Corporate wellness is quite a new concept debunking the old theory that to reach success in the workplace, employees should literally work themselves to death.
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“Corporations are realising the value of their employee’s health and wellness,” said Sandra Coetzee from Energy, a company specialising in human dynamics management.
She presented a session on the value of corporate health at the 5th Discovery Vitality Fitness Conference being held at Vodaworld in Johannesburg from 28 February to 1 March.
Coetzee emphasised how the health and wellbeing of the employee not only benefit the worker, but the employer as well – as a healthy worker is also a productive worker.
“The health of the employee raises the individual’s quality of life, but also means a more productive worker, less disability and therefore fewer medical claims. This has an impact on the bottom line.”
Many illnesses preventable
According to Coetzee preventable illnesses (or non-communicable diseases) are responsible for between 40 and 65 percent of illness and 41 percent of deaths – many of them among the middle-aged workforce. Effective health management could have prevented most of these deaths.
Weight problems, smoking, stress and inactivity are some of the main culprits causing diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart problems and lung cancer.
“Among the workforce with an elevated body mass index (BMI) an average of 4.2 sick days are taken annually for weight-related health issues. Depression leads to an average of 5.7 days of sick leave and cholesterol problems as many as 6.8 days.”
These averages show the considerable amount of productive working hours lost due to illness that could have been prevented.
Coetzee stressed that although it’s important to encourage lifestyle changes among the high-risk (unhealthy) employees, it’s also important to keep healthy workers focused on retaining their healthy routines.
About the conference
The Discovery Vitality Fitness conference is a collaborative effort between the Sport and Science Institute of South Africa and Discovery Health, and allows health and fitness industry leaders and role players to come together and enjoy the experience, enthusiasm and energy that this industry has.
The speaker line-up includes big names such as world-renowned sports science expert Prof Tim Noakes, South Africa’s former Springbok rugby coach, Jake White, Lewis Pugh, the man known as the human polar bear for being the first person to complete a long-distance swim at the North Pole, and many others.
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