Assignment 4.3: Report – Revised Version
Dear Sir,
I would like to inform your good-self that, today we are finding several challenges of healthcare amongst the Middle Level Managers within the organization. They are not only facing with the issues of physical pain, but are also facing with the issues of tension and stress, due to which they are not able to perform as per the required expectations. As a result, the productivity is affected from both the ends, and hence, we are not able to achieve our desired objectives.
I have therefore prepared this report, which shall try to provide you issues on health of these employees, statistical data that will provide you with the analysis, and certain recommendations on Corporate Fitness that shall improve the current situation. It has been a unique experience to carryout such a research work. It was a great opportunity for me to enrich my knowledge, which I shall find it useful in my career. I have tried my best to make this report revealing, and hence I hope that, you shall find this report helpful.
It has been observed that obesity, stress, and physical pain have increased a lot for the employees working in several organizations all around the globe. One of the major reasons that can be attributed for this is the increase in automation, due to which the entire way of performing the operational activity has got changed. People are sitting in the same position, for several hours, and need to deliver a lot more. They are in one way provided with numerous responsibilities, due to which they become quite tensed.
They seem to be under heavy stress all the time. However, several organizations are now focusing upon Corporate Fitness programs that are implemented with a view to improve the health of these employees. The organizations are now providing healthy food and beverages within the campus of the organization. The organization also wants their employees to protect themselves against hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, stroke, type-2 diabetes, and cancer. These all will affect a lot on the health and subsequent productivity levels of the employees. The organizations might be spending a lot more on the healthcare, but yet the life expectancy of these employees will seem to be less. Hence, this report will try to provide information and other relevant statistical data on the health of the employees, and will accordingly recommend suggestions for introducing Corporate Fitness and Well-Being programs.
Introduction
Corporate Fitness is a healthcare promotion activity or can be a part of an organization policy, which is designed to support good and healthy behavior at the given workplace. In addition, the organization also wants to improve upon the health of the employees by providing them various fitness programs. Such programs are initiated with a view to not only improve the health but also to subsequently improve the productivity of the employees. Employees as we know might be facing with several healthcare challenges at their respective workplace, and hence it is important to identify those challenges, and accordingly try to provide them with necessary fitness practice programs. Such corporate fitness programs shall include seminars on health education, health fairs, health coaching, medical screenings, wellness newsletters, weight management programs, on-site fitness programs, and providing facilities of gym and meditation.
Corporate fitness is encoded into the organization policy, which is designed to provide employees with several facilities and benefits. These includes flexible timings for exercise within the campus, providing eating areas, organizing walk and talk meetings, offering healthy food options, and thereby providing several incentives for improving health. The organization needs to provide opportunities, wherein the employees can participate into such healthcare and fitness programs, and accordingly they can improve their health and fitness. Today, several organizations all round the world, are into implementation of such programs, in order to successfully create a culture of health in the entire organization. The thesis of this paper is to find out the issues of ill-health at the workplace, and accordingly recommend the Corporate Fitness program for the given organization.
Problem Statement
It has been observed that, several employees are facing the issues of health, such as backaches, stress, tensions, headaches, certain specific workplace disorders, and are thus found not to be fit within the given workplace setting. As a result, their overall productivity decreases, due to which, they are not able to deliver as per the expectations of the organization. it is therefore important to design certain policies on corporate wellness that shall provide the employees with an opportunity to improve their health in the current workplace environment.
Method Used
The methodological approach that shall be utilized for carrying out this research shall include meta-analysis of the previous researches in this direction. It shall include the key findings and analysis from these researches, and accordingly will try to provide recommendations. There will be certain data-facts, which need to be analyzed from the statistical perspective, so that we can gain better insights into the given scenario.
Findings
As per one of the survey carried by the U.S. government, it has been discovered that, there is a rise in the overall health-care costs for the employers, due to increase in the illnesses related to obesity. People working in organizations are lacking in physical activities, and hence they consequently become the victims of such disorders. In addition, there is another impact of ageing workforce and their associated chronic disorders. Hence, the companies are even facing lower productivities, which in turn affect their bottom-line. As per the records obtained from the World Health Organization in 2010, there are about 110,000 deaths happening due to obesity every year. Even, for those people who are physically active are bearing costs of $1,020 on medical issues. On the other hand, the same costs go upto as high as $1,400 for those who are physically inactive. The healthcare costs automatically increases by $150 when a person starts facing overweight issues. As per the reports obtained from the North Carolina Department of Health, about 72 cents per dollar are spent on healthcare. Figure – 1 shows the total healthcare spending as % of GDP amongst major nations of the World in 2008.
The major risk factors associated are poor diet, lack of exercise, tobacco and alcohol usage, and lack of physical fitness. There was a survey carried out amongst the European nations, to check for the usage of medications amongst those who were physically fit, and those who were not. It was found that, about 77 percent of the total people who were physically not fit were taking more medications as compared to those who were physically fit (Sparrow, 2012). Hence, it is important to implement programs on healthcare and fitness that will keep the employees physically fit. One of research carried out in Australia, has mentioned that, people sitting for quite a long time at the same position will more lead to mortality. Hence, it is important to provide these individuals with the workstations that will keep them either standing or constantly engaged with some sort of physical work. The research has focused upon providing such workstations that will reduce the overall sedentary time for these people, which in turn will improve the overall health outcomes. This in fact shall also improve the work productivity of these employees, which in turn will help in achieving the desired objectives of the organization (Anderson, 2009).
Analysis
There have been several wellness programs implemented by both small and large companies in order to positively impact their bottom-line. Few researches have even concluded that, it is important to invest into preventive healthcare practices such as immunizations, screenings, behavioral coaching, health risk appraisals, and health education programs rather than spending on paying high insurance premiums (Thompson, Smith, & Bybee, 2005).
One of the U.S. Department of Health Services Report in 2010 has mentioned that, with the implementation of above strategy, there was a huge decrease in the healthcare costs of around 20 to 55% depending upon the size of the organization. In addition, even productivity levels improved upto 50 to 55%. And, finally the short-term sick leaves decreased upto 32%. Hence, it is important to implement Fitness programs all around the workplace of the given organization. It can have a huge substantial impact on the mindset of the employees, which is very much important than anything else. It is simple straight to understand that, if our staff is healthy and fit, they are automatically less prone to illness and high absenteeism. For each dollar invested they were able to earn at least $3 to $6 depending upon the health quality of the employees as well as their working levels. The specific ROI provided for the Middle Level Managers was around $1.20 to $6.05 as per the 2012 report of the Health Fairs Direct. This clearly shows that, it is important to preserve the health of the Middle Level Managers, as they are important members of the team.
Recommendations
Looking at all these perspectives, I would like to prepare a blueprint for the implementation of Corporate Fitness program for the Middle Level Managers in the organization. The key focus of this program will be to ensure proper health of all the Middle Level Managers, so that the desired level of efficiency and productivity can be achieved within the entire organization. First of all, I shall try to focus upon providing the basic health and fitness education, wherein the focus will be on the skill development related to maintaining good health. I would even provide information on the lifestyle changes, and how one can better take care of their healthy in the given busy schedule. Secondly, through this program I want to develop health-supportive social and physical environments within the campus of the organization. I want to develop gym centers, center for playing sport games such as lawn tennis, volleyball, swimming, badminton, and table tennis. This will help all the employees to not only refresh themselves, but will also keep them fit during the office hours. Thirdly, I want to integrate this entire program into the given organization structure, so that not only the managers will find this program beneficial, but even other level employees will find it useful. I would like to organize different medical screening programs, for body check-ups as well as for ensuring good health during the time of office hours (Richter, Dawson, & West, 2011).
Conclusion
Corporate Fitness programs include several physical and nutritional activity components that address range of objectives such as stress management, smoking cessation, weight loss, back pains and other body aches, and other disorders such as obesity. In order to address the healthcare issues, this program should be implemented within the organization through informational messages, implementation of healthcare policies, and through imparting skills and other approaches.
Implementation of healthcare policies will target the Middle Level Managers, and will ensure modifying their organizational structures. They will be provided facilities of healthy food and beverages that will improve their health during their office hours. They will be required to attend specific exercise and meditation sessions twice in a week. They will be even provided reimbursement for the health club memberships and will be even offered health insurance benefits. Informational messages will be provided with a view to keep better health during the office hours. The messages will be transmitted through posters and pamphlets, health-related information posted on the intranet site, and certain booklets on how to stay healthy. It is important to make people learn the skills of how to stay healthy by making them aware about such issues. Corporate Fitness will thus help in promoting health of the Middle Level Managers, which in turn shall help in improving their respective productivity levels.
References
- Anderson. (2009). The Effectiveness of Worksite Nutrition and Physical Activity Interventions for Controlling Employee Overweight and Obesity. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 37(4), 340-357.
- Thompson, S. E., Smith, B. A., and Bybee, R. F. (2005). Factors influencing participation in worksite wellness programs among minority and underserved populations. Family & Community Health, 28(3), 267-273.
- Richter, A. W., Dawson, J. F., and West, M.A. (2011). The effectiveness of organizational teams: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22 (5), 2749-2769.
- Sparrow, P.R. (2012). Globalizing the international mobility function: the role of emerging markets, flexibility and strategic delivery models. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23 (12), 2404-2427.
Appendix
Figure – 1: Healthcare spending as % of GDP amongst major nations of the World in 2008
