Just chill: Indian firms to focus on staff health, productivity, says report

Indian employers’ focus on health and productivity (H&P) is growing and is the highest in the Asia Pacific region according to the Staying@Work Survey Report, conducted by global professional services company Towers Watson.

A massive 96 percent companies in India feel that H&P played a moderate to essential role in their organization’s health strategy and three in every four Indian employers expect the focus on H&P to grow in the next two years. Leading the Asia Pacific markets, almost half (44 percent) of the Indian companies plan to put in place a health and wellbeing strategy within the next couple of years, while 48 percent already have one in place.

Commenting on the findings, Ms. Anuradha Sriram, Director - Benefits, Towers Watson, India said “It is extremely encouraging to find Indian companies place greater focus on health and wellness. But to translate this focus into tangible improvement in employee wellbeing and productivity and thereby financial performance, companies must identify effective programs rather than copying popular ones and strive towards evolving a robust health and wellness strategy instead of implementing a number of tactical initiatives”.

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Globally, companies with the most cost effective H&P programs are more productive and generate 34 percent higher revenue per employee, reveals the report. Such companies enjoy a 20 percentage points higher market premium. Moreover, the number of leaves taken by employees of these companies goes down by 1.0 for each employee per year. Similarly, employee participation in lifestyle behaviour coaching programs is higher by 20 percentage points for such companies.

“Our analysis shows that high effectiveness organisations are moving beyond program implementation and are investing in creating and nurturing a culture that encompasses health and wellness. These companies are naturally able to build and sustain better well-being over time and achieve even greater benefits in terms of reduced health care costs as well as greater productivity and performance” said Ms. Sriram

Stress as the #1 lifestyle risk factor
Stress is ranked as the number-one lifestyle risk factor - ranking above physical inactivity and obesity - by employers in all countries in Asia Pacific, with the exception of China, where it is ranked second. However, when asked about which priorities were top of mind when developing their H&P programs, only a third (33 percent) cited improving the emotional/mental health of employees. Only approximately one in three (32 percent) employers in India currently offer a program on stress or resilience management, though it is higher than the Asia Pacific average of 26 percent.

Indian employers reluctant to offer financial incentives
Indian employers have not yet adopted financial incentives widely. While 8 percent of employers in Asia Pacific offer cash as a financial incentive to encourage program participation, in India the number drops down to 2 percent. Similarly, Indian employers are five percentage points behind their Asia Pacific counterparts in offering gifts as well as flex spending account credits. Interestingly, 15 percent of Indian employers are considering the use of financial rewards from this year on.

Emergent trends
As per the report, Indian employers plan to use a wide range of tactics to engage employees in health, including social media and mobile applications. Sponsoring individuals or team competitions between business locations or employee groups emerged as the most popular tactic to encourage employee interaction around health and productivity with more than one in every four (26 percent) employers favouring the same.

The Towers Watson Staying@Work Survey in Asia had 372 respondents from China, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.