Too busy for a WORKPLACE WELLNESS programme?

“ A healthy workplace culture promotes wellness, which is the empowerment of people to actualise their full potential by enabling the best version of themselves through informed choices that promote a state of physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being, and the mindfulness and resilience for maintaining and renewing balance. ”

TIME AND time again in my clinical office or while volunteering at a health fair, I encounter individuals with superhigh blood pressure and urine dense with sugar, but they’re walking around looking otherwise fine.

The only thing standing between them and a massive stroke or heart attack or shutdown of their kidneys is time or a simple argument or altercation with someone.

Poor stress-management skills and lack of a proactive approach to preserving their health and wellbeing are responsible, at least in part.

I recall one person slumping into my chair as he told me about his job, things he had to do every day that would drive most of us insane.

PURPOSE

I was three years into my dream job in the United States when I realised that I didn’t want to be sitting in that same desk three more years down the line. I got up from my desk and resigned. It was not as sudden as it seemed as I had been in discussions with my chief about my vision for my career and life.

I had started my company, and now, I could put my full energy and focus behind it. It was in that moment that I chose wealth – discretionary time for myself grounded in self-awareness and security that I can do what I want, when I want, how I want, with respect for self and others and creating a legacy of meaningfully inspiring people to attain their full potential.

During my research career as a scientist working on discovering novel treatments against cancer and vaccines to prevent infectious diseases, this philosophy had also rung true for me.

I have seen loved ones get the news too late that they have cancer. I watched my grandmother try to stretch high blood pressure tablets, which she would send me to buy half a dozen at a time, making them last her two weeks. We lost her when I was in grade nine in high school, and I would stand as a medical intern at St Ann’s Bay Hospital during ward rounds on the very same spot I watched her take her final breaths from a massive stroke.

In the clinics, I had treated and sought to provide hope and encouragement to persons living with HIV, young and old. So, even as a researcher, I had as a compass the drive to help to alleviate human suffering and promote health and well-being.

It was Henry Ford, inventor and founder of Ford Motor Company, who said,“The person who does not get a certain satisfaction out of his or her day’s work is losing the best part of his or her pay” (adapted).

The alignment of drive and passion and the sense of purpose and meaning to one’s work is essential to fulfilment and achieving one’s potential.

WORKPLACE CULTURE AND HEALTH

We spend a significant proportion of our lives at work. Even in between jobs, we yearn to work because of a certain dignity, no matter how humble the task, that lifts our chin and puts purpose in our steps as we look to an expansive and bright horizon.

Workplace wellness is not a niceto-have. Its very absence may be indicative of a fault with the culture of the organisation, like a faint or erratic pulse in a sick patient. Culture refers to the seen and unseen customs, symbols, and expectations that shape how people behave.

Workplace wellness is not a company marathon. It is not a gym or aerobics class. It is not an annual health screen. There are numerous companies and organisations in the public and private sector that are well-equipped with these elements but suffer from a disengaged workforce. Our experience at work influences how we behave at home and in our communities and vice versa.

Wellness means different t hings to different people, and this is why companies or organisations fail to realise their organisation’s true potential, or worse, foster a toxic culture that will usher in their organisation’s demise.

A healthy workplace culture promotes wellness, which is the empowerment of people to actualise their full potential by enabling the best version of themselves through informed choices that promote a state of physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being, and the mindfulness and resilience for maintaining and renewing balance.

A wellness culture fosters the growth of its team members, fosters innovation, and fosters loyalty of employees who will go above and beyond for the organisation and take the company’s mission as their own.

A wellness culture also prides itself in team members who ‘outgrow’ their place there and wish to move on to pursue their dreams and calling, with former team members and leaders taking special pride that those persons had once served there. Organisational culture sets the tone for employee behaviours, impacting their health and wellbeing and the general health of the company or entity as a whole.

WELLNESS CULTURE IS ABOUT LEADERSHIP

The importance of an endorsement of a workplace culture of wellness by the country’s highest officer with responsibility for health should not be taken lightly. The message is clear and implications far-reaching for the country, for companies, for public entities, for individuals and communities.

Recently at the ‘We Thrive at Work’ workplace wellness workshop hosted by the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and Essential Medical Services Limited, our Minister of Health, Dr. Christopher Tufton, stated that “It is a lot more expensive, both to the person as well as to the corporate, to try and cure challenges after they have emerged. It is a lot cheaper … and in your best interest as corporate or an individual to deal with prevention.”

Wellness is proactive. At the level of the organisation, programmes that lack buy-in of leaders and senior managers of the company suffer not only from the lack of proper resourcing, but more importantly, from a lack of exemplary participation and inspiration from its leaders.

Importantly, as a business operator or executive at an

organisation, you want to know, ‘is it going to cost money?’ and, ‘is it saving me money?’

Based on studies published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine,

companies on the Standard & Poor’s list that have even been recognised for their comprehensive workplace wellness programmes have higher dividends.

The return on investment (ROI) for wellness programmes ranges from US$1.52 to $3 for every dollar invested for organisations across a variety of industries. Workplace wellness is about corporate culture and its impact on the well-being of employees within the context of work and outside of it and makes good economic sense for organisations and whole societies.

According to Professor Ron Goetzel, vice-president of consulting and applied research at IBM Watson and director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, workplace wellness, understood correctly and embraced and engrained in an organisation’s culture, is defined as coordinated, comprehensive strategies with the central mission of promoting the health of workers and their families, with clearly articulated policies, leadership support, adequate resourcing, objectives-driven programming, employee involvement, ongoing evaluation, and innovation and that are sustained.

Creating a wellness culture in an organisation is not a topdown approach, but begins with engaging employees, capturing their aspirations and ideas about what it means to be well from the outset and in an ongoing manner.

A sensible approach involves devising a clear policy and programme in writing and supported by dedicated team members even if it’s not their sole function; implementation and ongoing iteration; and measurement and evaluation to see the impact on biophysical indicators, cost-effectiveness, productivity, and other social, emotional, and psychological outcomes.