Health at work

/ 01 January 2010

Improving the health of employees can boost productivity and profits, but don’t leave it up to them – create inspiring ways to improve fitness levels during work hours, writes Alison Hjul

It’s no secret that regular exercise and a healthy diet can help keep weight down, minimise stress and avoid serious illness. But the UK population just doesn’t seem to get the message, despite a constant stream of media stories about rising obesity, the dangers of alcohol and smoking, and the benefits of 30 minutes’ exercise five times a week.

We may be living longer but we’re increasingly too fat, unfit and stressed to get the most out of our extra years. According to the National Audit Office, 58% of UK adults are overweight or obese, and nearly two- thirds aren’t taking enough exercise.

We have many excuses not to keep fit. There’s no time before work because we have a long commute or need to take the kids to school and, once we’re home, we’re too exhausted after a long working day.

But despite this, it seems workers are worried about the health risks of their sedentary lifestyles. In a 2007 survey, employment law experts Peninsula found that 82% of office staff were concerned that their work commitments and long hours were limiting their ability to exercise, which was affecting their overall health and happiness.

Many employers say one solution is to improve our health while at work, and they are making it their responsibility to take greater care of employees’ wellbeing. The latest CBI/AXA absence survey found that more than two-thirds of organisations have a wellbeing policy ‘to encourage staff to lead healthier, happier lives’. Of course, this isn’t purely altruistic: the survey also reported that the cost of work absence to the UK economy was £13.2bn in 2007, with an average of 6.7 days off sick per employee.

David Lloyd Health Clubs found that employees who stick to a corporate wellbeing programme take five fewer days off sick a year than less fit colleagues, and those who regularly exercise increase productivity by 12.5%.

And, in the current economic climate, employers believe that wellbeing programmes can help them to attract and retain employees. “We’ve been fighting with everybody else to retain and recruit staff,” says Zoe Eccleston, wellbeing manager at RWE npower. “Our wellness programme is very much about empowering staff. It’s important that they think they are valued as individuals and their key concerns are listened to.”

After studying survey data from more than 200,000 UK employees, workplace engagement specialists Best Companies defined wellbeing as one of the eight critical factors influencing employee engagement.

“A wellbeing programme is a good way to show you put people at the centre of your business strategy,” says Ian Jamieson, wellbeing specialist at Best Companies, which has developed a toolkit for organisations.

The prospect of exercise may even encourage the work-shy into the office. “People have told me they weren’t planning to go into work,” says Ailon Freedman, founder of corporate wellbeing provider The Lotus Exchange. “But they knew there was yoga at lunchtime and it would help them through the day.”

Freedman set up Lotus Exchange in 2001 because he saw a space in the market for a corporate yoga service. “I observed how I would leave work wanting to kill someone and then transform my stress through a yoga class.” The company now offers a range of activities such as pilates, kick boxing and tai chi, and runs on-site Wellbeing Days, with a varied programme of activities for employees to try.

Nanny state

 However, some people view these initiatives as nannying rather than nurturing. “I hate our corporate wellbeing programme,” says Christine Adams, a sales manager at a global IT company. “My health and exercise choices are my responsibility, not my employer’s. I refused a health assessment since I would rather deal with such things in my own time. What’s more, health information is personal and I’d feel very uncomfortable about my employer getting its hands on mine.”

Health assessments are among the most popular initiatives offered by companies. Other schemes include healthy eating options; help with giving up smoking, reducing alcohol intake or managing weight; access to exercise facilities; wellbeing and sports days; and treatments such as physiotherapy or massage.

“There’s no magic bullet,” says Jamieson. “It varies from organisation to organisation. Wellbeing programmes need to reflect the support employees require to meet the challenges of the working day. Finding out what they need is far more effective for engagement than providing a blank programme across the workforce.”

Staff surveys or informal interviews are a good way to gauge employees’ views, says PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in its Building the Case for Wellness report.

And the company intranet is often the main route for managers to communicate information about health initiatives. “The intranet goes out to all staff, but because they’re sitting at their desk it seems personal to them,” says Eccleston.

The individual touch

Assessing individual employee needs is key to Broadland District Council’s success in getting staff to participate in its wellbeing programme. “We actively engage in staff surveys and have monthly meetings with union and non-union staff representatives to discuss initiatives,” says Dee Young, personnel manager at Broadland District Council. “When initiatives are introduced, we seek feedback to evaluate their effectiveness.”

In 2005, the council introduced its healthy workplace principles and practices policy, which largely brought existing measures, such as massage and yoga, together under one umbrella. It also offers subsidised sports and social activities, healthy eating initiatives and encourages physical activity through the national Fit for Business scheme.

This appealed to Broadland, says Young, because it fitted with the council’s culture and existing practices. The Fit for Business approach includes the appointment of two ‘champions’, who are given the leeway to organise events in work time. “This is a positive message that we’re committed to our staff’s health,” says Young. “We’ve added many new health initiatives such as a lunchtime walking group.”
Around a third of staff participate in one or more of the council’s health initiatives. And impressively, in a sector where sickness absence is very high – averaging 13.5 days per local authority employee per year, according to research by Benenden Healthcare Society – Broadland had just 5.7 days of sickness absence per employee in 2007/08.

When planning a wellbeing programme, it’s important to provide activities that anyone, regardless of their sporting ability, can participate in. Npower’s annual company games, which last year brought together around 900 staff for a weekend of sports, including football, netball and running, is a classic example. “We were very keen not to have an elitist sports day,” says Eccleston. “For example, we included dragon boat racing, which is great for people who aren’t really sporty.”

The company’s commitment to team sport enabled Tina Clements, an administrator in its generation business, to join a netball team while recovering from a broken ankle. She  enjoyed the participation element of the games. “We got a silver – it was really good fun,” she says. It was also a good opportunity to socialise with colleagues she’d never met before.

Workplace exercise is a great leveller, says Eccleston. “You might have a new graduate running alongside a director – when they go
to a meeting they already know one another.”

PwC also stresses that committed leadership is key to the success of  corporate wellbeing programmes. This is the case at npower. “Our CEO leads by example,” says Eccleston. “He ran with our graduates last year in the Great North Run, and he and the director of communications joined in the relay team at the npower games.”

Financial returns

The government is also trying to help organisations measure the return on investment (ROI). It has launched a Business Healthcheck tool to help employers assess the cost of ill health to their business and the financial impact of wellbeing programmes.

In Working for a Healthier Tomorrow, a review of health in the UK’s working age population, Dame Carol Black, national director for health and work, said there was “considerable evidence that wellbeing programmes produced economic benefits”. However, she points out: “A robust model for measuring and reporting on the benefits of employer investment in health and wellbeing would improve understanding of the business case for investment.”

PwC looked at 55 organisations with a health programme. Of these, 81% showed a reduction in sickness absence, and many showed a reduction in staff turnover, accidents and insurance premiums. There was also increased employee satisfaction and productivity. One manufacturing company calculated that for every £1 spent, it recovered £4.17 in programme benefits over a year.

“We’re absolutely committed to trying to prove the business case,” says Eccleston. “But you don’t have to have measurements to know happy and healthy staff are engaged and more productive.”

Employers need to consider the overall “feelgood factor”, says Jamieson. “This could be free fruit or subsidised gym membership, but free parking may be equally important.”

However, the responsibility for improving health at work isn’t up to the employer alone. “You can’t carry a sick person in the workplace and expect work to make them better,” says Eccleston. “The responsibility is on the employer and employee.”