As a business owner, you know the value of being proactive instead of reactive. Preparing for risk, monitoring for industry trends, and planning for employee hiring are proactive strategies. Developing and implementing a wellness program is another example of an effective, and cost‑saving, business strategy.
Using proactive intervention through employee wellness programs, your business comprehensively changes your workplace injury procedure. You are not just reacting to problems as they occur but minimising the risk of them happening in the first place. Consider the need, for example, to integrate real‑time updates if new Occupational Health & Safety legislation emerges.
Being reactive after the fact puts your company behind the competition. Timely issues demand immediate attention. However, consider what occurs when you invest in a proactive wellness program and the return on investment that business owners yield from a reduction in injury and ill health.
Can Something as Simple as an Ergonomic Desk Setup Save Your Company Money?
A quick look at the price of an ergonomic desk setup could be worrisome to any company that is looking for a way to reduce costs. Yet, the simple inclusion of tools like this – along with physiotherapy support – enables cost‑savings. Let’s explain.
Investment in wellness programs creates an opportunity for businesses to reduce the risk and costs associated with employees’ absences. If an employee is injured at work, they could potentially need extended paid leave from work, possibly days or weeks until full recovery. During that time, not only has your company lost that individual’s productivity, but you might have to hire a casual or spread the load amongst other employees, which reduces efficiency.
With the inclusion of a wellness program, you could mitigate the factors that create that risk of back injury in the first place, reducing not just the cost of a workplace injury procedure, but also the loss productivity and frustrations felt by every member of the team. Even more so, you’re providing a service that employees benefit from and appreciate, which drives the employer’s reputation, provides job satisfaction, and builds loyalty.
This question is this: does a wellness program like this actually offer a solid return on investment (ROI)? Will it save or even make you money?
To understand this, we look at the value of investment (VOI) of a wellness program. In a 2021 Fidelity survey, 92% of responding companies say they are adding emotional and mental health components and metric tracking to help employees manage stress. One Harvard study found that the average return on investment for employee wellness programs was 6:1—that’s considerable. Even more specifically, it found that absenteeism was reduced by 15%.
Companies that invest in wellness programs designed to meet the individual needs of employees may see:
- Time savings in the reduction of the need to replace employees
- Better resource management with a reduction in employee absenteeism and a reduction in productivity from new hires or overstressed workers
- Improved employee relationships, including a retention tool that attracts new employees to your company
- Lower insurance costs
- Reduced risk of missing timelines and scheduling delays that upset customers
- Less downtime for the business
- Lower costs for managing employee injuries
How can you obtain all of this? Instead of focusing on teaching a reactive workplace injury procedure, put in place a preventative process.
What Can Adding a Physiotherapy Clinic and Wellness Program Do for Your Company?
At Health Stack, the leader in the Australian market for holistic, wellness‑focused programs, the objective is to create several core benefits. Health Stack provides a practical way for employers to put in place a comprehensive wellness program that specifically builds on the physical health and mental well‑being of the employee.
A core component of early intervention is that it enables employees to get support for injuries and chronic conditions. This also creates a way to mitigate concerns into the future by connecting them with the right people at the right time.
This bank of professionals includes physiotherapists, doctors, nutritionists, manual handling experts, psychologists, and exercise professionals and physiologists. Importantly, these services are provided in real time through our platform that connects our healthcare team to employees in real time. This keeps employees at work while they receive the support needed to manage stress, and preventative strain such as lower back injury.
Utilising Health Stack’s platform, employers benefit from reduced employee ill‑health and get teams back to work sooner when there is an injury, but they also mitigate the risk of injuries happening in the first place. Learn more with a demo at Health Stack now.
