When organizational health is optimized, employee health improves and people thrive—and their workplaces do, too.
The overall life expectancy of Canadians is increasing, and they are staying in the workforce longer. Alongside this trend are rising absenteeism rates and lost productivity costs, and an aging workforce will further strain drug and disability costs for employers.
“Unscheduled absence is a serious problem that no one can continue to ignore, either from a cost or from a productivity perspective,” said Colleen Hutchings, director, organizational health, practice excellence & innovation, with Sun Life Financial.
According to Hutchings, the changing Canadian landscape of absence and disability management means promoting a healthy, safe work environment is essential “in order to ensure that organizations maintain their competitive edge.”
Hutchings, quoting K. Bachmann in More Than Just Hard Hats and Safety Boots (Conference Board of Canada, 2000), noted that “to achieve high levels of employee productivity, efficiency and morale, leading executives have learned they need to address workplace health and wellness in an integrated fashion.”
Focus on prevention
Influencing factors on employee health are an individual’s personal health, as well as organizational health. For organizations, Hutchings said, the primary focus must remain on prevention, with initiatives that promote wellness and prevent disability. She believes it’s important for the entire stakeholder team to work together to lower employee turnover and improve employee satisfaction.
At the same time, a company’s HR strategy should support, and be strategically aligned with, the organization’s business goals. As part of the process, Hutchings underscored the importance of regular, transparent, consistent and repeated employee communication. “We should be making sure we’ve built in regular communication strategies,” she added.
Hutchings also provided a case study of a large Canadian educational institution that built an integrated team model and restructured employee health, shifting the focus from employee health to organizational health. With a focus on building community, its organizational health initiatives included activities incorporating healthy workplace concepts, building a robust structure around volunteerism and new employee recognition programs. Positive outcomes included falling controllable disability rates and a significant reduction in disability plan costs (22%), as well as higher employee engagement scores.
All the articles from the event can be found in our special section: 2015 Calgary Benefits Summit Coverage.
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