Do corporate health and wellbeing programs pay off?

A great question if you are thinking about offering your staff a health and wellbeing program or even just a “talk from an expert”.

How does one measure these things?

Here are some ideas that may help you make up your mind.

1.Productivity can be lost or augmented!

Businesses are reliant on making money and cash flow.

These are often reliant on productivity. As soon as a human is involved there are many variables. Some are in your control but many are not (for example, if you staff member drink copious amounts of alcohol every night, if they sleep well, if they are competent in their role etc.)

Productivity can be lost from:

a. sick leave

b. turn over

c. presenteeism

d. workers compensation

e. chronic health problems

f. poor health

g. poor workplace design

2. HOW can one measure the impact of a health and wellbeing program?

This is tricky and fortunately over the last 20 years, companies and businesses have started measuring the impact of health and wellbeing programs on their staff and bottom line. This is what has been found:

a. sick leave drops by 25%

b. workers compenstation costs drop by 40%

c. for every $1 invested in employee’s health and wellbeing you will save $5.81

3. What do staff report?

I have been doing corporate presentations for over 15 years. Time and time again, after giving a presentation, I will receive emails from individuals who feel for once someone has listened and values them. Now, from my perspective this is great – I have connected with an individual and hopefully inspired them to make some positive health changes, but for the company, this has meant greater productivity, greater appreciation and less likely that this staff member will take their 10 days of sick leave a year (Australian Average in 2011).

What should you do with this information?

I think it’s important to play a leadership and mentoring role as an employer. The positive actions taken to value add to your employees’ lives will go appreciated and come back to you many times over.

It will also mean that your bottom line is better protected and you are directly fostering an ethos of “we care.”

If you would like to know more about corporate presentations, how much they may cost you, what topics you may wish to present, feel free to drop me an email. I am only too happy to help you work out where, who and what to talk about in your workplace.

Send your emails to sam@sambeaupatrick.com.

REf: Australian Gov report “Benefits to Business: The Evidence for Investing in worker health and wellbeing” www.comcare.gov.au