Matete Lerutla

The key to enabling holistic employee well-being

While the physiological and psychological interventions are necessary, they do not foster holistic well-being when applied in isolation, says Sanlam Corporate HR executive Matete Lerutla.

Employee assistance programmes or wellness programmes have become prominent among South African employers. Diseases such as diabetes, pulmonary conditions, heart disease and psychological stresses are on the rise in younger people, with much of this being attriBY MATETE LERUTLA buted to modifiable behaviour such as inactivity, smoking, poor nutrition, alcohol consumption and stressful life demands.

The impacts of these lifestyle diseases on individuals are material and include a decreased quality of life, disablement and premature death. As employers, we experience the financial overheads of increased

“Our research indicates that there are compelling returns on investment in total wellness ranging up to R6 for every rand spent.”

absenteeism and presenteeism. Furthermore, costs of healthcare and group insurance are correlated with the increased prevalence of such illnesses. This places strain on the long-term affordability of insurance cover for employees.

There are two general approaches to implementing wellness initiatives, namely primary prevention and secondary prevention. Primary prevention is aimed at preventing the onset of the disease by impacting health-related behaviours and risk factors. Secondary prevention attempts to diagnose and treat diseases at early stages before the onset of complications. The logic of wellness interventions is therefore based on influencing the behaviour of individuals to positively impact on their health, which has a range of mutually beneficial outcomes. A winwin-win for our employees, employers, and the wider economy.

Programmes typically consist of screening protocols, evaluations and proposals of preventative steps. Such steps may include the introduction of on-site clinics, diet and exercise plans, access to smoking cessation programmes, alcohol rehabilitation programmes, and so on. The key challenge is that the use of such programmes are limited, with fewer than 50 percent of employees participating on average.

Of those identified for preventative interventions, fewer than 20 percent actually utilise the services offered. That said, the positive impact of wellness interventions is widely recognised.

Holistic well-being requires more effort

Studies have shown clinically meaningful and statistically significant changes in behaviours such as frequency of exercise, reduction in smoking and changes in diet as a direct result of wellness interventions. When converted into actual Rand returns, a return in cost savings from 2 to 6 times the investment made, was noted.

While the physiological and psychological interventions are necessary, they do not foster holistic well-being when applied in isolation. To this end,

“Employees with debt have shown to experience a higher prevalence of illnesses such as: fatigue, high blood pressure, heart disease, restlessness, anxiety, depression, ulcers and helplessness, among others.”

there is a need to broaden the scope of traditional wellness programmes to include financial resilience if we aim to unlock the full potential of a mature ecosystem of interventions. The American Psychological Association recognises financial stress as the leading cause of smoking, weight gain, alcohol and drug abuse among employees in the USA.

Forty-five percent of employees polled by PwC in the USA indicated that financial matters are their leading cause of stress – more than jobs, relationships and health combined. The Sanlam Benchmark research showed that 73 percent of respondents experienced financial stress, with more than half admitting that it negatively affects them at the workplace. Unsurprisingly, debt was identified as the key contributor to financial stress.

Debt is a lifestyle disease interventions is relatively low; interventions have to compete for employees’ share of attention and time; This is of particular concern as debt has been there are stigmas attached to mental health issues shown to negatively affect both physical and mental and debt and the initial funding costs of such interhealth. Employees with debt have shown to experiventions may not be budgeted for. ence a higher prevalence of illnesses such as fatigue, high blood pressure, heart disease, restlessness, anxGiven financial constraints to delivering holistic iety, depression, ulcers and helplessness, among wellness, HR interventions need to have a distinct others. impact on financial outcomes over time, and our research indicates that there are compelling returns Evidently, debt is a lifestyle disease and so proon investment in total wellness ranging up to R6 grammes aiming to deliver a holistic well-being for every rand spent. In the case study shared, it is must address debt in order to have a material anticipated that the employer would experience an impact through both primary and secondary preannual saving of up to R20 ventative measures. million in the first year post While health screening is “There is a need to implementation of a successful intervention based on our fairly routine, screening for debt can be more difficult as it doesn’t always broaden the scope insights. In addition, there are providers, Sanlam included, easily present itself. To this end, we have to conof traditional that are able to fully fund such interventions at their sider various ways in order to identify in a sensitive wellness own cost depending on the package of services sourced manner, who within an employer is presenting risk programmes to from the provider, due to the demonstrable positive impact factors that could indicate potential problems. include financial that such interventions have on mortality, morbidity and health experience. In a recent case study, Sanlam was approached resilience.” In closing, holistic wellness for by one of South Africa’s companies should go beyond largest employers to combine actuarial, health and addressing physical and psychological factors. We consulting expertise to identify the key health and need to consider a person and their behaviour in financial correlations impacting absenteeism at the totality. Debt is a lifestyle disease brought about by employer. The study identified correlations between behaviour patterns, it is the leading cause of finanfinancial circumstances, mental wellness, physicial stress in SA, it is prevalent at epidemic levels cal wellness and absenteeism. The insights shared among employees across socio-economic, education helped the employer to identify potential risk facand demographic bands, and it contributes signifitors that are indicative of an employee who is in cantly to physical and mental health problems. If debt and the extent to which financial indebtedness we want to help our employees to take control of correlated to the issues of absenteeism, mental their physical and mental well-being, we have to health and physical health at this specific employer. first empower them to move towards better financial The long-term return on investment behaviours. And this takes dealing intelligently with the big issue of debt. Looking at individuals through When seeking to deliver total wellness outcomes, the lenses of physical, mental and financial wellness there are a few challenges to implementing successallows employers to provide integrated and holistic ful interventions. These are that the utilisation of measures to improve total wellness outcomes. 