More and more Canadian employers are aware of the link between workplace health and absenteeism or productivity. Interviewed for a survey by Sun Life Financial, they today place work related stress and the sedentary lifestyle as the main health risks incurred by their employees.
Wellness programs have long been of interest to companies in the Canadian labour market. As evidence, more than 90% of employers with over 50 employees offer at least one initiative related to their employees well-being. For the first time since publication of the Sun Life Financial survey in 1997, the results of these programs are being felt. Among the benefits most commonly cited by employers are reduced absenteeism (40%), improved productivity (30%) and lower disability benefits (18%).
Stress in mind
What are employers’ current health concerns? Unsurprisingly, stress takes first place among the risks most commonly cited by leaders of all sizes of businesses, at 24%. The problem was already pointed up by the same survey published in 2011. In large companies, stress is more significant, with 61% of employers considering it as a major risk. In addition, 43% of these organizations’ leaders put anxiety and depression as a health problem to be taken into account.
Sedentary lifestyle as well
Also in first place at 24%, the sedentary lifestyle equally concerns the chiefs of business of all sizes. In companies with less than 50 employees, it's sometimes even more of a concern than stress. Similarly, health problems related to a sedentary lifestyle are among the risks most commonly cited by employers along with obesity (23%), hypertension (19%) and cholesterol (13%).
The great divide
However, there are big differences between wellness programs offered by companies and employers’ concerns with regard to the health of their employees.
In the field, the programs set up are more related to employee motivation, work time flexibility and personnel evaluation. When they primarily affect health, the initiatives are often in the form of first aid training or a flu vaccination campaign.
The necessary evaluation
Evaluation of employee health should be a point for improvement in the coming years. Overall 87% of companies do not measure the state of health of the majority of their employees. Another example of the gap between existing programs and current concerns is that only 5% of companies undertake a review of stress and provide programs to stop smoking while hypertension and smoking are considered high health risks for their employees. They take 4th and 5th place among the risks most commonly cited, after stress, the sedentary lifestyle and obesity.