
In the age of competition, the only way for corporations to survive is by increasing worker productivity through innovation. Workers productivity depends on various factors, most important being the well-being of each individuals. A healthy mind can think creative. However, our society as a whole is struggling to maintain healthy minds as mental health issues are on rise and according to a health research, it is the number one cause of absence at work. The figure is varies by country. For example in Germany, according to the official health statistics, 13 million employees suffer from Burn-out Syndrome, over one fourth of total employees. This is an un-acceptable number which has its root in multiple factors. A study published by Techniker Krankenkasse, a leading health insurance company, every third employee feels that he/she is over-burdened at work, every fourth suffers from stress and hyper-tension to heart attack, the number one reason why people quit working life is due to mental health issues and the total loss for the economy is in average 71 billion Euros annually. This figure is continually increasing.
This has enormous burden for the society, for the family members of affected population and on the welfare state. In the UK, the labour force survey shows that the issue is equally worse like in Germany. Every year, about 250,000 new cases of mental health problems are registered into NHS directory. Stress was the number one cause of absence among the employees, numbering about 50% of all health problems. In other countries, there is only minor statistical deviation. Hence, it is an important problem whose disease burden is huge.
The WHO published a landmark study in 2001 highlighting mental health issues with recommendations and action plan. Big companies that could afford such action plans and policies did not wait to enact it because, early you intervene, bigger the savings. Today, this trend is a fashion. With a primary aim to improve wellbeing of employees and to present the company as an attractive work-place for new employees, wellness centers and policies are normal. Even though health recommendations are similar everywhere, like eating healthy, drinking lots of water, physical activities etc, the real challenge lie on implementation and keeping it going. To summarise the package, companies focus on loosing weight, quitting smoking, managing stress, keeping blood pressure, cholesterol level, heart rate and puls at optimal level, encouraging to increase physical activities, mindfulness etc. For that, companies offer free Gym membership or many have gym at workplace as well as place to do yoga, offer healthy foods especially fruits vegetables in the canteen, provide wellness and health coaches etc.
Classes, seminars etc are offered for those who are new and to update employees and some companies have fitness/wellness challenges, which is a kind of competition that employees can participate in which is an incentive to keep people going. Moreover, as more and more people use computers at work, ergonomics is gaining importance. For example, ergonomists check the height on the table where computer should lie according to the height of the employees, the level of the chairs is adjusted accordingly, people get coaching from experts about the way we seat and work in order to mitigate the risk of neck and back pain. In addition to it, there are annual health check ups to monitor the risk of any diseases before it even appears. The usual culture is that we go to the doctor when we already have a health issue. However, prevention is important. Health monitoring can detect any possible health issues which will benefit both the employers and employees. Obviously, it cannot forecast the prevalence of any disease but it is still good as prevention is better and cheaper than cure.
The question is only if such policies are helpful or cost-efficient and what research says. Various surveys conducted in various companies have found out that people who would not have joined the Gym otherwise do so because the option is there at work or that the company provides free membership. The wellness policies of the company has at least taught people what that is even though they do not do it actively and for those who are already in it, they have opportunity to continue it further. It also saves enormous amount of time when people can do it at work or after work instead of having to manage extra time outside work. Gym, wellness and other facilities have improved the atmosphere at work which directly and positively affects the productivity of workers which is good for the company and the society.
Hence, corporate wellness policy has proven itself to an effective tool in terms of many things. It is obviously a challenge for small firms with limited capital and for small businesses but may be a government action would solve it easily. In the Netherlands, government distributed free gym membership for long term unemployed people who then felt fit and many even returned to work which was a good news for all parties. Other countries and places have similar policies and this is definitely going to gain more importance in the future.
