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Workplace wellness, can you afford not to invest?

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Does your organisation have a workplace wellness program?  With absenteeism costing Australian business over 7 billion dollars every year, keeping employees happy and healthy is becoming a top priority for workplaces across the country.

And it’s not just smoking and obesity that we need to worry about. As the sedentary lifestyle of desk-bound workers reaches epidemic proportions, encouraging employees to get more physically active is now one of the hottest topics on the corporate agenda.

The World Health Organisation now lists physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally.  With these type of statistics it’s not hard to see why sitting is considered the new smoking.

Recent medical studies highlight sitting for prolonged periods increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and death. An average 10 million Australians spend 77% of their 8-hour work day sitting at a desk. This level of inactivity is causing serious health concerns for employees.

One business owner who realised the importance of encouraging staff to take time out of their day to be active, is Employment Office Managing Director Tudor Marsden-Huggins. To encourage staff to get away from their desks and get moving, Marsden-Huggins established Tour de Office, a continuous cycling relay that takes place on a stationary bike right in the office.

“We came up with Tour de Office because the statistics of sedentary workers suffering chronic disease from being inactive are truly alarming.  We must promote and create awareness of the importance of a healthy work/life balance,” he said.

“It’s an annual charity event and workplace health initiative which sees staff ride stationary bikes in workplaces to raise funds for their charity of choice.  Now in it’s fifth year, 21 workplaces participated in the event in 2015 and raised over $150,000 for worthy causes.

“Tour de Office is unique because not only does it raise awareness of the importance of getting up off your chair to get moving, it also brings both entry level and executive staff together for a great cause,” Marsden- Huggins said.

According to Dale Tanner, chairman of Australia’s first workplace wellness conference, other organisational offerings like gym memberships and healthy cooking classes are really only scratching the surface. Tanner says companies need to initiate true change in their organisational settings.

“We know that really successful workplace wellness programs have all levels of management on board, signed up and participating,” he said.

So what can you do to promote an active lifestyle for your staff?  To get the most out of your team, management must lead by example. Without spending a cent, leaders can bring running shoes to work and take positive actions such as walking up stairs instead of taking the elevator, or having meetings while walking around the block.

However, if you want to instil long term changes in your organisation it’s necessary to invest in a sustainable workplace wellness program. If you ensure an effective program is an organisational priority this financial year you’ll soon experience the rewards of a happier and healthier workforce.

To find out more about Tour de Office, visit tourdeoffice.com

Should employers adopt a no smoking recruitment policy?

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We may have left the days of smoking in the office far behind, but tobacco users still abound in Australian workplaces, taking breaks throughout the day to keep cravings at bay.

Organisations across the country are cracking down on tobacco users, with some even considering placing restrictions on hiring smoking candidates.

Restricting the recruitment of smokers has become a trending topic over the last week, following the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring they will no longer hire candidates who smoke, or reject assistance to stop smoking.

The measures aren’t surprising considering the organisation’s hard line on tobacco use, however the ban on recruiting steadfast smokers has upped the ante in terms of smoke-free workplace policy.

As the United Nation’s Public Health Arm, WHO defends its recruitment policy, reiterating that an estimated 5.4 million people die from tobacco use every year.

Their policy on non-recruitment of smokers states that WHO “is at the forefront of the global campaign to curb the tobacco epidemic. The organisation has a responsibility to ensure this is reflected in all its work, including in its recruitment practices and in the image projected by the Organisation and its staff members.”

WHO’s recruitment process includes a series of screening questions including whether the candidate is a smoker, and if they would continue to smoke if they were employed by the organisation. If the answer to both questions is yes, the candidate will not progress to the next round for consideration.

So we know the World Health Organisation’s stance, but is it possible for Australian employers to determine smokers need not apply for roles in their businesses?

The major issue is whether precluding a candidate from the recruitment process amounts to discrimination.  So far, this argument hasn’t been settled in Australia. In the US, courts have determined not hiring a candidate based on their smoking habit is not discriminatory and is well within an employer’s rights.

The issue is yet to be tested in Australia, and currently no legislation exists to prohibit employers from excluding smokers from their workforce.

While a smoke-free workforce might be a new concept, the smoke-free workplace is not.  Employers have largely adopted non-smoking workspaces, and providing employees with access to smoking termination support is on the rise.

Designated smoking areas are being pushed further and further away from office buildings and managers are cracking down on designated break times.

And when you consider the figures it’s easy to understand why an employer would prefer to have non-smoking employees.  Statistics show the average Australian smoker takes two more days off per year than a non-smoker and, while at work, loses up to an hour out of each day on smoke breaks.  This lost productivity translates to an $800 million dent in the Australian economy.

For now, organisations wishing to advertise for ‘non-smokers only’ are free to do so, but they should know they will be eliminating a tenth of the talent pool straight off the bat, and in an increasingly tight labour market, that’s a large slice of candidates to rule out.