The rising prosperity of Asia's growing economies has drawn adverse consequences on employee wellness and the work-life balance of many people. Intensified global competition and the expanding wealth gaps in Asia have been known to induce stress and create tension. A growing segment of Asia's working population reports being overworked and excessively strained, along with symptoms of fatigue, depression and anxiety, muscle and skeletal pains, sleeping disorders and a rapid increase in chronic diseases.
Long working hours, excessive workload, weekend duties, inadequate physical activity and an unhealthy lifestyle are often cited as the key sources of chronic fatigue and work stress. Mounting incidents of occupational illnesses and accidents, and the growing number of suicides among prime-aged working adults further raise concerns regarding individuals' health awareness and limited corporate effectiveness among many firms in employee wellness management.
The economic downturn posed additional challenges on work-life balance. When companies try hard to remain profitable, programs to support the well-being of human capital appears to lose relevance."The State of Work- Life Balance in Hong Kong Survey 2009", conducted by Community Business, a membership based non-profit organisation whose mission is to lead, inspire and support businesses to improve their positive impact on people and communities, reveals that there is little to no improvement in crucial work-life balance parameters whilst health issues are on the rise.
Hong Kong Working Hours
According to the study employees in Hong Kong work long hours and spend little time on their personal lives. On average, employees were working 48.4 hours per week in 2009. This is 21% higher than the 40 hours recommended by the International Labour Organisation and one of the highest rates amongst other cities in Asia. These long hours leave the Hong Kong employees with little time for their personal lives, with most spending less than two hours per day on personal activities.
The Impact of Poor Work-Life Balance on Employees and Businesses
Poor work-life balance continues to take a toll on employees and businesses, both directly and indirectly. As per the survey, three-quarters of employees suffer from problems related to health and family due to poor work-life balance. More than half of the respondents (53.4%) report prolonged fatigue, sleepiness and extreme tiredness, whilst 40.8% cite not having time for their partner and family and 31.0% report suffering from insomnia and poor diet.
Poor diet already contributed to a Body Mass Index (BMI) distribution of 48.8% outside the normal BMI range and almost 40% are considered overweight or obese as the results of the 2008 survey of the Center of Health Protection, Department of Health of The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, showed and for which a total of 2,100 people were examined.
The impact of poor wellbeing for businesses is critical as heavy work load causes work productivity and quality to deteriorate. Many corporations in Asia have yet to fully analyze the negative impact and costs high levels of stress and fatigue will cause as the level of performance and motivation declines and the rate of absenteeism rises.
These factors alone present a compelling business case for Corporate Health and Wellness initiatives. A proactive assessment of health care costs avoids employee paybacks becoming an escalating burden and initiatives that improve long-term employee health can help slow the rise in health care expenditures.
Initiatives Employers Can Provide to Address Work-Life Balance
As per "The State of Work-Life Balance in Hong Kong Survey 2009", Hong Kong employees continue to see a 5-day work week and more paid annual leave as the best way to help them achieve a better work-life balance. Flexible working time and options to work from home surpassed career breaks and unpaid leave and rank as the third and fourth most desirable work arrangements in 2009.
In today's workplace, employees also expect employers to provide a range of employee wellness options. In an increasingly competitive labour market which is exceedingly pressurized, employers are wise to collaborate to employees into areas that can positively differentiate from other employers.
According to Hewitt's Best Employers 2006/07 study, one of the factors of good quality organisational leadership is to "identity and act on the premise that their people are the primary source of performance, competitive advantage, long term sustainability and focus".
Benefits to provide Health and Wellness Services
The major influences on implementing workplace wellness programs are varied and range from talent attraction and retention, reduced workers' compensation claims, company legal liabilities, corporate social responsibility, disability management, improved productivity, performance, growth and profit, stakeholders and shareholder accountability, reductions in operating expenses, lower employee turnover, and improved satisfaction and morale levels.
For example, three out of ten employees in Hong Kong would consider leaving their current job for better work-life balance. Well designed programs save more than they cost through medical cost containment and increased productivity. A Harvard Business Review study into workplace wellness programs found a decrease of absenteeism and reduced claims costs by employees. For every dollar invested in wellness, work-life balance programs are seen to return between US$3-5 on average.
PricewaterhouseCoopers published "Working Towards Wellness" assessing the challenges businesses will face as a consequence of the growing epidemic of chronic disease. It found approximately 2% of capital spent on the workforce is lost to disability, absenteeism and presenteeism.
In addition, the social benefits from comprehensive wellness programs can show a decrease in conflicts between staff, and even lower rates of domestic violence and child abuse. Individuals, families, communities, the private sector, and governments all have roles and responsibilities with respect to wellness and working together to improve wellbeing.
The Roadmap to Success with Health and Wellness Services
US and European experiences show that superficial, education based programs only have little impact. Well designed and long-term programs that improve health knowledge, health behaviors and that address underlying health conditions related to stress, smoking, weight, fitness and nutrition are required. Short term interventions often don't work as people tend to revert to old behaviors when programs are withdrawn.
Begin with the diagnosis as a systematic and well-research health risk profile provides a solid foundation for a Health and Wellness program. Start with a risk or cost profile to have a basis for a return on investment analysis. The Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) is an excellent tool to profile individuals and groups of employees and it measures four components: family history (cancer, heart disease etc), lifestyle (alcohol, tobacco, exercise, nutrition etc), behavior (readiness to change, self-perception of health status) and clinical (blood pressure, BMI, blood sugar, cholesterol, pap smear, mammograms).
The design of an action and program plan that includes well defined targets and goals to measure the effectiveness should be built based on the results of the initial health assessment. Instead of employing broad awareness and prevention plans, companies would gain greater benefits by grouping employees into different segments based on their individual needs as per their risk screening profile and provide tailor-made solutions to these groups.
The delivery mode of the program can be in the form of onsite services like health examination and immunization to starting personalized health records and coaching and electronically delivered programs, which represent a less costly way of delivery. For example, employee-assistance programs offering assessment, short-term coaching and referral services for employees and their household members are highly efficient and effective in helping your employees dealing with personal problems that might adversely impact their work performance, health, and well-being.
Companies should carefully select vendors running health and wellness programs and make sure that the vendors can provide the necessary support in terms of geographical span and maintaining your employees privacy. Test their true capabilities before signing a contract. Top management need to support and communication strongly to make the implementation of a health and wellness program a success and so is the measurement of its effectiveness by reviewing the impact against the goals and targets defined as a source of identification of areas of improvement in the programs.
The gift of health is the best gift you can give your employees. Health and wellness activities should be included in a contemporary business strategy and even a marketing or sales conference can include healthy living programs that promote higher sales and increase employee productivity resulting in a healthier balance sheet.
About The Author
Petra Loho, Senior Consultant, Turnkey Consulting Limited, Hong Kong
Contact details:
E-mail: petra@turnkeyconsulting.netPhone: +852 9237 8685 www.turnkeyconsulting.net
About Turnkey Consulting
Turnkey Consulting Limited is an ISO 14001:2004 certified management consulting firm with offices in Hong Kong and the United States and we support clients in optimising their value chain by developing and implementing practical and high impact human capital, sustainability and business process strategies.
Turnkey Consulting is committed to help business leaders to discover and enhance cost efficiencies, build brand value and support them in achieving full company potential. Our consulting approach is guided by our four phases approach and we employ a winning combination of sound assessment, successful implementation grounded by essential skill transfer, effective management through the use of specifically designed and systematically monitored metrics and leadership development that starts with getting the right people engaged.
Turnkey Consulting employs consultants who specialize in Leadership Development, Employee Engagement and Corporate Health and Wellness. We maximize the competencies and capabilities of organizations by building team leadership and personal development through training and coaching.
Turnkey Consulting assesses business processes from operations and supply chain and suggests improvements that will lead to higher levels of competitiveness. As an implementation focused consultancy, we use our in-house capabilities to realize the recommendations presented.
