Working to get fit

The recently published White Paper from the Department of Health highlights that employers can play a vital role in helping their staff reduce stress levels and stay healthy. Whilst Sona, a leading provider of in-house corporate Fitness and Lifestyle Centres agrees with this view, it recommends that employers should look beyond simply offering corporate gym membership. By adopting an integrated approach to positive health, companies will achieve a healthier, happier and more productive workforce.

Only 49% of employers have set targets to reduce sickness absence reports the White Paper, but the benefits of an integrated wellness programme can significantly contribute to reducing the risk of absenteeism. Illness is estimated to cost UK business 40 billion per year, with the average annual absence rate currently at 7.8 days. Add to this the fact that stress litigation claims are rising four-fold, a greater proportion of businesses should be taking measures to reduce the vulnerability of its bottom line against employee ill health.

Explains Dr Sabine Donnai of Sona: An in-house facility should offer your employees much more than just a fitness centre. An employer needs to work in partnership with key groups within its organisation, whether it be the restaurant, occupational health or human resources. And the implementation of a programme must reach out to all employees, via health promotions, events, seminars and the like. Itís simple. Get to the heart of your business and speak to people directly to establish what it is that will benefit them most.

The White Paper stresses the importance of good health and safety management to reduce the risk of acute diseases and injuries. Recent research has linked lack of job control, monotonous work and an imbalance between effort and reward with an increased risk of coronary heart disease and other health problems such as stress, which leads to mental and physical ill-health. Furthermore, the Government paper says that employment can lead to better physical and mental rehabilitation for employees who have suffered a bout of ill health, rather than staying at home for long periods of convalescence. For many conditions, inactivity compounds poor health and leads to long-term absence. Employers should recognise the benefits of a healthy workforce and make efforts to bring people, who have been on sick leave, back to work.

Concludes Dr Sabine Donnai: Ground breaking work with one of our key clients has seen Sona save an estimated 3 million by avoiding lost productivity time. 84% of the employees we surveyed using a Sona fitness facility said that on-site facilities enhanced their performance and productivity at work, whilst a further 79% ranked access to an on-site fitness facility among their highest valued benefits. The crucial thing to remember is that by providing an integrated programme that benefits all employees of all ages and all levels of fitness, businesses can benefit from a motivated, healthy workforce. Improved performance is good for business and good for staff morale.