SPONSORED CONTENT | Businesses are losing more than 40 days a year, per employee, through absenteeism and presenteeism (working while ill or injured) and this is having a serious impact on workplace productivity.
The high level of absenteeism and presenteeism in Australian workplaces was one of the findings of the Australia’s Healthiest Workplace (AHW) Survey, which was launched last year.
AIA’s view is that promoting employee health and wellbeing is of critical importance to companies of all sizes, creating a psychologically safe environment. The survey provides useful insights to improve health and wellbeing strategies in the workplace, and ultimately increase workplace satisfaction, engagement and productivity.
AIA Australia is conducting the AHW Survey again this year. It is the first science-based workplace survey in Australia that examines employee lifestyle, clinical indicators, stress and mental health, to understand the associated impact on wellbeing and productivity at an individual and company level.
The Survey is free and open to companies with at least 20 employees (for registrations, follow https://resources.aia.com.au/Australias-Healthiest-Workplace_registration.html).
Last year’s AHW Survey, which attracted responses from 2,449 employees, revealed that Australians have an AIA Vitality age that is 3.4 years older than their chronological age. The AIA Vitality age is a measure of a person’s health based on criteria such as exercise, nutrition and stress.
Other key findings of the survey include:
- 16 per cent of Australian employees are exceeding the national alcohol consumption guidelines and employers are not offering any alcohol interventions;
- 82 per cent of Australian employees have musculoskeletal problems;
- $10 million per year is the average productivity loss per employer surveyed
- 26 per cent of employees report getting less than seven hours of sleep a night, with Australians having more trouble falling asleep than counterparts in the UK and Asia.
- In terms of mental health, over 54% of employees are at risk and close to 7% of employers offer no interventions
- 57% of employers have health and wellbeing budgets
Of the companies that participated in the 2017 survey, Ashurst was identified as the country’s healthiest workplace, Announcer Group was named the healthiest employer, and Profusion Group recognised for having the healthiest employees.
Life insurers benefit from having customers live healthier longer, better lives. AIA Australia launched the AIA Vitality program in 2014. It rewards members for improving their health and encourages positive lifestyle change.
In the AIA Vitality program, members are encouraged to understand their health status by participating in an online health assessment, as well as biometric and preventative screening activities performed by healthcare professionals. Members are given an AIA Vitality Age, which allows them to understand and appreciate how their lifestyle choices, both individually and in combination, affect their health.
Australia’s Healthiest Workplace offers organisations a way to help measure and manage the health risks within the company, and provides an understanding of how these risks impact employee productivity and engagement. It also offers practical recommendations on how to manage these risks.
More information about Australia’s Healthiest Workplace can be found here: http://healthiestworkplace.aia.com/australia/eng/
