Minimising risks

By proactively managing the health and wellbeing of your employees, you can do your business a world of good.

Risks that every organisation faces can be minimised with a carefully planned health and wellness solution.

Increasingly, health and productivity are gaining attention as relevant business issues. At a time when businesses are realising the importance of investing in human capital there has also been a shift in mindsets from health care as a cost that needs to be managed to health and productivity as a critical business investment.

What is wellness?

We believe the word ‘wellness’ describes being in a state of optimal wellbeing. It means feeling good most of the time - at work and at home - and having the ability to cope with life’s pressures in a positive manner.

The risk of reduced productivity

"An average $100 was lost for every employee absent for a day. For the whole economy, the savings from workplace health insurance in terms of loss of output avoided is $117 million a year."
Source: NZIER Research July 2008

New Zealand's medium-to-longer-run growth prospects and general standard of living critically depend upon its labour productivity performance. Relative to most OECD countries, the level of labour productivity in New Zealand is low and, when measured as GDP per worker, the historic growth performance has also been relatively poor. The apparently poor performance is a key concern for policymakers and has attracted much research attention.
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Research Bulletin 2007

The worse performing measures of the overall health of employees were:

• Body Mass Index (BMI): almost a third (29% were rated ‘overweight’ and a further third (34%) were rated ‘obese’.
• Stress level: almost half (43%) had poor to bad stress level ratings.
  
• Quality of life: almost a third of employees (29%) rated their quality of life as poor.

Nearly a fifth (18%) of the workforce have a health status equivalent to someone 10 or more years older, while more than half (53%) have a health status one to nine years greater than their actual age.

On average, an unhealthy worker takes around 60% more sick leave than a healthy worker.1 
 

Wellness is a win-win

Companies that are among the first to introduce wellness programmes are likely to benefit to a larger degree from potential productivity gains than those businesses that wait.

Importantly, investing in employee health can create a win-win situation for employers and employees alike. Employees can enjoy better health and improved quality of life while companies realise more productivity from their employees.2

People with Southern Cross health insurance take an average of 14 days off work due to illness requiring surgery, while uninsured New Zealanders take an average 48 days off work.3

 

The risk of increased worker absences

Women who reported high psychological job demands, such as working long hours or under pressure, were 75% more likely to suffer from depression or general anxiety disorder than women who reported the lowest level of psychological job demands.4

Obese people were two thirds more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke, and up to four times more likely to die of diabetes, kidney or liver problems. They were one sixth more likely to die of cancer.5

75% of people who are alcohol dependent are also employees.6

Three risk factors contribute to four chronic diseases, which cause over 50% of deaths worldwide. Tobacco use, poor diet and lack of physical activity contribute to the four major chronic diseases – heart disease, type 2 diabetes, chronic lung disease and many cancers.7

Have you considered the cost of employee absence to your business?

Direct costs of absence

• Daily rate of pay for replacement staff.
• Other costs incurred, i.e. overtime paid to other staff to cover the absence, engagement of temporary staff etc. 

Indirect costs of absence

• Time, paperwork and administration for the line manager and HR/Payroll.
• Inconvenience – the amount of manager’s time diverted from other management responsibilities e.g. finding replacement staff, reallocating work.
• Effect on other team members – added stress, morale, work not completed or missed deadlines.
• Lapse in quality due to overworked team members or poorly trained staff being substituted into an unfamiliar role.
• Impact on customers – upset customers due to missed timelines or issues with quality.

Health and wellness programmes can contribute to increased productivity by supporting your employees’ ability to achieve and reducing the number of sick days taken. A healthier workforce also results in stronger ‘championing’ of the company to others.

The risk of losing your best people

There is a shortage of skilled workers in New Zealand. Of New Zealanders departing long-term to other countries, 50 per cent were highly skilled, 23 per cent skilled and 26 per cent semi-skilled or elementary.8

Generation Y (people born after the mid 1970s) employees are primarily motivated by career development and would sacrifice loyalty to a current employer to achieve it.

To retain Generation Y, improved annual leave and subsidised health benefits are highly rated.9

A survey showed that 25% would not be able to fund an imminent need for an elective surgical procedure costing $5000 (up from 22% a year ago), and 35% would be reliable on health insurance to fund the survey (up from 24% a year ago).10

The risk of injuries

No business wants to see any of its workers get injured on the job yet, despite health and safety regulations which encourage safe work practices, workplace accidents do occur frequently.

In New Zealand in 2007, there were 231,300 claims to ACC for work-related injuries and 67 work-related fatalities.  The manufacturing, construction, agriculture, forestry and fishing industries accounted for 36 percent of all claims. Workers aged 65 years and over had a higher rate of claims than any other age group.11

Southern Cross offer a specialist injury management service for employers who are accredited under the ACC Partnership Programme. By partnering with employers we can help reduce workplace injury risk and provide best practice case management and rehabilitation to achieve earlier return-to-work outcomes.

The risk of a flu outbreak

The flu affects between 10-20% of the population each year.12

The flu can have a major financial impact on businesses when workers become ill. With a well-timed flu vaccination programme, you can minimise the potential for disruption.

Over the 2010 season, Southern Cross helped to protect more than 8,500 employees from influenza with our workplace influenza vaccination programme. To find out more about our flu vaccination programme, please contact your Southern Cross account manager or call 0800 323 555.

Sources:
1. TNS Conversa, Nov 2009
2. Australia. Sick at Work, Medibank Private, 2007
3. TNS Conversa, Oct 2004
4. Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study, University of Otago
5. Source: University of Oxford, March 2009.
6. Business in the Community, Wealth from Health, October 2007
7. http://www.3four50.com/
8. NZ Herald Saturday Sep 13, 2008
9. 2008 Survey of Employee Satisfaction and Motivation in New Zealand, Seek Limited, 2008.
10. TNS Conversa, Oct 2009
11. Statistics New Zealand. Injury Statistics – Work-related Claims: 2007, published 29 October 2008
12. Ministry of Health, http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/influenza-influenza