OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, FITNESS AND WELLBEING
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RESEARCH FINDINGS
| Research findings | |
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Best Practice in Occupational Health, Fitness and Wellbeing |
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ROY SHEPHERD - CANADIAN RESEARCHER
1986 'Fitness and Health in Industry', in Journal of Medicine and Sport Science, Vol 21.
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Canada Life Survey - based on 200 random fitness centre participants.
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84% reported significantly better health |
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9% reported lower stress 74% reported better self image |
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63% reported better work attitude |
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54% reported weight loss 7% rise in productivity |
Absenteeism
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People's Credit Jewelers dropped 23% |
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Goodyear Tyres in Sweden, 50% less |
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Dallas Police Force, 29% less |
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Metropolitan Life Insurance, 47% decrease |
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New York State Education Department, 40% decrease in sick leave. |
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Dallas Police Force cut sick leave and reduced incidence of low back problems after 6 month fitness program. |
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Johnson & Johnson decrease in sick day |
Productivity
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Four hours of exercise improved work performance and objective ratings of attention and concentration in telegraph workers. |
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4% increase in productivity on Ontario Health Insurance Plan data process operators |
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Dallas Police Force noted a 39% increase in officer
commendations after |
Back dysfunction
Although some industrial injuries arise from external
trauma, the most
common problem is internal trauma, usually affecting the spine.
Contributing factors include poor posture, obesity, lack of physical fitness and faulty technique. The prophylactic importance of good muscle condition is suggested by that fact that injuries are most common in industries where lifting is not a regular occurrence.
HEALTH CANADA
A healthy workplace ... it's money in the bank.
Research shows that healthy employees in a safe, healthy and supportive workplace help businesses to keep a competitive edge. You will:
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get and keep the best employees
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keep absenteeism rates down
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encourage employees to be fully productive
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reduce the number of injury and illness claims
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encourage a higher quality of work, more creativity and better client service
Many organizations recognize that healthy people are valuable assets to the company, and that taking an active approach to the health and well being of their employees gets results. Helping people who work for and with you to be physically and mentally healthy can have many benefits. Creating a healthy work environment can:
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increase morale
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increase productivity
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result in fewer accidents and compensation claims
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create a healthier workplace culture
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enhance recruiting potential and ability to keep valued employees
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reduce personal and organizational health care expenses, and
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reduce absenteeism due to illness
JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE 2003; 45: 11831195
Claxton et al.
(8) found that absenteeism increased in each of the 6 months before a depression diagnosis and then decreased in each of the 6 months after the onset of drug treatment for depression. In an earlier analysis, Rizzo et al. (9) used National Medical Expenditure Survey data and showed that treatment for hypertension, heart disease, and depression led to substantial reductions in absenteeism-related expenditures.
A study of 35 employers by the Institute for Health and Productivity Management (10)
showed a correlation between medical expenditures andabsenteeism and presenteeism for musculoskeletal, mental health, respiratory, and gastrointestinal health problems.
MONASH UNIVERSITY
Literature review by Monash University examining workplace health and work performance. 152 studies world-wide.
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UNHEALTHY |
HEALTHY |
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18 days annual sick leave 49 effective hours worked/month High fat dies Low energy levels Poor concentration Poor sleep Poor stress management |
2days annual sick leave 143 effective hours worked/month Healthy diet Fit,
Energetic and alert More attentive at work Better sleep More resilient Close to idea weight. |
OTHER STUDIES
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Poor mental health increases absenteeism by 50% (Serxner et. al., JOEM, 43(4), 2001) |
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For every health risk an employee has, productivity drops by an average of 2.4% (Burton et. al. 2005) |
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Medical costs of those with 6 or more risk factors are eight times higher than those with none (Chapman, L. Summex Corporation, 2002) |
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Workers Compensation costs for high risk employees are 12 times greater than those of low risk employees (Musich et. al. JOEM, June 2001, 534-541) |
MEDIBANK PRIVATE STUDY - 3620 employees
Health profile of corporate Australia
10% are completely inactive
53% of workforce is stressed
40% engage in only minimal exercise
62% are overweight
56% report not getting enough sleep
28% clinically obese as defined by WHO
46% live on high fat diets
21% have experienced a medical condition in the last 12
months
12% of the 21% have reported being depressed
22% report feeling exhausted at work
Employees with poor overall health are nine
times more likely to have sick days compared to healthy
employees. This is 18 days a year compared with 2 days a year.
The major contributors to absenteeism are
smoking
drinking
inactivity
excess weight.
SUMMEX corporate
health management organisation (USA)
Effectiveness of corporate health programs
based on 42 studies involving over 5000,000 employees.
28% reduction in sick leave
26% reduction in health costs
Cost/Benefit Ratio $1 spent saves $5.63
Summex said it has helped various clients
achieve such results as a
50 percent reduction in the growth of
health-care costs
29 percent rate of smokers who quit
41 percent decrease in missed work days
20 percent improvement in the wellness
scores of the highest health risk
employees.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Summex:
Cost/Benefit Ratio $1 spent saves $5.63
PepsiCo:
Wellness Program 300% return on investment"
Dupont had a
return of $2.05 for every $1.00 invested in its employee
wellness program
Bank of America
ROI $6 for every $1 spent on its health promotion program
Boral Bwell
Program ROI $3.8 for every $1 spent and improving
Treasury Corporation Australia:
Significant Increase in CSI, Reduced Absenteeism 2001 figure
improved by 20%, Improved Staff Retention. ROI estimated $15 for
every $1 spent.
MILLER HEALTH - September 2007
Health Climate Survey on the health, fitness and wellbeing
status of 956 employees from 20 corporate organisations.
In it's most recent report, (August 2006)
the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said that the health of
Australians is getting better. We beg to differ, loudly. Our results speak for
themselves. Here are the compelling reasons why you need a regular and
systematic corporate health, fitness and wellbeing program. You can read
more about the reasons for developing such a program
on this link.
Participants completed the Health, Fitness and Wellbeing Profile (see
below the results table). If people scored more than 5 on the profile,
we registered their score as being one that needed to be flagged as a
risk.
Key Issues
Based on people's perception (where they gave a
particular symptom a score of 5 or more), underpinning the
symptoms/issues/concerns are three key issues:
Fitness, Diet and
Stress.
Completing the profile
Participants
complete the
profile, by circling the number appropriate to the degree to which
they
experience the symptoms on the left hand side of the page. The greater
the symptom, the higher the score.
Symptoms/issues/concerns
% of people
scoring 5 or
more
Musculo-skeletal dysfunction
55
Aerobic Fitness
48
Lack of energy
45
Poor sleep
43
Overweight
42
Anxious 31
Wrong job 30
Under appreciated at work 29
Snoring 28
Insecure 27
Headaches 24
Crook gut 23
Under appreciated at home 20
Alcohol 19
Low libido 19
Caffeine 19
Depressed 19
Colds and flu 18
Rashes 18
Grinding teeth 18
Irritable bowel 18
Blood pressure 16
Unhappy family 16
Smoking 12
Candida 12
Mouth ulcers 9
Asthma 8
Shakes 8
Migraines 7
Chest pain 7
Completing the profile
Participants
complete the
profile, by circling the number appropriate to the degree to which
they
experience the symptoms on the left hand side of the page. The greater
the symptom, the higher the score.
Symptom
None
Not much
A fair bit
A lot 1.
Headaches 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 2.
Migraines 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 3.
Lack of energy and vitality 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 4.
Candida - jock itch, thrush, tinea
... 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 5.
Poor sleep. If on tablets score 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 6.
Snoring &/or sleep apnoea.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 7.
Crook back, sore shoulders, RSI ... 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 8.
Frequent colds, flu, sinus 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 9. Reflux 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 10.
Irritable bowel, constipation,
trots ... 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11.
Overweight - 1 point for every 2Kg 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 12.
Asthma 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 13.
Low level of aerobic fitness 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 14.
Chest pain, palpitations 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 15.
Rashes, itchiness, psoriasis, zits 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 16.
Mouth ulcers, cold sores 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 17.
Elevated blood pressure. (On
medication score 10) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 18.
Reduced libido 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 19.
Shakes, nervous ticks, mannerisms 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 20.
Grinding teeth 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 21.
Alcoholic drinks per day (2
pts/drink)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 22.
Smoking. (1 pt/cigarette/day) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 23.
Caffeine (1 pt/cup per day)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 24.
Anxious about life in general 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 25.
Insecure/apprehensive about the
future 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 26.
Sad or depressed (On medication,
score 10) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 27.
In wrong job for now 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 28.
Under-appreciated at work 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 29.
Under-appreciated at home 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 30.
Unhappy with family and romantic
life
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
The score of a fit and healthy person is less than 20.
We have produced a frequency
histogram of the scores of the 956 people.
Classification of average scores: Excellent - less
than 30. Good - 31 - 50. Reasonable 51-60. Poor - over 60.
The graph shows that by far the majority of people are in
poor condition. The
average score was
74.
Anyone scoring more than 80 is putting up with a lot of 'background noise'.
In fit and healthy workplaces the average
score is in the 40's and the graph peaks in the 30's.
Fitness
Diet
Stress
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