With workloads and retirement age increasing, employers have never taken greater interest in their staff's health and wellbeing
On the screen before me are eight traffic lights, each representing aspects of my personal wellbeing. The bottom is a green sea of optimism ? a maximum score of 100 for my weight, while my lifestyle and job satisfaction ratings are both also green-lighters. So far, so good.
But then, things go downhill. My sleep rating is just 47 out of 100 (that's an amber light), followed by 43, 39 and 32 for activity, stress and nutrition respectively. The worst is saved for the medical health category: a mere 28 out of 100, earning me a glaring red light with an exclamation mark in the middle. My overall health and wellbeing assessment is just 27 out of 100. By now, I'm half expecting the fire alarm to go off.
Consoling nuggets of advice pop up on screen: "Is it time for a check-up with your doctor? Get in the know by making an appointment to get your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels checked." I'm already on the phone to the GP before I've finished reading the sentence.
I am testing out Vielife Online, a personal wellbeing programme used by some businesses to help their staff make healthier lifestyle choices. The term "personal wellbeing programme" may not exactly set your pulse racing, but heeding the advice of one just might.
Such schemes are often regarded as company perks, designed to discourage employees from leaving and prod them gently into doing more work. However, as the population gets older, pension funds dwindle and the default retirement age is consigned to the dustbin of history, there are compelling reasons why more of us should worry about staying in working shape for longer. Even the government is getting in on the act, with plans to measure gross national wellbeing using official data.
American Express's director of wellness Breckon Jones, who conducted some of the UK's largest research programmes into the benefits of wellbeing at work during his time at Unilever, thinks change is in the air. "Over the next 10 years we'll definitely see the onus on wellbeing shift towards the individual," he says.
Many public sector bodies and larger private sector organisations have long seen wellbeing as a business benefit ? conducting audits, psychometric testing and generally trying to fine-tune their workforces. Physical health is not just the issue, either ? a 2009 study by Buck Consultants revealed stress to be the most pressing workplace health issue across most of the world (apart from in the US and Latin America where it has been replaced by lack of exercise and nutrition).
Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School, says more people are taking an interest in nurturing their "resilience", another former HR-speak expression fast crossing into the mainstream vocabulary that he defines as "the capability to maintain high performance and positive wellbeing" in relation to work. "There are now fewer people doing more work, as private organisations downsize to keep their labour costs low," he points out. "In the public sector you can see 25% reductions in staff, but the same work is there. Workers know they are going to have much higher workloads than they did even three years ago."
Dr Wolfgang Seidl, head of health management with business consulting group Mercer, says an ageing workforce will present employers and employees with huge challenges. "The abolition of the retirement age means workplaces in the future will be multi-generational," he says. "For the first time we are seeing a glimpse of workforces with four generations of workers in them. Looking after employees will be essential."
Vielife is one of several wellness systems on the market that identify areas of concern in a person's lifestyle and offers practical suggestions to improve them. Initial participation is via a short, online questionnaire, with users then encouraged to re-input the data periodically to monitor their progress.
At present, Vielife is only available by corporate subscription or through some health insurance providers who offer it as part of individual private medical insurance packages. "We are reviewing whether individual access is something we should offer," says Jessica Colling, its product director.
While I'm sceptical about the use of online questionnaires in relation to medical health issues, its traffic light system certainly captured my attention, and spurred me to get my blood glucose and cholesterol levels checked out.
Vielife's advice on other aspects of wellbeing is mostly low-key, such as switching to decaffeinated coffee in the afternoons to assist with sleep. But I do feel it could help me with nutrition, where it spots several gaps in my diet and urges me to consider upping my fruit and vegetable intake.
These are just two areas where Colling says employers can work with a programme to substantially boost its effectiveness. For example, a company could set up health clinics where employees can get their blood tested, as well as provide nutritional information with canteen meals to help people make healthier eating decisions.
Tracy Taggart, an assistant project engineer with public services provider Amey in Birmingham, says she has lost weight and regained energy thanks to a similar scheme operated by her employer. Taggart, 39, filled in an online health questionnaire provided by a company called Validium, Amey's employee assistance and wellbeing provider. "My initial score was on a par with what I thought it would be, but I've seen it improve quite dramatically," she says.
She did this by joining an eight-week healthy-eating programme, instigated by Amey at the start of every year. "I've lost a stone since Christmas," she says.
Ben Wilmott, an employee relations adviser with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, urges companies to take more interest in their workforce's wellbeing. "People have a huge interest in health and welcome support from employers to help them make better choices about what they eat and how they exercise," he says. "The key is, it has to be a partnership. If people feel they've helped the company shape the programme, they're much more likely to use it."
In the US, where businesses have to meet spiralling healthcare costs for their employees, a wealth of research shows how wellbeing schemes can be of benefit. A recent edition of the Harvard Business Review claims the cosmetics firm Johnson & Johnson saved $250m (�155m) on employee healthcare costs over the past decade thanks to its personal wellness programme, a return of $2.71 for every dollar spent.
In the UK research has focused more on the effects on absence levels. In 2005 Vielife ran a two-year programme with Unilever and the Institute for Health and Productivity Management, where 545 workers at the household products manufacturer were given health awareness materials, then assessed against 1,000 workers who were not. The percentage of time in which the more health-aware employees were seen to be working less effectively fell from 24.5% to 18.2%.
A couple of years ago, Unilever (under the auspices of Breckon Jones) ran another programme entitled Fit Business, monitoring 2,000 employees for blood pressure and body mass index, dietary advice and exercise over a year. Among the headline results, the proportion of employees with an overweight/obese or very obese BMI index fell 26% among factory workers and 9% among office staff.
But while it seems wellbeing progammes can help you lose weight, does that mean they are likely to make you any more effective at your job? In fact, research into the effects of obesity on work is inconclusive, with a 2009 study from Tohoku University in Japan suggesting people who are slightly overweight in middle age are likely to live longer than those who are very thin. Others point out that a reduction in sick days offers no proof that a "healthy" worker is any better at their job than an "unhealthy" one. Then there is the impact of the recession years when, it is argued, many workers avoided taking sick days simply for fear of being made redundant.
But Taggart thinks re-evaluating her health and diet regime has benefited the quality of her work: "I'm doing more exercise, so I feel more alert and I'm sleeping better," she says. "I'm getting a full night's sleep rather than catnaps, so when I get to work my head's actually working. I'm not feeling sluggish by three o'clock, which is what tended to happen when I wasn't eating a balanced diet. It has made a big difference."
One interesting finding from Unilever's Fit Business project was that workers reported feeling "happier". Coupled with research by University of Warwick economists last year claiming to have found a clear link between happiness and productivity, could this be closer to the heart of the matter?
As for me, a week later and my blood tests are back from the GP, all safely within the healthy ranges. I input them into Vielife and my overall rating rockets up to a much more encouraging 62 out of 100 ("Well done for taking control of your health!"), plenty of scope for improvement but with room for a little breathing space too. My personal wellness programme has strengthened my resolve to cycle into work more, but maybe now I'll give it a few weeks until the weather warms up.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/mar/05/fit-for-work-occupational-health
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