Companies can boost productivity by investing in corporate wellness

Dubai: The fitness craze in the UAE has hit the ground running, and companies would do well to turn the healthy tide in their favour by investing more in corporate wellness programs to boost employee productivity.

“Companies either need to make money or save money,” said Derv Rao, co-founder and director of special projects at DUPLAYS, an organisation that organises sporting events as well as corporate wellness programs and activities.

Two ways that companies could save by investing in employee wellness is by means of less sick days taken off by healthier staff and the correlation between being physically fit and mentally efficient as employees become “more engaged and more involved,” Rao told Gulf News.

Investing in employee wellness can positively impact an organisation’s bottom-line as healthy and happy employees directly translate into greater productivity and reduced healthcare costs.

According to a Harvard study, health and wellness programmes at the workplace can decrease healthcare costs, leading to lower health insurance premiums as well as decreased absenteeism due to illness. The benefit this presents to the employer alongside a healthier workforce is an enhanced ability to attract new talent.

Corporate wellness can go hand in hand with increased public awareness about the importance of leading a healthy and active lifestyle.

“There definitely is a surge of awareness about health in general which is directly related to fitness,” said Mark Botha, group operations and marketing manager at Fitness First. “The public know they have to be active in order to lead a healthy lifestyle.”

A corporate wellness programme has the potential to make people more fit by reducing an employee’s chance of incurring key health risks as well as the potential to stop smoking or alcoholism, according to a Forbes article.

Mitigating these risks could enable companies to cut health care costs by about $650 (Dh2,387.45) or 18 per cent per average working-age adult, according to a study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

In addition, Forbes suggests a positive return to employer investment in prevention. For instance, the Citibank Health Management Programme reported an estimated savings of $4.50 (Dh16.53) in medical expenditures per dollar spent on the program.

Companies in the UAE can take advantage of corporate membership packages and special rates offered by gyms around the country, including Fitness First, Gold’s Gym, Talise Fitness, and Smart Fitness.

Many companies are jumping on to the fitness bandwagon and taking steps to improve employee fitness levels. DUPLAYS boasts corporate clients including First Gulf Bank, Johnson and Johnson, Enoc, Credit Suisse, and Samsung, to name a few. To take advantage of its fitness package, a company can expect to shell out between Dh50 to Dh200 per employee per month, Rao said.

Team-building events are also catching on as companies look to foster cohesiveness among employees. DUPLAYS organises team-building events outdoors for employees in organisations to engage in sporting activities together as a bonding exercise.

While sporting events are one option, some companies are also turning to yoga as a means of managing stress levels at work. Bharat Thakur’s Artistic Yoga designs yoga programmes for companies as per their requirements, according to a spokesperson, with classes ranging from once a month to a few times a week.

Companies can avail of 2-day, 1-day, half-day and 90 minute yoga programs that address issues such as work-life balance, repetitive stress injuries, leadership, and team building. Some of their clients include Burberry, Coca Cola, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), Microsoft, Shell and Cognizant.

“Employees want to do this,” Rao said. “The company itself has to make a conscious effort.”

— The writer is an intern at Gulf News