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Fitness counts

Physically fit employees are more of an asset to an organisation than the average couch potato.

Jenny Reid, speaking recently at the Women in Business conference in Richards Bay, discussed the benefits of a healthy employee.

In today’s financial times employers often lose sight of the soft issues and focus on productivity and deliverables. Unfortunately only about 20% of our population are covered by some form of medical aid. Many of them are merely covered in the case of a dire emergency and day to day issues are not covered.

For an employee, often the stress of being ill is not only the illness that they have to deal with but the whole idea of getting assistance from a competent medical professional; the transport to get to the professional and then the cost of paying for the assistance makes them more ill.

We also know that internationally statistics show that only one in every three sick days taken is genuine sick leave. Sick leave is believed to cost South Africa R12 billion per annum.

Reid went on to discuss the benefits of physically fit employees and how this could enhance productivity. Companies often look to the skills training of employees and ignore lifestyle training. It need not be the full cost of laying out a gym which can run upwards of R200 000, but there are various mechanisms that can be used to encourage physical activity in the workplace or within the workforce. A healthy mindset with the organisation increases employee morale, improves the ability to attract and retain key people, while having more alert and productive employees. The workers’ physical activity and physical fitness had a significant impact on their work performance. More physically active workers reported higher work quality and better overall job performance. As physical fitness increased, so did the quantity of work performed. In addition, more fit workers needed to expend less extra effort to do their work.

When asked for specific solutions Reid said that there were many and one of the simple ones was that you could encourage employees to merely walk – the use of a pedometer is amazing and will just encourage people to be doing something. Exercise programmes that can be implemented in the workplace are also available for as little as R2000 a month for the entire company, but it does need to be specific to the needs of the employees and they need to be encouraged to enjoy the programme to ensure that it is effective.

As part of the holistic approach to employment practices employers are encouraged to implement employee programmes where they are educated:

* To be more healthy.

* To be more physically fit.

* To feel safe and secure in their work environment.

* To have financial advice and guidance.

* Have access to facilities where they can discuss issues of concern of a personal or work nature.

Reid again said that employers need to remember that the world has changed and employees are no longer delighted to be employed by an organisation but if employers show that they care and want people to work for them, they can achieve a more honest, ethical, productive and loyal employee.

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