CGF ARTICLES, OPINIONS & EDITORIALS
Improving the effectiveness of employee wellness management systems (2014-03-19)
February 20,
2015 3574 3574 
Article by Dr Dicky Els and Terrance M. Booysen
Employee wellness and disease management issues and their effects on the workforce have become a global priority for most employers.
The continued increase in preventable chronic non-occupational (and non-communicable) diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer has expanded to become a growing corporate concern. As a result, the number of organisations providing health, wellness and productivity programmes has increased in many markets around the world, and includes multinationals and local organisations. While most companies globally do not currently have a documented employee wellness strategy that differentiates them from their competitors, many recognise the need for
employee wellness programmes. Those companies with health promotion programmes in place acknowledge that a workplace wellness initiative contributes towards key organisational benefits and links the company and its employees to a sound value proposition, whilst it also incentivises employees to commit to the organisation.
Disconnected strategy and values
Unfortunately there are many instances where the business value, along with the economic value of employee wellness and disease management programmes, are not realised
or fully attained. There are principally three main reasons why this misalignment between the business and employee value occur. Firstly, the employee wellness initiative is not aligned or integrated with the company’s
Corporate Governance Framework®, and little
real value is attached to employees’ and their wellness. This is further evident through the company’s lack of integrated reporting and the company trumps its profitability factors with scant regard for its people components, and less so for the environment. Secondly, the employee wellness programme is not well designed, neither developed to mitigate the organisational risk. Finally, the designated and responsible authority is not adequately empowered to leverage the employee wellness programme outcomes for the overall benefit of the organisation and its employees. Common amongst all three dysfunctions is the negligence of management to monitor chronic disease prevalence and to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the wellness programme specifically relating to the business outcomes such as absenteeism and presenteeism.
Increasing role of governance
With the heightened focus being placed upon corporate governance practices, as well as the increasing stringent local and international labour laws, it is expected that companies of all sizes will be compelled to implement sound wellness and disease management systems. The necessity for such steps will be directly linked to the company’s claim of sound governance principles which support their Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) practices. In short, failure to comply with good corporate and employee wellness governance practices can have devastating consequences for all the organisation’s stakeholders. Besides the obvious corporate governance areas which a company must comply with, it is alarming that so many companies blatantly ignore the fundamental building blocks required for a healthy, well balanced and sustainable organisation. Whilst the consequences for non-compliance in South Africa generally amounts to a few or low punitive measures, many companies still treat their overall governance measures and employee practices merely as a
minimalistic tick-box exercise.
SA National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey
The recently released results of the SA National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey showed that South Africans were developing lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol from a young age - starting to peak from as early as 25 years old. This study, conducted by the Department of Health, also revealed that more than half the population are living in hunger (or at risk of it), while a large percentage of the rest are obese or at risk of developing lifestyle-related illnesses. This trend demonstrates the ever-increasing need for employers to look inward and address their own corporate risk of chronic non-communicable diseases.
