According to the Towers Watson Staying@Work Survey, a quarter of Canadian firms are planning to offer some type of financial reward in 2012 to employees who participate in their health management programs.
Companies are using financial rewards to deal with rising health care costs, increased absenteeism and stress. While incentive pay to encourage employee participation in health and productivity programs is a common practice in the US, Canadian companies are just climbing on board now. It’s a way for them to maintain and even increase labour productivity and control health costs. According to the initial results of the Towers Watson Staying@Work survey, companies that are effectively managing health are those that have implemented financial incentives. 26% of Canadian companies said they would offer such incentives in 2012, vs. the 13% who currently do so.
The survey said that the three main causes of short-term disability are mental health conditions (83%), musculoskeletal/back problems (76%) and accidents (37%). Similarly, long-term disability claims involve mental health issues (85%), musculoskeletal/back problems (76%) and cancer (63%).
An excessive pace
Employee stress has become a major and growing business issue in the work world, and many companies are planning to adapt their organizational health strategies over the next two years to incorporate a focus on mental as well as physical health. Respondents cited excessive workloads, lack of work/ life balance, unclear or conflicting job expectations and inadequate staffing as the top sources of workplace stress, and said that the prevalence of these stressors had increased over the past two years. In fact, almost 9 in ten employers (89%) say that excessive workload is a problem—a jump of 25% from 2009 to 2011. And although organizations have made efforts to reduce the impact of stress at work, the initial results appear underwhelming, and less than 10% of companies have reported significant success.