Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER JANUARY 2019 NEWS 13 JOINT VENTURE BY: Morneau Shepell offers a full range of mental health solutions to help organizations build and implement a strategy that addresses risks to employee health, productivity and engagement. Helping employers help employees At Morneau Shepell, we understand that a mentally healthy workplace begins with an organizational strategy but requires employee participation in order to succeed. Morneau Shepell works with organizations by leveraging our experience in delivering employee well-being programs, absence and disability management solutions, and health and benefit consulting. It's this broad range of experience, services and tools that uniquely positions Morneau Shepell to help employers create mentally healthy workplaces. Supporting your organization and employees to create a mentally healthy workplace Let us help. Discover how our unique approach can improve your workforce engagement and productivity. 1.800.461.9722 | morneaushepell.com 12-PART SERIES This is the 12th of a 12- part series on total health that will explore the links between employees' health, engagement and productivity: 1. The total health framework 2. The 4 pillars of the Total Health Index 3. Senior leadership 4. Resiliency 5. Alcohol consumption 6. A respectful workplace 7. Manager effectiveness 8. Financial health 9. Going beyond traditional engagement 10. Productivity 11. Mental health 12. Physical activity, nutrition, sleep Focusing on physical health Total Health Index shows higher levels of physical activity, nutrition and sleep can link to higher levels of workplace engagement and productivity BY BILL HOWATT ON a scale of one to fi ve, how concerned are you as an HR lead- er about your employees' physical health? Regardless of the score, the real question is why you chose that number. Typically, HR leaders concerned about physical health understand the fi nancial cost as well as the potential loss of pro- ductivity. ose who aren't as con- cerned may not believe employers have a role to play in promoting physical health, or perhaps they're not aware of the fi nancial impact or benefi ts of doing so. It's common knowledge that employees at higher levels of physical health risk (such as those with obesity or high cholesterol) are more likely to develop chronic disease. More than one-half (53 per cent) of the Canadian work- force has at least one chronic dis- ease that drives disability claims, absences and presenteeism, ac- cording to Sun Life. One expensive chronic disease that's often directly related to em- ployees' lifestyle choices is type 2 diabetes. About 10 per cent of Canada's population has diabe- tes, which suggests that in an or- ganization with 1,000 employees, about 100 may be diabetic. irty per cent of people with diabetes also experience symp- toms of depression, and 10 per cent will develop major depression, ac- cording to Diabetes Canada. A 2013 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported the lifetime direct costs for treating type 2 diabetes and its complications in the workplace population for men aged 25 to 44 is estimated to be US$124,700, and for men aged 55-64, US$88,200. One way for employees to re- duce their risk for diabetes is im- proving their physical health by engaging in regular activity and healthy nutrition. Morneau Shepell's total health research found that employees' physical health pillar is a sig- nifi cant predictor for their Total Health Index (THI) which, in es- sence, is a resiliency index. e higher the THI, the more ener- gized and resilient an employee is to manage her daily demands and recover from setbacks or push through adversity. e table to the right shows some of the interesting relation- ships found for physical health, nutrition and sleep — three key el- ements that defi ne an individual's physical health. THI research found that em- ployees with higher levels of physical activity, nutrition and sleep were more likely to have higher levels of engagement and productivity. ey were less likely to report for work feeling unwell, and more motivated than employ- ees with lower levels of physical activity, sleep and nutrition. Employees with higher scores were also more likely to trust their manager, possibly because they have more energy to engage and build relationships with their manager and their team. The research illustrates the benefi t for employers that take an active role in promoting physi- cal health. is can have a more profound impact than just driving down drug, sick time and disabil- ity costs. Physical health can play a role in reducing employees' risk for men- tal health issues such as burnout which often start with physical and mental fatigue. Physical health can also play a positive role in maxi- mizing employees' productivity. Here are some ways HR can build the physical health pillar: Accept that not all employees are at the same starting place: Just because an employer off ers a program doesn't mean all em- ployees are ready to go to the gym, change their diet or make sleep a priority. is may be why many random acts of wellness, such as off ering a physical challenge, rare- ly engage most of the population over an extended period. Too many employers make the mistake of purchasing program- ming that's just for the employees who are ready to go (call this group green). ey typically make up 30 to 40 per cent of the population. ese programs don't support or encourage employees who may be stuck due to some perceived bar- rier such as time (yellow) or feel- ing hopeless and giving up (red). The solution is to offer pro- grams that support all employees' current state of readiness. e end goal is to help those in the red category move to yellow, yellow to move to green, and to sustain the greens. Commit to program evalu- ation: Off ering programming is wonderful, but without measur- ing and evaluating the percentage of employees who are using pro- grams and comparing their costs and productivity to those who are not engaging or participating in programs, there is no defendable way to determine if the program investment demonstrated any re- turn on investment (ROI). When done correctly, evalua- tion will assist HR to determine what programs are working and having an impact by providing evidence-based fi nancial results. Bill Howatt, Ph.D., Ed.D., is chief of research, workforce productivity at the Conference Board of Canada and former chief of research and devel- opment, workforce productivity, at Morneau Shepell. For more informa- tion and education about the com- pany's Total Health Index (THI), visit the company's website at www.mor- neaushepell.com. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Total Health Physical Health Pillar Total Health Index Score Employee Engagement Index Score Average number of days came to work feeling unwell Burnout risk item score: "I nd it hard to be motivated to come to work" Perceived Stress Item Score: "Trust between employees and my direct manager is a problem" Productivity Index Score 76 71 21 71 71 74 71 69 30 69 69 69 64 67 42 68 68 64 Physical Activity 76 71 22 74 72 73 70 69 31 67 69 70 63 66 44 61 67 63 Nutrition 74 72 19 73 72 74 68 67 36 64 68 68 62 63 66 55 63 62 Sleep

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