How does the employer benefit by creating a healthier workplace?

In our last monthly newsletter in October we commented briefly on the relevance of “ mental health week” from an employer’s perspective.   In particular, we highlighted how the employer is being held increasingly accountable under workplace OHS legislation for the health and well-being (especially mental health ) of their staff members.

Based on a range of international workforce data, typically on any given day in the workplaces of industrialised countries, 4 out of every 10 staff will feel stressed by their heavy volume of workload.  Significantly it is estimated that over half of the multi – billion dollar losses associated with annual absenteeism of employees are stress related.

The correlations and program implications are worth noting for any quality employer. Specifically:-

• choose to implement an integrated workplace health and wellness program that can deliver both physical and mental health benefits for your staff,
• enjoy seeing their stress levels drop and
• reap the business rewards of a significant drop in lost working days due to absenteeism.

A second major benefit to employers who adopt a health and wellness focus on mental fitness as part of their staff development budget is that the costs of having half hearted, tired, irritable and poorly focused team members on the job will be slashed.

In a US workforce study, the issue of “Presenteeism” – where a worker is physically present in the workplace but has diminished productivity – was noted by 60% of employees to be caused by their inability to manage their high stress levels at both home and at work.

Ultimately, healthier workers ( mentally and physically ) become happier staff members, who on average:-

• spend double the time at work
• focus on their core duties
• take ten times less annual sick leave,
• and stay productively in their jobs for nearly twice as long as their less happy and less healthy colleagues.