Health and wellbeing program update from the Federal Government

A new report titled ‘Effective Health and Wellbeing Programs’, has recently been released by Comcare, the Australian Government agency that works in partnership with employees and employers to reduce the human and financial costs of workplace injuries and disease in the Commonwealth jurisdiction. The report provides a review of the literature in relation to the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of health and wellbeing programs, both nationally and internationally. It also provides simple guidance to assist organisations and workplaces in designing, developing, implementing and evaluating such programs.

The report summarises the overwhelming support for the inclusion of health and wellbeing programs in the workplace that is presented in the literature. The economic costs of poor health on absenteeism, presenteeism and personal injury claims are widely documented and justify the importance of targeted workplace interventions to improve employee health.

One could argue that health and wellbeing programs have become a way for employers to maintain their corporate image and exist as employee attraction and retention strategies however their true value is much deeper than that. Workplace interventions that target some of the underlying causes of chronic disease can improve the health and quality of life of individuals.

The report reiterates that any workplace health and wellbeing program must have an evidenced based approach to the design, implementation and evaluation of all initiatives to ensure a solid return on investment. “Programs will only be effective in enhancing the health status of the workforce when the interventions address both individual and environmental influences”. That means, designing a program that will encompass three key focuses:

• Occupational Health and Safety or Environmental initiatives are those that target the safety of the workplace or those that change the physical environment. For example, policies involving hazard minimization or the addition of onsite facilities like showers or bike racks or an improvement to kitchen and eating facilities.
• Organisational Change or Culture interventions change the way the work is organized and emphasise the relationship of work to psychological health. Some of these could include working hours and flexibility, job content, morale, workplace engagement, leadership, peer interaction and conflict management.
• Voluntary Health Practices - involve the health and lifestyle decisions and behaviours made by an individual and include smoking status, exercise and nutrition habits or stress management.

The report confirms that the best programs are “well planned, have an early intervention/ prevention focus, are designed and developed with very strong ownership and input from workers, are targeted at the stated needs of workers, suitable for the workplace environment, are implemented and managed within a strong OHS policy framework and are regularly monitored and evaluated.”

Wesley Corporate Health specialise in the design and delivery of effective workplace health and wellbeing programs. To find out more information, please contact Kristen Demedio on 3234 2606 or visit our website: www.weshealth.com.au