Imagine a company with happy, healthy employees, who handle the daily stresses of their job with ease and equanimity. Many studies have shown a link between job satisfaction and health, and some of the signs that your organisation is suffering are: sickness, absence, employee turnover, little socialization between employees, employees lunching at their desk (and you thought this meant they had high work ethics), no atmosphere, and low morale. (C. Cooper, 2006)
The key to better employee job satisfaction and a happier, healthier workplace is by leading people and leading your organisation in a way that promotes qualities of confidence, self esteem and health and proves to your employees that you have their interests as a part of your bottom line. Did you know that by utilising a Corporate Wellness Program in your company you can expect not only better employee morale but you will have a higher performing organization and greater results.
It is a cause and effect solution in how human capital and other seemingly intangible assets are linked to create a process, that enhances customer and financial results. Can you afford not to bring in a Corporate Wellness Program and still expect your company to thrive?
Speak to any business manager and the answer is the same: retention is a key issue that effect business success. "Companies often invest heavily in recruitment and development, yet many aren't taking the necessary steps to protect and retain that investment," states a top business coach when broached on the subject. It is a well proven fact that businesses large and small benefit on multiple fronts when they introduce a Corporate health and fitness program into their workplace. Positive outcomes of employee and managerial health and fitness solution are:
Reducing absenteeism and related costs
Staff recruitment and retention
Improving staff morale, motivation and productivity
Lowering the risk of stress and musculoskeletal related litigation
Can help as an integral part of your health and safety policy
Helping employees cope with stress related problems
Provide early intervention with diagnostic scanning
More and more managers are waking up to the benefits of workplace well being. It's clear that if we take healthy people and place them in an unhealthy environment - no matter what degree of hardiness and resilience they may have to begin with - the unhealthy environment will create unhealthy individuals. Is that how you sometimes feel? You arrived there full of energy and now you are stressed up to the max... or perhaps just the thought of going into work makes you feel mentally or even physically ill?
The symptoms are often difficult to treat and easily misdiagnosed because they hide behind other primary disorders such as... chronic absenteeism, nagging colds and flu, mental and physical illness as well as a lingering sense of dissatisfaction around the workplace. More often now we here reports of employees suing their company for putting them under stress. In one extreme case a Telstra employee committed suicide due to work related pressures... Makes you cringe, doesn't it?
Statistics reveal that the costs associated with loss of workplace well being can create a myriad of problems i.e. the occasional mental health day, or "sicky", is more often than not used to address family responsibility, social outings, friends associations, etc. Ultimately faced with mounting pressure, some employees simply just leave, at more often than not inconvenient times, leaving a big mess for some other unfortunate employee to clean up.
A recent survey of 1,100 Australians found that 25% of workers consider themselves to be desk potatoes, while 21% are tied to their desks for six to eight hours without a chance to stretch their legs. The survey, conducted by recruitment firm Talent2, also found that 47% of workers believe employers have an obligation to encourage and even subsidise fitness at work. In 2003, 38 per cent of AMP's employees participated in a health promotion activity. Of these, 98% found it beneficial and 68% were inspired to make a lifestyle change.
Popular programs can include: massage, yoga, pilates, nutrition, weight loss, smoking cessation, and exercise and can also include boot camps of various types to suit your organization. These program can build team cohesiveness, greater job satisfaction, and have wellness benefits that will eventuate in greater success for the entire company.
'balancenoosa' specialise in the preparation and administration of Corporate Massage, Pilates, Yoga and Corporate Fitness Programs. We are flexible with booking arrangements. We prefer to visit your premises and determine the optimal format for your session. We gauge factors such as the space available, lighting, number of participants and their skill level. Reward an entire team with pilates and massage, or energise a team with a fitness program and yoga. Perhaps a morning stretch class would do the trick?
One of our uniquely tailored 'balancenoosa' Corporate Wellness solutions will assist employees in dealing with the situation at hand i.e. the work load may remain the same, they will have more control of their emotions feelings and general well being. It's the Supervisors or Manages job to make the work load manageable. It's our job to ensure the people doing the job have a healthy mind set and the ability to complete the work and at the same time not becoming burnt out.
Helen Eames owns 'balancenoosa' an innovative business whose motto is, "wellness that comes to you" set in the heart of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, Qld. Australia. 'balancenoosa' specialises in bringing specialist in different disciplines to your premises, allowing you to book the session of your choice and wait in the comfort of your own home.
'balancenoosa' also specialises in Corporate Wellness Solutions suitable for any organisation and Helen Eames the owner can be contacted via the website at: http://balancenoosa.com.au/
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Corporate-Wellness-Solutions-To-In-Corporate-Balance-Into-Your-Business&id=1108553] Corporate Wellness Solutions To In-Corporate 'Balance' Into Your Business
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Tips on Improving Corporate Health & Fitness
Employers can and should encourage healthy lifestyles from their employees. It not only improves their productivity which is good for the company, it DIRECTLY saves health care costs!
An amazing study just came out of Duke University. The study looked at workers' compensation data for 11,728 Duke University employees who received health-risk appraisals over a seven-year period.
What were the results for obese employees (compared to those who are not obese) as published in the Journal of Internal Medicine?
* Obese employees filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims
* Obese employees' medical costs from those claims were seven times higher
* Obese employees stayed out of work 13 times longer after a work-related injury or illness
* Obese employees medical claims cost per 100 employees per year was 51,019 USD compared to $7,503 USD for non-obese workers
* Obese employees lost 183 days of work per 100 employees as compared to 14 days for non-obese workers (that's 13 times more!)
Yeah but those guys were OBESE. Well it doesn't look good for the overweight/mildly obese either...
* Overweight employees took four times the number of days off after being injured or getting sick at work.
* Mildly obese employees took five times as many days off after being injured or getting sick at work.
And what are employers doing? The study reveals that...
"As many as 40 percent of employers are giving workers products, cash or health insurance discounts to lose weight," said Laura Linnan, the study's principal investigator and a professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health.
Employers are getting scared off as well. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, assistant professor of medicine and health economist at Stanford University co-authored a 2005 study that showed employers compensate for anticipated higher medical costs of obese workers by paying them less than slimmer employees and passing them over for promotions.
What are we gathering from this?
Being fat is bad for employees (that's most of us) because it costs us in terms of career advancement and money, and its bad for employers because its affecting their profit margins when they pay for all these health costs.
Simple problem yes, simple to fix, not quite. We need to approach this troubling issue with a corporate fitness solution. 3 things that employers must do...
1. Adopt a fitness culture starting from the CEO knowing that it is best for the company
"We all know obesity is bad for the individual, but it isn't solely a personal medical problem -- it spills over into the workplace and has concrete economic costs," Dr. Truls Ostbye -author and professor of community and family medicine.
Well, if its not a personal or private medical problem then it becomes a community problem. That means the problem is larger, but the solution is also more permanent. Community solutions just work better. They work for gang violence and for addiction to vices. From my experiences as a fitness professional, community solutions work for health goals as well. Kickboxing, pilates, yoga, aerobics and other fitness classes or group activities have a higher penetration rate (about 12-15% in most health clubs) than personal training (2-3%). I believe that people stay on longer in group classes as well.
A community solution to corporate fitness has to be built into the company culture. Usually this is dictated by a CEO or a board of directors. If they are reading this article they are probably aware of the health challenges facing companies in this day and age. They are also probably aware that companies which have an adaptive culture that is able to handle changing circumstances tend to do really really well. 2-3 times as well profit-wise according to some studies. In addition, setting a fitness culture shows concern for employees (and allows them to be more productive) and in the long run costs less than paying for medical bills. As a minor side note, your employees will look healthy too and that in itself has its own host of benefits.
Once the CEO has decided that a fitness culture is needed and is in fact the course that the company needs to take, he can implement it in the same way he makes most culture changes.
* Align your company culture with your strategic goals (being fit saves money, makes your employees more productive and more attractive to customers, and increases profit)
* Develop a specific action plan that can leverage the good things in your current culture and correct the unaligned areas. (free employee breakfasts on Fridays may be good, but making it doughnuts and pancakes is BAD)
* Brainstorm improvements in your formal policies and daily practices. (allocate some work time to fitness and health education and activities, ensure managers lead by example, bringing healthy food into the cafeteria, allow 15 min breaks during work for healthy snacks)
* Develop models of the desired actions and behaviors. (how many hours a week minimum that an employee must exercise, social support and encouragement to make healthy eating not just acceptable but preferable, all management staff must enthusiastically take part)
* Communicate the new corporate fitness culture to all employees (tell everybody about it)
* Over-communicate the new corporate fitness culture and its actions to everyone. (tell everybody about it again and again, with checks to ensure that the new culture is followed)
Remember, often people don't do what you EXPECT. They do what you INSPECT.
2. Look for a professional you can trust
A respected fitness professional is a real asset to a corporation. Think about it. Companies get accounting firms to do their accounts and taxes, they get law firms to do their legal documents, and they get business consultants to check their business processes. So is it a big stretch to think that they should get a fitness professional to take care of company health and fitness?
Not at all. The best fitness pros will know how to approach corporate fitness. They will be able to advise on the set up of health facilities, run fitness classes, be good public speakers on more general topics like nutrition, and be able to give individual training programs for more difficult cases of extreme obesity or employees with past injuries and medical conditions.
3. Only accept success
No CEO would accept sub-standard work by an employee, neither would they accept failure on important projects, they wouldn't accept a lack of integrity with regard to finance either. Shouldn't this be the case with the company fitness program?
Like I mentioned in point 1, this new program has to be enforced. It's a kind of "tough love" that needs to happen. Hey Mr. CEO...take attendance at fitness classes, walk around the cafeteria at lunch to see what people are eating, do your managers speak as positively and motivationally about the fitness program as they do about meeting project deadlines?
There are only good things that can come out of a corporation that has a fitness focus. Corporate fitness has come a long way. I do know of companies that have gyms and health facilities for their staff.
But as usual we need to look for the person before we provide the place and the program. In this case there are 2 people. The fearless CEO with a vision and the fitness professional who can deliver the results.
Coach Jonathan Wong, is a sought after Singapore personal trainer and performance expert who has helped hundreds of clients in Singapore achieve their fitness, fat loss and sports performance goals. He is also a fitness author and a member of Singapore Men's Health Advisory Panel. Visit his website for a free 1500 page e-book, blog, newsletter and constant updates. http://www.coachjon.com
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-on-Improving-Corporate-Health-and-Fitness&id=1882279] Tips on Improving Corporate Health & Fitness
An amazing study just came out of Duke University. The study looked at workers' compensation data for 11,728 Duke University employees who received health-risk appraisals over a seven-year period.
What were the results for obese employees (compared to those who are not obese) as published in the Journal of Internal Medicine?
* Obese employees filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims
* Obese employees' medical costs from those claims were seven times higher
* Obese employees stayed out of work 13 times longer after a work-related injury or illness
* Obese employees medical claims cost per 100 employees per year was 51,019 USD compared to $7,503 USD for non-obese workers
* Obese employees lost 183 days of work per 100 employees as compared to 14 days for non-obese workers (that's 13 times more!)
Yeah but those guys were OBESE. Well it doesn't look good for the overweight/mildly obese either...
* Overweight employees took four times the number of days off after being injured or getting sick at work.
* Mildly obese employees took five times as many days off after being injured or getting sick at work.
And what are employers doing? The study reveals that...
"As many as 40 percent of employers are giving workers products, cash or health insurance discounts to lose weight," said Laura Linnan, the study's principal investigator and a professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health.
Employers are getting scared off as well. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, assistant professor of medicine and health economist at Stanford University co-authored a 2005 study that showed employers compensate for anticipated higher medical costs of obese workers by paying them less than slimmer employees and passing them over for promotions.
What are we gathering from this?
Being fat is bad for employees (that's most of us) because it costs us in terms of career advancement and money, and its bad for employers because its affecting their profit margins when they pay for all these health costs.
Simple problem yes, simple to fix, not quite. We need to approach this troubling issue with a corporate fitness solution. 3 things that employers must do...
1. Adopt a fitness culture starting from the CEO knowing that it is best for the company
"We all know obesity is bad for the individual, but it isn't solely a personal medical problem -- it spills over into the workplace and has concrete economic costs," Dr. Truls Ostbye -author and professor of community and family medicine.
Well, if its not a personal or private medical problem then it becomes a community problem. That means the problem is larger, but the solution is also more permanent. Community solutions just work better. They work for gang violence and for addiction to vices. From my experiences as a fitness professional, community solutions work for health goals as well. Kickboxing, pilates, yoga, aerobics and other fitness classes or group activities have a higher penetration rate (about 12-15% in most health clubs) than personal training (2-3%). I believe that people stay on longer in group classes as well.
A community solution to corporate fitness has to be built into the company culture. Usually this is dictated by a CEO or a board of directors. If they are reading this article they are probably aware of the health challenges facing companies in this day and age. They are also probably aware that companies which have an adaptive culture that is able to handle changing circumstances tend to do really really well. 2-3 times as well profit-wise according to some studies. In addition, setting a fitness culture shows concern for employees (and allows them to be more productive) and in the long run costs less than paying for medical bills. As a minor side note, your employees will look healthy too and that in itself has its own host of benefits.
Once the CEO has decided that a fitness culture is needed and is in fact the course that the company needs to take, he can implement it in the same way he makes most culture changes.
* Align your company culture with your strategic goals (being fit saves money, makes your employees more productive and more attractive to customers, and increases profit)
* Develop a specific action plan that can leverage the good things in your current culture and correct the unaligned areas. (free employee breakfasts on Fridays may be good, but making it doughnuts and pancakes is BAD)
* Brainstorm improvements in your formal policies and daily practices. (allocate some work time to fitness and health education and activities, ensure managers lead by example, bringing healthy food into the cafeteria, allow 15 min breaks during work for healthy snacks)
* Develop models of the desired actions and behaviors. (how many hours a week minimum that an employee must exercise, social support and encouragement to make healthy eating not just acceptable but preferable, all management staff must enthusiastically take part)
* Communicate the new corporate fitness culture to all employees (tell everybody about it)
* Over-communicate the new corporate fitness culture and its actions to everyone. (tell everybody about it again and again, with checks to ensure that the new culture is followed)
Remember, often people don't do what you EXPECT. They do what you INSPECT.
2. Look for a professional you can trust
A respected fitness professional is a real asset to a corporation. Think about it. Companies get accounting firms to do their accounts and taxes, they get law firms to do their legal documents, and they get business consultants to check their business processes. So is it a big stretch to think that they should get a fitness professional to take care of company health and fitness?
Not at all. The best fitness pros will know how to approach corporate fitness. They will be able to advise on the set up of health facilities, run fitness classes, be good public speakers on more general topics like nutrition, and be able to give individual training programs for more difficult cases of extreme obesity or employees with past injuries and medical conditions.
3. Only accept success
No CEO would accept sub-standard work by an employee, neither would they accept failure on important projects, they wouldn't accept a lack of integrity with regard to finance either. Shouldn't this be the case with the company fitness program?
Like I mentioned in point 1, this new program has to be enforced. It's a kind of "tough love" that needs to happen. Hey Mr. CEO...take attendance at fitness classes, walk around the cafeteria at lunch to see what people are eating, do your managers speak as positively and motivationally about the fitness program as they do about meeting project deadlines?
There are only good things that can come out of a corporation that has a fitness focus. Corporate fitness has come a long way. I do know of companies that have gyms and health facilities for their staff.
But as usual we need to look for the person before we provide the place and the program. In this case there are 2 people. The fearless CEO with a vision and the fitness professional who can deliver the results.
Coach Jonathan Wong, is a sought after Singapore personal trainer and performance expert who has helped hundreds of clients in Singapore achieve their fitness, fat loss and sports performance goals. He is also a fitness author and a member of Singapore Men's Health Advisory Panel. Visit his website for a free 1500 page e-book, blog, newsletter and constant updates. http://www.coachjon.com
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-on-Improving-Corporate-Health-and-Fitness&id=1882279] Tips on Improving Corporate Health & Fitness
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
