Changing lifestyle behaviours crucial to combat chronic diseases
Employers bear a significant burden when it comes to employee illness, and all the signs — aging baby boomers with increased health-care needs, escalating cases of chronic illnesses and slower population growth resulting in greater reliance on fewer workers — show that hardship is going to worsen.
Increasingly, the shortfalls of Canadian public health resources are being felt directly by employers that must absorb the rising costs of benefit plan usage, absenteeism, presenteeism and disability.
Living longer, not healthier
Although Canadians are living longer than ever before, they are not necessarily healthier. Consider the following trends:
• About 59 per cent of Canadians are overweight or obese, according to Statistics Canada.
• 45 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women will develop cancer in their lifetime, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
• 40 per cent of adults have high blood pressure, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
• More than one-half of working Canadians report high stress levels, according to Health Canada.
• One in five Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association. (And mental illness is highest amongst the 18-24 demographic just entering the workforce.) About one in three Canadians feels burned out or depressed.
This has impacted business through:
• Increased absenteesim (9.7 days lost per worker to illness or personal issues, according to Statistics Canada).
• Presenteeism (those who are at work but are ill) results in 7.5 times the productivity losses associated with absenteeism and is associated with a significant increase in future absence, according to Statistics Canada.
• Chronic conditions such as stress, depression, diabetes and obesity can increase medical expenditures for employees from one-third to three times higher than their healthier counterparts, according to Health Canada.
In an uncertain economic climate, business success is even more reliant on the workforce, which may have been reduced or greatly stressed. The combination of business pressures, health concerns and demographic changes has resulted in employees becoming a more precious resource who are, at the same time, more vulnerable. As a result, employer perspectives have shifted from perceiving health and wellness programs as “nice to have” to “must have” strategic business imperatives.
Reversing downward spiral
There is some good news in all of this: Since chronic diseases related to lifestyle account for 70 per cent of health-care spending, according to Health Canada, prevention can change this downward spiral since “lifestyle” implies choice. Most importantly, changing lifestyle behaviours is a realistic and achievable goal for individuals and workplaces.
But who will provide the much needed support to businesses to appropriately address lifestyle change, especially when there is a great deal of confusion between supporting good employee health and infringing on employee rights? Employee assistance programs (EAPs) can provide expertise in supporting productive employees while respecting the boundaries required for personal health matters.
While EAPs have typically been viewed as a support for immediate mental health needs, progressive providers have transformed programs to take a proactive, total wellness approach. When choosing a provider, look for the following:
• Multiple methods of accessing services to attract program users in a manner that facilitates ease of use.
• Programs with a wide range of services that closely follow the population’s health trends.
• Anonymous programming to encourage an individual concerned with stigma, particularly for those conditions where stigma has been well-noted, such as mental illness.
• Frequent, clear and tailored communication about the program.
Managers also need to be trained on how to respond to employees who may be suffering from compromised health. Early intervention is important. Managers are instrumental in supporting preventative efforts since they are often the first to notice changes in workplace performance and behaviour while, at the same time, being in a position of influence. Regular orientations and reminders of what the EAP offers can help managers make early, appropriate and specific program references to the employee to help drive preventative efforts.
Estelle Morrison is director of health management at Ceridian Canada. She can be reached at [email protected] or (905) 947-7358.
