Keeping employees well at work

Some bosses are now introducing wellness intervention programmes to enhance their workers’ wellbeing, writes Nadia Badarudin

• Sixty-four per cent of Malaysian employees are physically inactive, yet close to a quarter receive no intervention.

• Fifty-three per cent of Malaysian employees are at risk of mental health issues yet close to 44 per cent of employers offer no interventions at all.

• Eighty-four per cent of Malaysian employees reported one or more musculoskeletal disorders including shoulder, neck, lower back and knee complaints.

• Fifty-six per cent of Malaysian employees sleep less than seven hours a night, with more than half reporting poor quality of sleep.

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Ninety per cent of Malaysian employees do not eat a balanced diet, with their diets being poorest in fruits and vegetables. Employers are now investing more effort to support their employees’ wellbeing.

Quoting a report on The Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality 2017, Sherry Someh who is in charge of the group’s corporate client services, says Malaysians lose 67 days a year to absenteeism (8.2 days) and presenteeism (58.8 days) — this equals to 25.7 per cent of their total working hours and an average productivity loss of RM2.7 million per company.

Absenteeism and presenteeism matter most when it comes to a company’s productivity. Absenteeism is when employees have taken a day of absence from the workplace. The employee will either call insick, have a family emergency or a prior engagement.

Presenteeism, on the other hand, means being present but not being productive due to illness, lack of motivation or work overload, says Sherry. “A big contribution to presenteeism is chronic diseases or disorders. The major issue with employees who suffer from presenteeism for companies is that the cost is the same while the output of work is reduced.

“And these are the issues that we are trying to address by engaging our employees in wellness programmes that would benefit them as well as the company,” she explains.

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

The corporate wellness programmes comprise comprehensive health and lifestyle management activities which aims to increase employees’ health and job satisfaction as well as productivity and decrease presenteeism, among others.

“Itstartswithusgettingacomprehensive insight into employees’ health through screenings. Employers should encourage staff to maintain a healthy work/life balance at all times. Sherry says offering wellness programmes for employees brings positive results for both employers and employees.

That helps us to identify those who are at high risk and design programmes to support and assist them in taking care of their health before it’s too late,” says Sherry.

Besides exercise sessions at the workplace, employees are also given support by a team of experts in health education, nutrition, disease and stress management and motivation throughout the programmes.

“The programmes have had a positive impact on us as employers as well as our employees. On average, the programmes resulted in 28 per cent reduction in sick leave, 26 per cent reduction in medical costs and 8 per cent increase in productivity, among others,” she adds.