Have You Had Your Flu Shots?

It is flu season again. I know this as I have spent two days this week in bed, shivering with a fever, joints aching, nose running, blocked ears... all the symptoms that hail to the world: I Have Not Had a Flu Shot. In fact, it made me realise that I hadn't had a flu shot in eight years! This was also the first year I had come down with the flu since having the flu shot. Eight years ago when I had my flu shot, it was provided free of charge as part of a company-wide initiative. This fact, and my fever-induced delirium, started me wondering about what the return on investment is for company funded wellness programs.

Let's consider an average-sized contact centre with 150 employees. The average salary for an outbound sales representative in the contact centre is $42,000 per annum (source: the Hays Salary Survey 2007). The contact centre has decided to implement a wellness program, the initial phase of which is to provide free flu vaccinations to all employees. Employees can choose whether they want to participate in the program or not, it is entirely voluntary.

In the first year of the program, only a quarter of employees participate in the program and receive their flu shot. Despite this relatively low participation rate, the return on investment for the contact centre still makes the program very worthwhile. Let's do the sums:

• 38 employees participate in the program
• The cost of the each flu shot is $25 (a total cost of $950 for the organisation)
• The average prevalence of influenza in Australia is 12% per annum. If the vaccine is only 80% effective, 4 cases of influenza will be prevented at the contact centre over this year.
• On average, an employee with the flu will take 4 days leave to recover. With 4 cases of flu prevented, 16 work days have been saved! This is a total monetary saving of $2,720.65!
  
• That's a return on investment of 286%!

This is just one example of how a comprehensive wellness program can be effective in your business. By focusing on both mental and physical well-being, your wellness program can provide your organisation with a more productive and engaged workforce, with significantly lower levels of absenteeism.

Many people use work, stress and a lack of balance in their lies, as a key reason why they don't eat well and exercise. Australia is fast developing a reputation as one of the least healthy, over-weight nations in the world. In Australia, the cost of absenteeism to employers is billions of dollars every years (in 1990 it was estimated at $7Billion! Source: Mark Wooden) which is a highly compelling reason for employers to develop programs that are aimed at increasing employee wellness, and reducing the costs of absenteeism.

Some wellness programs that you might want to consider applying in your business include:

• Quit Smoking Campaign. This can have the added benefit of reducing the number of smoke breaks chronic smokers take at work, as well as reducing the impact of other health issues associated with smoking;
• Employee Counselling. Employee Counselling sessions have been demonstrated assist employees to be more focussed on work, even when they are battling personal issues. It is equally important to support your employee's mental as well as physical health.
  
• Employee Fitness. You don't have to have an in-house gym to work with employees to get fit. Perhaps you could provide a personal training session once or twice per week? Or alternatively, get everyone involved in training for a fun-run which supports a charity? It is important that you ensure a Fitness Program is suitable for people of all levels of fitness, and not intimidating for employees who may be over-weight and unfit (particularly as they are the ones who will benefit the most from the increased exercise).
  
• Introduce a Fruit Bowl. By removing lollies and junk food, and providing fresh healthy fruit and nuts in your office, you will find that your employees will not be on the daily sugar-binge roller-coaster, and will have better concentration and higher levels of productivity. The provision of fruit is a very cost-effective way of providing a healthy workplace.

Do you want some assistance in putting together a wellness plan for your organisation? The EI Group can help you develop a wellness strategy that aims to increase employee participation and reduce absenteeism. Click on the link to contact us about wellness programs!