Saving The “Heart” Of An Organization: From Corporate Wellness To Harm Reduction
The findings of a long-running study recently demonstrated the health complications that can arise due to stress-induced biological changes. It indicated that job stress raises the risk of heart disease by disrupting the body’s internal systems. Stressed workers tend to eat unhealthy food, smoke, drink and skip exercise – behaviors that are all linked to heart disease. The workers in the study also had lowered heart rate variability – a sign of a poorly-functioning weak heart – and higher-than-normal levels of cortisol, a “stress” hormone that provides the energy required for a fight-or-flight response. Too much cortisol circulating in the bloodstream can damage blood vessels and the heart.
Given the amount of time and effort that people spend at the workplace, it is only logical that adoption of healthy – particularly heart healthy or harm reduction– lifestyles begin at ground zero!
Organizations have a responsibility towards their employees and the community within which they function. When companies fulfil their social and environmental obligations, it directly translates into broader benefits, which can be monetary or otherwise. A recent study suggests that good health is vital to improving the productivity of employees. Another study by Assocham highlights that adoption of corporate wellness programmes can save India Inc. billions of dollars’ worth of income just by reducing the absenteeism rate by 1%. Wellness and harm reduction programmes can keep various chronic conditions such as heart diseases at bay or reduce their harmful impact. Apart from saving money for the business, it also helps the employees work to their full potential – thus ensuring a win-win scenario.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to corporate wellness or harm reduction programmes. There could be direct benefits offered such as access to gym and exercise equipment, healthy food in the cafeteria, or counselling sessions with nutritionists and trainers to understand what kind of a lifestyle to adopt to prevent, reverse or reduce harm. Other organizations do this in the form of incentives encouraging participation in a weight loss or smoking cessation or switching to less harmful nicotine based rapidly plus slow acting nicotine replacement therapies.
For employees to get started on heart-healthy behaviour, prevention should also form the core of company culture. Wellness programmes that are adopted should be thus inclusive of education and challenges around heart health and how to keep certain risk factors under control. Though it may take some time, it is imperative to help them understand that it is never too late to make changes to one’s lifestyle. Heart diseases can be prevented ( or the progression checked), in most cases, by controlling the modifiable risk factors such as diet, physical activity, and overall lifestyle choices.
Apart from this, there are certain steps that organizations can encourage the employees to follow to ensure a healthy heart. These include the following.
Forming positive relationships and taking colleagues into confidence when a task is getting out of hand.
Start the day by eating a healthy and filling breakfast. This will help improve concentration levels and help employees stay away from unwanted stress.
Encouraging positive sleep habits in employees or giving them some time away for relaxation and rewinding activities.
Encouraging at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day and asking them to use the stairs instead of lifts. This will release endorphins; feel-good hormones that can help uplift their mood.
Prioritizing and organizing work to avoid any backlogs.
In conclusion
A healthy heart takes daily and ongoing effort and the company culture plays a large role in defining the habits that can help achieve this. Employers and organizations as a whole possess the power to lead through example and ensure that the employees live and work to their best. Employees spend a large portion of the day at the workplace. Business outcomes depend a lot on correlating wellness goals with work-life balance.
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