With employees spending longer hours at the job and health issues taking a toll on corporations’ bottom lines, corporate wellness programmes are an important prescription for this growing global problem. We know the diseases that account for the majority of healthcare costs such as, heart disease, diabetes and cancer, can be prevented by a healthy diet and lifestyle, hence the term ‘lifestyle diseases.’ Yet the incidence of these chronic conditions continues to rise. That is why it can’t be “business as usual” for corporate wellness.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural Wellness, Innovation, Technology and Sustainability (WITS) Global Summit hosted by SISU Wellness and lead sponsored by Guardian Media Limited. The summit was designed to bring together changemakers who are ready to change the “culture of health and wellbeing” in Trinidad and Tobago. Although I work in the wellness field, hearing some of the statistics was still astounding:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 67% of global lives are lost due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), yet only 1% of global funding is dedicated to preventing and treating these lifestyle diseases.
Four diseases account for 83% of all NCD deaths—heart disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer. In Trinidad and Tobago, 45% of the population is either diabetic or pre-diabetic.
This has a huge impact on the state’s health bill, but also impacts private corporations as health care costs rise. In addition, the impact on absenteeism and presenteeism (where unwell employees are present at work but are not operating most efficiently) has a direct effect on productivity and hence the bottom-line.
The reality is, the only way to truly prevent these chronic diseases is by taking actionable steps to live a healthier lifestyle. Behaviour change does not happen overnight, but takes a conscious commitment on the part of the individual, the right guidance and support to navigate the conflicting health information available online and built-in accountability. When the corporate wellness programme evolves to provide this motivation and support, workplace productivity increases, profits rise and employers retain their best employees.
One important change required in the corporate wellness landscape is moving from sick care to preventative care. While the onus of change is on the employee, the corporation can empower its staff to make lasting changes to their health. Instead of employees just knowing their numbers, for example, blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and hoping this inspires them to make changes, employers can provide the tools so employees can transform their health. This means moving from one-off wellness workshops or ‘health week’ to longer-term programmes where employees have the guidance and support and can hold each other accountable to making sustainable changes.
Corporate wellness programmes are also evolving from viewing health as purely physical to a more holistic concept. Many corporations globally are incorporating ‘Mindfulness programmes’ as a way to help employees manage stress, live more fully and ultimately feel happier in their own lives, because happy employees are more productive employees. Mindfulness complements the other corporate wellness programmes because it helps individuals become more aware of their habits and ultimately create healthier ones.
The first change is to stop viewing health as a personal problem to a problem that impacts the organisation as a whole. When leaders adopt this approach, they create a health-conscious culture, where supporting employees’ to live healthy lifestyles is part of the way they do business. A clear strategy is important to create an environment where employees are engaged and motivated to change themselves.