As we all know we are in the middle of an economic downturn; how could we forget with the media highlighting it each day.

I recently heard a word that has been popular during recent times - “Rightsizing”. Effectively this means downsizing, but it betrays a less negative meaning. This rightsizing is unfortunately becoming more frequent during these tough economic times. However, there are many potential costs of reducing staff numbers.

While many business advisers can provide you with a list of future costs associated with downsizing, such impacts have actually been researched and reported. An article titled ‘ The Impact of Downsizing on Workplace Attitudes’ was published in the Group and Organisation Management journal in 1999.

Firstly, this highlighted the different reactions to downsizing by management when compared to front-line employees. One of the big costs associated with downsizing is reduced morale of those employees who managed to keep their jobs. These employees have to undertake a greater workload, under greater pressure which ultimately results in increased stress, reduced company loyalty and reduced performance.

A recent article in Fortune magazine further highlighted by mentioning that medical claims increased ninefold among employees who were left behind after downsizing.

What this means is that if you are really forced to downsize, then it needs to be a priority that you focus on the health and wellness of your remaining staff to ensure that they can continue to lead your company in the right direction.

Browsing through some online blogs recently came across a really interesting post on the HR Marketer Blog. It related to a page in the annual report of Johnson and Johnson. This page included a table titled ‘Sustainability Measures’. It provided a summary of the company’s ability to protect the environment, respect their employees, and be responsible to the community.

From a health point of view, it was interesting to see that they actually reported on four key measures employee health. These health indicators were:

• Smoking
• Hypertension
• High cholesterol
• Physical inactivity

This information showed an improvement in all four indicators by Johnson & Johnson staff in the two years between 2005 and 2007. Additionally, overall staff statistics indicated Johnson & Johnson employees were of greater health than the general population.

What is most impressive about this though is the priority that management obviously place on the health and wellness of their staff. Not only do they collect this information, but they report on it as part of their annual report, highlighting how important such characteristics are a success of an organisation.

A real credit the Johnson & Johnson, and it would be great to see such reporting from more companies.

It is common knowledge that physical activity is beneficial to the health and wellbeing of all individuals. A little more than a week ago the Australian government officially released its physical activity recommendations specifically for older Australians.

Under these recommendations, older Australians are encouraged to accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per day. These recommendations apply to all older people, regardless of their level of health and ability.

This physical activity can come in a range of forms but is best to include some moderate intensity of aerobic activity, strength activity, flexibility and balancing activities.

Of special importance are those individuals who have stopped undertaking regular physical activity. They are encouraged to start reintroducing light physical activity back into their daily routine.

Australia has one of the longest life expectancies in the world, and there are currently over 2.8 million Australians aged 65 years and above. This number is expected to triple by 2060, coupled with an increase in life expectancy to 90 years of age for an Australian woman.

With more Australians getting older, and the average working age increasing, it is more and more important to ensure that physical activity is maintained throughout every Australian’s life.

In another promosing sign, the government is continuing to prioritise workplace health initiatives. One state government is now officially looking for a panel of accredited service providers for their state-based program which is to begin on 1 July, 2009.

The program has been in gradual progression and has recently undergone a pilot program which has obviously proven successful enough of the government to open up the initiative across the State.

In summary, the benefits of the program is that it will pay for, or subsidise, the implementation of workplace health assessments across the state. Additionally, they will also fund workplace-based health promotion programs.

We look forward to seeing how the program unrolls as it is undoubtedly being watched closely by other state and territory governments.