Wellness is goodness

More than that, smart employers are emulating their employees' lifestyle choices in other ways too. The healthy , keep-fit lifestyle of many employees has prompted switched-on employers to adopt it within the business as well. For example, wellness programmes, where corporations actively seek to promote both mind and body health, are increasing dramatically. Says Anthony Phillips, managing director of WellKom Corporate Services, ˜managers are realising that they need to be proactive in developing personal wellness management capabilities in their firms. We work on the basis that well people are more likely to be productive and committed to a business.'

Many of these are clearly an extension of what employees have created for themselves as part of their own lifestyle choices. Now some pioneering, innovative companies see that extending this to the workplace makes a much more all-inclusive proposition to the employee. What the employer is saying is, ˜ please bring your own, personal lifestyle with you when you come to work and we will support that in the best ways we can.'

Having said that, there is still a long, long way to go for the average company to promote any kind of wellness inside their four walls. A January 2004 survey carried out by the web portal HR Gateway ^[5] reported that three- quarters of respondents said their organisation did not incentivise staff with free/discounted gym membership off-site as part of a benefits package. The same percentage was true for in-house fitness centres . Lower-level employees were not the only ones to suffer. Over two- thirds of senior managers didn't receive these types of incentives either. Worse still, the survey noted that, ˜although usually tasked with spreading a culture of work-life balance and well-being around an organisation, HR is a long way from practising what it preaches, with only 15 per cent taking a full lunch break every day.'

^[5] (January 2004) Catalyst Health and Fitness survey . HR Gateway.