We all know Australia is one of the fatest nations in the world, but the bad news is we continue to get fatter. A report released from the ABS in May shows that the population has become substantially fatter since the 1990’s. Specifically, the report showed 37% of Australian adults were overweight and 25% were obese.

This finding was supported by research into obesity rates at patients visiting GPs.

What this means is that over 60% of Australians are putting their lives at risk due to poor dietary, exercise and lifestyle habits. Unfortunately this is ‘normal’ now. A strong push is now required to reverse this trend by encouraging physical activity and improved nutritional practices; simple concepts but ones that most Australians have difficulty putting into practice.

Most workplace health and wellness programs focus on the less fit and the less healthy, and fair enough. However, staff who are currently of moderate or good health and fitness are also important as many have an interest in this area and are dedicated to improving their own health.

The reason I bring this is up is that I have just read an article on the health of firefighters. Now, most firefighters would be considered at least moderately fit due to their job demands, yet heart disease accounts for the death of 45% of firefighters each year. There is no doubt that the hot conditions they work in places them at increased risk due to stress this heat places on the body and specifically the heart.

The article also highlighted the high risk that volunteer firefighters are under. Many are of only poor-moderate fitness and they are working in dangerous and demanding conditions that places their health at risk.

The reason for this post is that health education is important for all types of individuals and staff, regardless of occupation, age, gender or your perception of their need for such programs. In the above mentioned research, fire fighters expressed a strong desire for fire departments to assist them further with improving their health.

All aspects of our live involve technology. It is hard to escape with email and mobile phones always on, ensuring we are always in contact with each other. Well these same technologies are now being used to improve the health of staff.

Some recent US research looked at the benefits of a 16 week program where the experimental group received regular emails with specific exercise and nutrition recommendations. Pretty simple really, but the results showed that this experimental group became more active and improved their diet.

Here is a simple method of encouraging improved lifestyle habits without a lot of face to face contact or resources. Personally, I was happy but not surprised to read the results. FitSense Australia has been working for many months now on an Online Wellness Centre which will offer a range of assessment, education and motivational tools.

It has long been a point of discussion. Just how important is staff health and wellness on the overall performance of an organisation.

A recent report sheds some light on this by identifing a direct link between staff health and organisational performance. Right Management’s Wellness & Productivity Management Study looked at 28,000 employees across 15 countries; the results shows that organisations that managed health well, increased performance by 2.5 times.

Those organisations that managed staff health poorly were 3.5 times less profitable. Now that is a big difference and directly highlights the financial impact of staff health.

Of concern, was that 51% of Australian workers felt that their employers promoted good staff health. This means almost half of all employers can improved initiatives to improve staff health and ultimately improve company profits.

This report concludes that staff health and wellness must now be a priority for organisations. It is no longer just a feel good way of keeping staff happy; it now has a direct impact on productivity, creativity, and the bottom line.

FitSense Australia has recently have a lot of interest in the provision of mini health assessments to employees. In the past we have been reluctant to provide these and we have not considered them comprehensive enough to optimally benefit participants. However, based on our experiences this year we now feel that mini health assessments are a great way of creating health awareness for employees.

Mini health assessments are 10 to 15 minutes in length and cover key health characteristics such as body composition, BP, cholesterol levels and diabetes risk. The beauty of the mini health assessment is that it is a cheap and effective way of creating awareness for a large number of staff. It can be delivered in a private room as per standard assessment, but it can also be delivered as part of the health expo.

But this reason it is now something that FitSense Australia recommends to organisations interested in offering a health check but without the time or financial resources to do something more thorough.

Body composition is a key health risk factor, and one that is considered modifiable as it can be improved by exercise and diet. For this reason, FitSense Australia includes it in all of our health assessment services, from the 10 minute mini assessment right through to a thorough one-hour assessment.

Several years ago the focus was on the importance of body mass index (BMI) which provides a ratio of weight to height to determine whether an individual is of healthy weight. Over the last couple of years this emphasis has changed, with research suggesting that waist circumference is one of the most effective indicators of heart disease.

This has also been the focus of the government’s Measure Up program, which is aimed at promoting healthy eating and physical activity among the adult population.

Interestingly, waist circumference is a good predictor of heart disease, even in individuals within a healthy weight range according to BMI. While it is obviously important to maintain a healthy weight, it appears that waist circumference is even more important.

While this may sound complicated, it can be simplified by saying that a reduction in overall body weight will result in both reduced BMI and reduced waist circumference.

As an interesting follow-up to my previous post about FitSense Australia’s recent release of a health and wellness program specifically for small businesses, the recent issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion included an article on just this topic.

The article stated that small businesses face many of the same staff health issues as their larger counterparts, however they did have a number of advantages. The article suggested that the success of wellness programs in small businesses is greater. This is likely to be as a result of increased participation rates, supportive management, employee involvement and greater communication between employees.

So if you are a small business looking to improve the health of your staff then it is likely that you will get good bang for your buck with a wellness program.

Over recent months I have been thinking more and more about the importance of our staff and keeping them at work and productive on a daily basis. Being the managing director of a small business, when a staff member call in sick, it can throw the whole day’s operations into chaos. Being a small team, means we rely heavily on each staff member being a work and being productive.

For this reason FitSense Australia has released the Small Biz Program. It is a workplace health and wellness program that is specifically aimed at helping small businesses improve their health and wellness of their staff. It is a comprehensive program but it is offered in a manner that will suit the budgets of the small business.

As part of this program, FitSense Australia plans to work closely with small businesses to get the best out of their staff and out of their business. As with our larger clients, the aim of the program is to reduce absenteeism, increase productivity, increased motivation and ultimately increase the financial health of the company.

In follow-up to a previous post about President Obama considering the implementation of a workplace health and wellness program for US federal government employees, a US senator has recently proposed that tax incentives be given to employers who implement comprehensive wellness programs.

If this is being considered in the US, then surely it is a consideration for the Australian government as well. Unhealthy employees are a much greater burden on the health care system than their healthier colleagues. If employers are encouraged to assist employees improve their health, then not only will it be of benefit for the company, but the government will also get an cost saving.

However, there are several issues associated with such a plan. One of the main ones being, what would actually be considered a workplace wellness program? Is gym membership enough? Or what about fruit being delivered to work? While such activities may be considered workplace wellness initiatives, by themselves they are not enough to improve the health of the workforce.

I am sure many debates around this topic will continue in the years to come. I look forward to seeing the outcome.

Ever wondered what some of the ‘big names’ are doing when it comes to the health of their staff?

Well here are some of the key stats which some Americian organisations have released.

Johnson & Johnson

• 8% reduction in smoking (only 4% of the workforce now smoke)
• 8% reduction in high blood pressure (only 6% of workforce now have high BP)
• 13% reduction in high cholesterol levels (now only 6% of the workforce)

Microsoft

• offers personalised health goals, an obesity program and free meals at work

Safeway

• 74% particaption rate (pretty impressive given the 30,000 eligable staff)
• offers staff free health assessments, gym memberships and a health hotline
• offers incentives for staff to implement good health behaviours

It is important to note that some of these changes took many years, but not only do the improvements continue to occur, the health of the workforce is now at a very impressive level.