Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER MARCH 2018 NEWS 11 JOINT VENTURE BY: e 4 pillars of the Total Health Index How do you know if your employees are truly working at their full potential? BY BILL HOWATT WHAT percentage of your work- force has the capacity to consis- tently work at their full potential? is is a much diff erent ques- tion than asking how many of your employees are highly en- gaged. Short of guessing, many HR leaders don't have access to the kind of data required to re- spond to this question. To answer accurately, you need to measure two constructs that an organization's productivity de- pends upon: employees' capacity (resiliency level) and consistency (ability to repeat behaviours over and over). ink about a cellphone, which can only work when it has a prop- er charge — no charge (capacity), no phone. Similarly, its consisten- cy depends on a stable connection to its cellular network. Employees are similar. Their resiliency level defi nes how much energy they have to push through daily demands and setbacks that aff ect their capacity to work to their full potential. eir consistency with respect to productivity is impacted by how present they are with their assigned work. ere are three factors that im- pact how connected employees are to their assigned functions: Attendance: A person must be at work to be able to perform to their full potential. Discretionary eff ort: e de- gree to which an employee is will- ing to go above and beyond the minimal requirements for their job. When employees are not doing their best work, what are they doing? Or, more specifi cal- ly, what percentage of their best work is reasonable to expect of the average employee each day? Anecdotally, leaders will say it's not 100 per cent. Presenteeism: Refers to em- ployees who come to work feel- ing unwell. e root cause can be linked to chronic diseases — in- cluding mental illness or chronic pain, or perhaps a common cold — which prevent them from working at full potential. Besides motivation and at- titude, there are many reasons why employees don't consistently perform to their full potential. As most HR professionals know, em- ployee stress, mental health and productivity are directly related. e Total Health Index e Total Health Index (THI) is designed to help leaders gain in- sights that can accurately answer the lead-in question. At this point, there's no single tool in Canada that is measuring or is designed to do what the THI does for em- ployees and employers. It's not a health-risk assess- ment (HRA) or engagement tool — it provides elements of both. It can be used to support OHS initiatives as well as to implement psychological health and safety management system (PHSMS) programs, as defi ned by the Na- tional Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. The THI facilitates two-way accountability between employer and employee. It promotes the HEP (health, engagement and productivity) model that suggests engagement and health together predict employee productivity. Traditional engagement sur- veys present the notion that a highly engaged workforce will be productive. On the surface, this may be true; however, this insight fails to provide any indication of workforce sustainability — the percentage of highly engaged em- ployees who are highly healthy, moderately healthy or at risk. is data can detect what de- gree of their total health may show up as burnout risk. When ignored, highly engaged employ- ees' resiliency can slip, resulting in increased sick time, decreased discretionary effort, and in- creased presenteeism. THI results provide specifi c insights into how organizations can better support employees to build more resiliency and stay more connected to their as- signed work. ink of THI like most mod- ern-day personality assessments. Upon completion, the individual gets a personalized profi le, with feedback and insights, in real time. Most of these assessment tools have been validated, and have defi ned norms and bench- marks to ensure they are statisti- cally accurate. e THI is a behavioural as- sessment that measures four pil- lars that collectively provide the individual with their total health index, which is a resiliency score. The higher the THI score, the higher the likelihood the employ- ee is capable of consistently work- ing at their full potential. Each of the four pillars has sub- pillars that collectively measure and gain insights on the work- force resiliency level with respect to total health. Gaps in any one pillar can have a negative impact on employees' health, engage- ment and productivity: Physical health: Measures life- style choices, the current health profi le with respect to chronic dis- eases, physical activity, biometric awareness, musculoskeletal risk profi le, nutrition, hydration, sleep and sedentary risk. Mental health: Measures behavioural risk profi les for de- pression, anxiety, general mental health, coping skills and exposure to traumatic events. Work health: Measures the 13 psychosocial work factors highlighted in the "standard," respectful workplace risk (expo- sure to bullying and harassment), perceived stress load, attendance, discretionary eff ort and presen- teeism risk profi le. Life health: Measures fi nancial health, work-life blending (such as blending the demands of home and work), and relationship health and support at home and at work. The THI uses a behavioural methodology called triple A (awareness, accountability and action). For real change to hap- pen, both employer and employ- ee need to become aware of what they can control. Making changes requires tak- ing accountability for what each can control, and then engaging in actions that can promote total health. For tools like THI to have any true impact, it's necessary to en- sure all stakeholders are clear on the why, what and how. is is done through thoughtful commu- nications, engaging the workforce to reinforce confidentiality on how data is used, its purpose (for example, to support total health strategy design) and benefi ts to both employee and employer. It can't be assumed that all em- ployees are ready to take respon- sibility for their behaviour. The THI measures how an organization's current programs are impacting and predicting employee THI profi les, and un- covers any differences within populations (such as age, gender, location or division). A guiding principle of THI is that employers can't do all the work. ey can provide support and programs that employees can voluntarily engage in to impact their total health — but employ- ees must be willing to do some of the work themselves. Now consider the lead-in question through the four pillars of total health. is information provides decision-makers with insights on where they are and what they can do to remove bar- riers and workplace hazards that are negatively impacting employ- ees' health, engagement and pro- ductivity. It also provides every employee with information they can use to make better decisions that will benefi t them in and out of the workplace. Bill Howatt, Ph.D. Ed.D., is the chief of research and development, workforce productivity, at Morneau Shepell in Toronto. For more information on the Total Health Index, visit www.morneaushepell.com. 12-PART SERIES This is the second 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. Canada's Total Health Index 4. Resiliency 5. Alcohol 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 Credit: In-Finity (Shutterstock) Eliminate guesswork in investing in health and wellness and produce actionable results. Help employees make the most of their physical health, mental health, work and life. Use Total Health Index (THI) to uncover opportunities to align investments in health and wellness programs with better outcomes for employees and your organization. THIDiscovery™ measures the four factors that influence total health Call Morneau Shepell to learn more about THI. 1.800.461.9722 morneaushepell.com thi@morneaushepell.com Physical Mental Life Work Total Health

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