Employee wellness

Written by Angela Goemans-Leith

Employee wellness is an important matter in the workplace. When thinking about wellness, the absence of illness often comes to mind. However, wellness also includes good mental and physical health and wellbeing. As such, it is not simply lacking a negative state, but it is the active presence of a positive state through which employees can thrive. Employee wellness is vital to their employers’ success for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, poor physical and mental health can directly impact the running and expenses of an organisation. In 2021, Vitality UK conducted a study on workplace health. Although the findings are not directly applicable to the South African context, they offer food for thought. Vitality found that employees lose 14.6% of their working hours each year due to presenteeism and absenteeism.

Presenteeism entails employees being physically present at work but disengaged, while absenteeism includes employees simply not coming to work. Both tend to be caused by physical or mental illness. Accounting for annual leave entitlements as required by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and South Africa’s 12 public holidays, this would translate to 34-35 working days being lost per employee per year in South Africa.

Additionally, Vitality UK found that financial concerns were common in the workplace, with those having financial concerns being half as productive as their more secure colleagues. As such, stress over finances reduces employees’ quality and quantity of work.

Good employee wellness, on the other hand, can reduce the direct and indirect costs of absenteeism, presenteeism and low productivity. Some of the benefits of caring for employees’ wellbeing include:

• Better recruitment and retention of mentally and physically healthy employees.
• Decreased costs for health care.
• Fewer employee illnesses and injuries.
• More successfully obtained company goals.
• Improved staff morale.
• Heightened employee productivity.

Each of these factors leads to more efficient, more effective organisations that achieve their objectives because employees are working at their full potential and collectively function at optimal levels.

As such, businesses should actively and strategically promote a healthy diet, physical activity and mental health. There are several ways you can do this. One solution is to make company-wide use of products that can assist your employees with their wellness.

At Human Alliance, we offer a product that assists employees and their families with many of the challenges they may face, including legal, tax, financial, debt or trauma related issues. Such problems create undue stress and consequently affect the wellbeing of employees.

Click here to read more about this benefit and discover the impact that this service can have on employees’ wellness and consequently your organisation.

References:

• https://www.pwc.co.za/en/press-room/employee-wellness-is-important-to-organisational-success–but-a-.html
• https://www.discovery.co.za/corporate/employer-news-employee-wellness
• https://www.vitality.co.uk/business/healthiest-workplace/findings/

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your legal adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)