Most employers are aware that if their employees are healthy they are likely to be happier and more productive.
In 2001, the Australian Taxation Office set themselves the goal of being recognised as providing excellence in safety and health management for their employees. They decided to enlist the support of Wesley Corporate Health Services to conduct a health risk assessment and survey of the Office's employees.
As a result of this work, the Australian Taxation Office chose to address 10 key health risks to its employees as part of a Wellness Program:
- depression, stress and anxiety
- musculoskeletal
- cardiovascular
- cancer
- diabetes
- asthma
- obesity—nutrition and exercise
- life and work balance
Staff members are educated about the Wellness Program through newsletters, emails, the intranet and through the work of Wellbeing site representatives, who have key responsibility for delivering the program to 52 sites across Australia. These are Australian Taxation Office employees, accredited through training developed with Adelaide University, who are paid a fortnightly allowance for their time commitment of two to four hours per week. During this time they organise, deliver and evaluate at least two activities a month for their colleagues, which focus on the identified key health risks.
The activities are for groups of people rather than individual sessions, and are mainly held at lunch time. They can be ‘user pays’ such as yoga, pilates, seated massage, line dancing, belly dancing, weight management and tai chi. However, some of the most popular have been those with guest speakers such as one on bowel cancer by the local Rotary association, where participants were given free ‘bowel kits’ (bowel cancer screening kits).
The employer funds each site for low cost session providers who are from the local community. These can include physiotherapists, hospitals, nutritionists, police and organisations such as the Cancer Council.
The program has been so well received by employees that participation rates have risen to 80 per cent of venue capacity.
For more information about increasing the health and wellness of your organisation, see: