Reaping the health dividend at work

ONE OF the less obvious casualties of the recession has been the work-life balance debate.

During the so-called boom years, there was a seemingly endless slew of articles and discussions devoted to the topic.

With so many now struggling to hold down regular work or stay on top of their finances, priorities have, understandably, shifted somewhat.

As if to illustrate the point, the worklifebalance.ie website, launched with such fanfare by the Equality Authority in 2004, was this year discontinued due to lack of funds.

Yet in an age increasingly defined by heavy workloads and extended retirement ages, the wellbeing of employees is not something companies can easily ignore.

Countless studies show that left to fester, poor health in the workplace can become a serious drain on productivity.

According to one recent study by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in the US, employers get an average of $5.82 (€4.22) back in lower absenteeism costs for every dollar spent on employee health.

Since US firms typically pay for their staff’s health insurance they have a greater financial incentive, in terms of lower premiums, to encourage workers to stay healthy.

It is not unusual for big US companies to offer staff a range of health promotion options, from quit-smoking and weight-loss programmes to regular health check-ups and gym membership.

In contrast, experts say Irish employers have been slow to see the benefits of maintaining a healthier workforce, and, as a result, even slower to adopt practices that promote health.

Many employees here complain of spending long, sedentary periods tied to their desks, often without adequate breaks. Throw in a busy family life and the weeks can go by with little or nothing in the way of regular exercise.

Occupational physician Dr Paul Gueret believes that in the main, Irish employers are not convinced of the benefits of spending money on health promotion.

“In Ireland, health promotion is a hard sell. It’s difficult to get companies to buy into it.”

One reason for this, he says, is that most of the cost-benefit analyses relate to health promotion strategies in the US which are not always applicable here.

“There is a lack of hard data relating specifically to the Irish economy.”

Nevertheless, he insists there are real financial benefits to promoting healthier workplaces, not just in terms of lowering absenteeism but also in reducing what he calls “presenteeism” – the excess cost to employers of under-performing staff.

Gueret heads up the Medmark Occupational Healthcare consultancy, which advises employers and employees on various aspect of healthcare in the workplace.

For health promotion programmes to be effective, he says, there has to be “a buy in” from staff.

“We usually get employees to rate the things that are most important to them in terms of health before we propose a programme.”

He draws a distinction between health promotion, such as healthy eating days or co-ordinated exercise programmes, and health screening, such as testing staff for high cholesterol or blood pressure.

The research suggests the benefits to employers from health screening are not as clear cut as those from health promotion.

However, Gueret says employees tend to think of the company in more favourable terms when it takes an active interest in their wellbeing, “and this encourages loyalty”.

A study published last year by the UK mental health charity, Mind, found that up to 20 per cent of employees surveyed had recently phoned in sick to avoid work because of unmanageable stress levels, yet most had lied about why they were ill.

When it comes to tackling issues such as stress or coping with change in the workplace, there is a difficulty in measuring the benefit of adopting various programmes, and more often than not it comes down to the goodwill of the employer.

One company which is endeavouring to champion the idea of a healthier workplace is the Irish subsidiary of internet services company, AOL.

The company’s Dublin office has recently adopted a health and wellbeing programme for staff which is being rolled out across AOL’s global operations.

AOL’s 181 staff occupy five of the 12 floors of the Brunel Building in the newly developed Heuston South Quarter, opposite Heuston railway station.

As part of its “Get Monster Fit” programme, staff members who opt to take part are challenged to set themselves goals – anything from losing weight to quitting smoking or de-stressing their lives.

For its part, the company organises soccer and basketball games at lunch, provides health screenings in the office as well as on-site fitness classes and nutrition stations.

It also provides staff yoga and stretching classes, chair massages, sleep counselling sessions and stress management seminars.

The company even offers staff up to €500 in annual bonuses for clocking up walking or running miles on their pedometers via the Virgin HealthMiles website.

“Our business tends to be one of meeting deadlines with people constantly rushing about which can lead to stress,” says Aengus McClean, head of AOL’s global operations.

“A healthy workforce is one that will ultimately deliver much more in terms of productivity than one which is constantly under stress.”

The genesis of the programme, explains McClean, came from recognising that the firm had a lot of key staff and that replacing them if they were to leave for health reasons would be a significant cost to the company.

When the programme was initially rolled out at corporate level there was a 30 per cent uptake by staff.

Since then, the company has opened it up to all staff, and the take-up rate among the ordinary staff members has taken management by surprise.

“Nearly all the staff in Dublin are participating in some shape or form,” says McClean.

Research suggests the rate at which workplace wellness programmes are springing up in the US has increased during the recession, even as companies become more embroiled in the financial crisis.

It’s not clear at this stage if Irish companies have any plans to follow suit.