WORK RELATED DISEASES
the magnitude of the NCD epidemic has escalated, so has the knowledge and awareness of how to control and prevent them.
THE IMPACT With one-third of adult life being spent at work, NCDs can be responsible for unnecessary costs, productivity decreases and disruption of business continuity. For instance, in 2010, the impact of diabetes on the world economy reached an estimated $376 billion. Researchers estimated 21million years of future productive life are lost each year because of cardiovascular disease in the BRICS countries alone.
The seriousness of the issue is reflected in Governments and global bodies, including the United Nations and the World Health Organization, developing strategies, implementing programs and devising policies to both prevent and manage NCDs and their associated risk factors.
As organisations have also recognised the impact they can have in NCD prevention, and the impact the onset of these diseases can potentially have on a business, so workplace-centred models of NCD prevention are becoming more commonplace. These not only reflect on the focus on the wellbeing of employees, but also the communities in which they operate and their customers.
These workplace-centred interventions can range from individually targeted programmes (e.g. one-to-one nutritional counselling) to companywide- level policies that target the entire workforce (e.g. fruit and vegetable subsidies in worker canteens). However, there is still a lack of consensus as to how such interventions should be implemented or even measured. On the other hand, we know that simply trying to educate employees to make healthy choices when workplace environments are not supportive is likely to produce weak and short term effects.
Hence, each industry requires a unique approach. It is essential to try and bring about a shift in organisational culture within
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the industry in order to achieve programme integration and boost employee participation by integrating new prevention programs into existing company structures.
“PROVIDE LONGER DESCRIPTIONS OF HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES TO
INCREASE UPTAKE.”
STRATEGY FOR HEALTH Managing and putting in place preventative measures starts with assessment and prioritisation of tailored strategies organisations could implement, consistent with their internal structure, employee needs and health issues. During our assessments, we look at and score a range of health factors, including organisational support, tobacco control, high cholesterol/ blood pressure, diabetes, nutrition, physical activity, weight and stress management, and depression.
For instance, while there may be good organisational supports in place for employees (for e.g. an excellent maternity leave policy and lactation/ childcare support, great emergency response services to heart attack/ stroke), opportunities could exist for additional programmes within areas such as nutrition, cholesterol and blood pressure levels, depression and stress management.
Based on this we recommend a set of strategies potentially including:
• Integrate health metric into corporate reporting: Generate shared value by integrating standardised metrics on the health of their workforce into annual financial reports. Forward- thinking business leaders will understand that the health of their workforce is an asset: human capital is core to sustained competitive advantage.
• Strengthen and expand leadership to deliver a unified message for health and prevention: Develop coherent messages supporting a culture of health. A credible and influential network needed to be developed to operate in synergy, using evidence-driven advocacy for prevention. This includes mid-to- high level manager leaders.
• Integrate behavioural economic techniques such as nudging into office environments: Creating an environment that helps facilitate healthy behaviour can be achieved through low cost and easy-to-implement interventions. Examples of potential techniques to nudge employees into healthier behaviours include: labelling food items served during lunch time with a traffic light systems; rearranging food items from healthiest to least healthy; providing longer descriptions of healthy food choices to increase uptake; encouraging employees to track their weight at least once per week; encouraging daily exercise etc.
• Providing in-house health promotion support: A full time or part-time health promotion specialist could provide on-site coaching of individuals in order to manage existing health risks and advise on how to incorporate a healthy lifestyle into daily work. The health professional would also conduct group activities such as peer counselling, group sessions, seminars and training workshops for staff.
The collaborative approaches, across industries, aimed at tackling various infectious diseases in tandem, have led the way to increasingly holistic approaches to disease control, accounting for the broader socioeconomic and political conditions that affect projects and worker welfare.
However, there is still more to be done and each organisation must have a process to assess its own needs and that of its workforce.
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