Workplace wellness comes of age
25/02/2010
|
1
comments
With the influx of over $1bn in State and Federal funding over the next few years, the peak body of the workplace wellness in industry in Australia, The Health and Productivity Institute of Australia (HAPIA), has released guidelines to ensure the industry delivers outcomes for Australian businesses in terms of illness/injury, absence, productivity and workcover claims.
The guidelines provide further insight into the maturity of the industry. Recent evidence on outcomes from numerous Australian and International studies show that workplace health has moved beyond a minimalist compliance with state/federal OH&S legislation, to one that pro-actively manages the health of workers for significant economic benefit.
The release of the HAPIA 'Best-Practice Guidelines for Workplace Health in Australia' signals the coming of age of an industry that only a few years back provided some of the 'nice to do, but not imperative' services to Australian employees/employers.
With ageing workforce and productivity issues now becoming critical for the future success of employers, and the nation, the timely release of these best practice guidelines show businesses, government, health insurers how to maximise the return on investment in workplace health programs.
"Evidence shows the average Australian worker has around four health risks, almost one third have five. The impact on workforce productivity is significant with recent studies showing that five or more risk factors lead to a productivity loss of around 33% compared to the 14% exhibited by low risk employees. This means one third of the working population is performing nearly 20% below capacity. Two recent reviews put the cost of this productivity loss at around $30bn per annum," commented Dr John Lang, president of HAPIA.
Until now, there has been no consensus as to what constitutes a rigorous, evidence based approach to workplace health promotion in Australia.
The release of these guidelines will provide State and Federal governments, as well as employers, private health insurers and industry groups with sound advice in relation to the most cost effective program design for any workplace health program.
Latest Comments
Total:
1
comment(s)
Christine Maingard on
26 Feb 2010 11:13 AM
There is now solid evidence that stress has become the number one cause of workplace absenteeism and employee disengagement. Workplace wellness may well have come of age but it still is only a small percentage of employers that address stress concerns effectively; that is, taking strong action to deal with both the root causes and the symptoms.
What are the answers to these challenging realities? These can be found in positive psychology and mindfulness, an emerging field with powerful approaches that transform negative cognitive behaviours into positive ones. Mindfulness, based on latest research, is recognised as an enabler of optimal psychological health. It uses strategies that help individuals change their relationship to their own thinking. It is changing from the 'inside-out' and through it individuals, teams and organisations can reach a higher degree of resilience and wellbeing with profound positive impact. Resonant leadership, optimal engagement, reduced levels of absenteeism, significantly lower levels of staff turnover and increased customer satisfaction are some of the most significant outcomes that can be achieved.
The key message is that workplace wellness can improve dramatically when we learn to change the relationship to our own thinking through a 'Think Less Be More' approach.
Dr Christine Maingard, Author of "THINK LESS, BE MORE"
http://www.thinklessbemore.com http://www.mindfulstrategies.com.au