Corporate wellness programs speak broadly about the overall benefits for businesses, such as how these programs can save companies money while leading to higher employee productivity and increased job satisfaction and morale. The Emera Wellness Guiding Principles not only speaks to these advantages but also demonstrates how—by using its strategies—corporations can create a sustainable, healthy work culture, reflected through a reduction in short- and long-term disability (LTD) cases, a reduction in Workers’ Compensation (WC) premiums and a double-digit return on investment (ROI).
The Emera Wellness Guiding Principles focuses on five key strategies, which are implemented by a cross-functional team. The key belief is that wellness is a vehicle through which a business can facilitate positive cultural change.
The principles rest on a humanistic perspective: each of us is responsible for our own health, and we have the capacity for making sensible, self-guided choices regarding our health. It is critical that employers encourage employees to become involved in decision-making to the fullest extent possible.
Maintaining employee engagement is key in helping employees take this responsibility for their health. Engagement is the relationship between the healthcare team and the employees, and is built on trust and respect. Keeping the employee engaged is vital, whether he or she is at work, away from work, on WC or on LTD. Engagement keeps the employee attached to the workplace and shows that the employer cares.
Engagement and empowerment are intimately intertwined. They allow the corporate health team to assist employees in identifying perceived barriers to work and how to alleviate them. This may include creating a workplace that has innovative accommodations, finding ways for an employee to learn a new skill set while awaiting surgery or recovering from an illness or injury, or making work available to the employee in a home setting.
Keeping an employee engaged and feeling cared for while at work requires real-time intervention when a health issue arises. Whether the issue is a specialist appointment, a need to see a nurse or a physician, or a need to discuss a personal issue, the employer should take action immediately.
The Emera Wellness Guiding Principles looks toward the future as well. Emphasizing a holistic prevention strategy, the principles recommend ensuring that employees have access to the following: primary healthcare, a health team on-site, specialists and specialty procedures when needed, and other intervention strategies associated with health promotion. The principles provide employees with avenues to obtain and maintain their health.
For Emera/Nova Scotia Power, the combination of the five strategies embedded in the Emera Wellness Guiding Principles has led to an average annual sick time per employee of 4.22 days (50% lower than the national average), WC premiums of $0.86 per 100 employees, an average of 250 days for an employee to return to work after LTD (where the norm is 401 days) and an ROI of $8.20 for every dollar invested.
Heather Beaudoin is the HR manager, health and wellness, for Emera/Nova Scotia Power. Dr. Mike Ryan is the physician for Emera/Nova Scotia Power.
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