Occupational health

Source: Technology Digital

Date :28/08/2007 14:57:05

The new front for gaining competitive advantage?

As old sayings go, `hard work never hurt anyone’ could do with more than a little updating. With concerns such as stress, depression, burn-out, performance anxiety, shame and loss of self-esteem over underachievement, the world of work seems positively full of dangers, both physical and psychological

Written by Philip Stiles

Some would say it has always been thus, but recent trends and data have made companies sit up and take notice. With labour markets becoming tighter and the costs of sickness and stress-related absence increasing, firms have woken up to the serious dent in productivity and high-performance working that results from a lack of well-being among employees.

The CIPD report figures of that 20% of the UK population is obese and a similar figure suffers stress at work. Absenteeism runs at an average of eight days per employee per year and costs organisations annually almost £600 per member of staff.

To combat this, stress management and work-life balance programmes have mushroomed, and employers are also eager to ensure a rigorous health and safety environment and a re-examination of health-related policies.

Wellness schemes

But these remedies are often piecemeal and usually focused on cure rather than prevention. A joined-up, prevention-focused philosophy of health management – or wellness – has been introduced into a number of organizations as a way to increase recruitment and retention and also to improve returns. Companies such as BP, Marks & Spencer, Goldman Sachs, Kimberly-Clark, Philips, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life Healthcare, and Unilever all have high profile wellness schemes.

Wellness programs have traditionally been offered to employees who were already ill but now they are being made available across the workforce and with a broad variety of interventions. In addition to the standard educational brochures and telephone counseling about employees’ healthcare issues, companies encourage employees to take diagnostic checks for health conditions such as blood pressure, cholesterol and weight. Programs are put in place to help those who may be at risk.

Microsoft has a weight management program rolled out in many of its offices. Healthy eating options in the employee restaurant and in vending machines are a common initiative. The provision of in-company gyms (or subsidized gym membership) and access to personal trainers also help the cause. Nike employees are even encouraged to exercise in the gym during working hours.

Personal responsibility

But though healthy body health mind is a saying which retains its resonance, the focus cannot just be on the physical - the psychological aspects of life at work are crucial for wellness. The nurturing of self-confidence and self-efficacy and the sense that the employee has fulfillment at work are also important.

At this point, some businesses might say: `how can we afford this?’ or `how could we possibly tick all these boxes?’ And they would have a point. The provision of health and fitness has been described as the new front for competitive advantage – for the attraction and retention of key talent. Only a few firms will be able to deliver on the full range of possibilities. And the rest? One course of action is to get much better at screening potential new hires, another simply to get better at raising awareness. Ultimately, however, even in the best programs in the world, there is a high degree of recidivism. Individual responsibility for health and fitness remains central: there is only so much a firm can do. The emphasis has to be on personal responsibility. The old saying about leading horses to water needs no updating within organizations.

Dr Philip Stiles

Judge Business School

University of Cambridge