The Over 16 Billion Dollar Problem Every Business Has

Every employee needs time off and that comes at a price. 

According to a study done by the Conference Board of Canada, the average employee takes 9.3 days off a year.  While this doesn’t sound like much the actual cost to employers was $16.6 billion in 2012.  The Conference Board of Canada estimates this to be even higher as only 46% of businesses tracked absent employees, and only 15% of them actually measured the direct cost associated with it.

– $16.6 billion a year is lost to employee absenteeism – 

But what can an employer do to keep their employees from getting sick and taking days off?  You can’t just ban all sick days and force people to work.

Investing in the well-being of your employees is one of the best investments any business can make.

The health and wellness of an employee falls on more than just the employee; the immediate supervisor, management, and HR all play a key role in keeping employees happy and healthy.

– Unscheduled absenteeism will cost $3600 a year per employee –

Opening a dialogue between employees and those higher up will allow everyone involved to manage the workload and the stress every employee feels.

A Harvard study of more than 6,000 men and women, found that a strong sense of “emotional vitality” (a sense hopefulness, enthusiasm, and engagement) helps people to avoid coronary heart disease and manage diseases including strokes, diabetes, and depression.

Strong emotional vitality protects against 

Heart disease
Strokes
Diabetes
Depression

What can the employer do?

Both large and small companies can provide a wellness program for their employees.  This can be arranging an in-house program with team building exercises that include weekly activities promoting a healthy lifestyle.  This will build a community feeling within the organization and improve overall “emotional vitality.”

Another option is to provide resources to your employees allowing them to build the knowledge base and discover new ways that will help them create a foundation for living a healthy lifestyle. 

These programs come in a variety of different options, from seasonal print newsletters to online portals.  The biggest problem these programs face is that they are a one size fits all solution and, while they are a good start, they often lose the reader’s interest as the content is not directly related to their needs.

Wellness Matters, an online and print wellness program, has developed a solution to this glaring problem by building a digital portal with expertly curated compelling wellness content—from recipes to rock climbing— that learns individual interests and needs and shows only what is directly related to what would interest your employees by keeping them engaged and offering new ideas and ways to stay healthy.