The development of a model for an employee wellness programme for a fast moving consumer goods organisation

Abstract

The health and wellness of employees is of strategic importance for any business, which wants to achieve leadership in a global business world. The environment in which one function is becoming increasingly demanding. The changes in this environment continue to pose challenges and changes in the work environment. The employment relationship has changed, altering the kind of work that people do, working hours and productivity at work. With these changes more and more of the economically active populations are striving to work “smarter”, not harder. In response most employers are prompted to revisit their employment proposition. Globalisation has brought about additional unpredictability with the result that many employers move toward greater flexibility by expanding or shrinking the work force to correspond with shifting production and service demands. The changes in technology have resulted in a loss of control over working hours, in job losses and in an increasing sense of job insecurity. As cited in Rothmann (2003) many organisations have implemented practices that attempt to reduce costs and increase productivity, which often lead to a mentality that favours profitability over the welfare of people. The emphasis is on healthy living, well being, striving to strike a balance between life at work and private life. Everyday people find new and better ways to find this balance. Studies have shown that healthier diets assist people to cope better with the biological side effects of stress and that fitness and exercise help people to reduce some of the tension and assist the body to cope better with stress. Flexible work practice assists people to cope better with the demands of their personal lives. Access to counsellors and advisors empower employees to cope with psychological difficulties. One also needs to take cognisance of the changes in society and more prevalent issues that cannot be ignored such as HIV-AIDS, single parenthood, heart diseases, stress and obesity. Consider the impact that these phenomena will have on the workforce in the years to come, should there be no change to the mindsets of people and the way in which society deal with these issues. The challenge will be to educate the workforce on HIV-AIDS and not to discriminate against such individuals but rather to enable them to provide support and guidance. Employee Wellness is at the centre of these lifestyle choices and forms the basis of and an extension to the new world of work where employees expect their employers to assist them with options and to provide a service to them, assisting them with their wellness in terms of providing knowledge, information and training and also services on prevalent wellness issues. The aim of this research study was to develop a model for an Employee Wellness Programme for a Fast Moving Consumer Goods organisation. The employee wellness model for a Fast Moving Consumer Goods company has three focus areas in terms of employee wellness, the first being physical health and wellbeing. Another important focus area is psychological health wellbeing. Societal health and wellbeing is the last of the three focus areas. These three focus areas are inter-related. Physical health improves your psychological wellbeing. These in turn improve your societal wellbeing. The model also indicates the integration between the Employee Assistance Programme and the Employee Wellness Programme, mutually supporting the three dimensions of employee wellness. The model for an Employee Wellness Programme for a Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company is externally influenced by the changes in the landscape of work and therefore it is important that the Employee Wellness Programme needs to be aligned to the strategy and vision of the company to add value continuous evaluation will indicate the success of the programme. To achieve global leadership in any industry, healthy employees are vital and therefore an Employee Wellness Programme can play an important role in an organisation by enabling employees to deal effectively with the changes and challenges in their personal and work life. Copyright 2006, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bessinger, ME 2006, The development of a model for an employee wellness programme for a fast moving consumer goods organisation, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04282009-171717 / > C124/eo