For 38 years, the only
place of work Samuel Onyango knew was Deloitte. And when he retired last
year in May, he could only reminisce about the years.
This
is something that is slowly fading away as millennials and generation Z
change jobs faster that their profile pictures in search of progress
and flexible work environment.
But for Sammy, as he
preferred to be called, he knew employees with access to wellness
programmes report a positive impact on their health the secret to
retaining employees longer, having risen to the ranks of Deloitte East
Africa CEO at the time of retiring.
“I used to see very
bright women working hard but when they get married, they would ask for
flexible hours and if there was nothing within the firm, they would
resign,” he told Business Daily in a previous exit interview about his
stay at Deloitte.
“I remember one who came to me and
said she had been struggling with pregnancies and the doctor had
indicated that it was the heavy working environment that was causing the
miscarriages.”
That was the genesis of flexible working hours at Deloitte. The
firm did away with the culture of employees having to log in and out
every day.
The flexi-hours, as the firm calls it, allowed staff to do whatever was required of them in the times they preferred.
According
to Sammy, flexi- time made the audit and advisory firm retain a higher
number of women professionals and even cut overall medical costs for the
company.
In addition, Deloitte introduced a generous
maternity leave package and even allowed mothers who deliver twins get
an extra month off. It also rolled out subsidised gym service with a
permanent instructor and introduced a massage parlour.
“Occasionally
you find that some of the illnesses that employees have is related to
looking at the computer for long hours and prolonged sitting,” said
Sammy.
“The services reduced the amount of money we
spend on medical care and people absences because some people fail to go
to work because of a stiff neck.”
Deloitte told
Business Daily, its wellness programs that have improved the overall
health and wellbeing of the workforce and reduced average sick leave by
about 20 percent.
The
trend is spreading fast with many firms increasingly rolling out
wellness programs to cut medical claims and boost workers’ productivity.
Wellness Checkup Survey
In
the research ‘Millennials and the digital marketplace’, 63.3 per cent
of its millennials say they are not fond of rigid working environment
but cite flexible working hours as a factor that motivates them the most
in accomplishing their tasks at work.
“Our survey outcome revealed flexible hours to be the most sought after than health programs,” says the firm.
“This
could also mean that having flexible working hours establishes control
in their lives, which in turn reduces issues such as stress, hence
leading to a positive impact on their overall mental wellbeing.”
A
recent Wellness Checkup Survey by UnitedHealth Group Inc, a US health
care company, showed that 57 per cent of employees with access to
wellness programs report a positive impact on their health.
This
aspect has also pushed insuance firms to offer wellness programmes for
their clients to reduce the health related claims in the long run.Zamara
has been partnering with its clients to set up lactation rooms for
mothers in offices. According to Zamara Risk Business Managing Director
Rosalyn Mugo, nutrition plays a key role in healthy children which means
fewer visits to the doctor.
Minet and Jubilee have
been carrying wellness weeks touching on gambling, alcoholism, abuse and
depression of employees of their clients. This is expected to boost the
mental wellbeing of employees in workplaces.
This was
reinforced in a 2018 study by Transamerica which said Johnson &
Johnson reported 3.7 percent lower average annual growth in total
medical spending and saved between $1.88 and $3.92 for every dollar
spent on wellness plans for 30,000 employees.
"Medical
claims have been impacted positively by our initiatives we are beginning
to see a reduction in medical claims attributed to lifestyle diseases.
But again it is important to note that the overall medical costs have
been rising fast which unfortunately is credited to both hospital and
pharmaceutical cost escalations within the past few years.," said Helen
Nangonzi, Head Corporate Affairs and Brand Marketing at Standard
Chartered Bank Kenya.
"The wellness programs actually
drive up productivity. Nowadays there are numerous lifestyle diseases,
our business being of a sedentary nature if we didn’t introduce these
activities we possibly will have a larger number of staff battling
various ailments and all. The trade off in our opinion is having
healthier and happier staff who provide excellent customer centric
service to our clients," she added.
The
trend may be true for several other firms operating in Kenya. In the
financial year ended December 2018, Barclays Bank of Kenya spent Sh440
million on employees’ medical expenses, translating to 20 percent cut or
Sh110 million saving when compared to Sh550 million in previous year.
The bank runs different wellness programs such as
counselling services to staff and their families in moments like death
and trauma. A total of 67 employees benefited from this last year.
For lactating mothers, the bank has a nursing room fully equipped with milk storage facilities.
It
has also invested in basic medical equipment in its offices for
employees to test metrics as blood sugar, blood pressure and body mass
indices.
“The Barclays employee wellness programme has
greatly contributed to less office stress, reduced burnouts and
therefore reduced sick-offs,” reports BBK.
Barclays’
counterpart KCB Group, with similar programs, has seen an improved
productivity among employees. Its staff to income ratio improved from
26.9 per cent to 23.7 per cent. This means for every Sh1,000 generated
as income, the bank incurs Sh237 on employees.
Debt challenges
Companies
such as Safaricom, East African Breweries, Kenya Women Microfinance
Bank, Nestle, Mabati Rolling Mills and Isuzu East Africa have set up
breastfeeding stations, providing mothers with among other things
refrigerator to store breast milk.
Safaricom CEO Bob
Collymore says in the latest East Africa CEOs outlook survey by KPMG
says he places people ahead of technology as a key to building a
resilient organisation.
“The
most important job for a CEO is recruiting the right people. Secondly,
learn to deal with people’s issues quicker,” he says.
The
telco has trained over 460 line managers to be life coaches, helping
support employee wellness and talent nurturing apart from just focusing
on performance management.
While focusing on employee
wellness programs is gaining popularity, employees are also facing
immense pressure to balance work and life as employers ask for more
productivity.
This even as more employees admit to
being stressed about their finances. Cash flow and debt challenges
continue to plague many employees, lowering the benefits derived from
wellness programs.
Wellness programs are now
incorporating financial management skills for employees especially with
financial literacy lagging behind the current 83 percent financial
inclusion reported in Kenya.
More than half of Kenyans
have reported a worsened financial status, with many having soaked in
excess debt from multiple sources, the 2019 Financial Access (FinAccess)
Household survey shows.
“The ability of Kenyans to use
financial services and products to manage their daily needs, cope with
shocks and achieve big goals has declined,” said the report released in
April.
It adds that less than seven percent of Kenyans
seek professional advice to manage their finances as majority rely on
own wisdom or friends and relatives.
Insurance
brokerage firm, Minet Kenya recently launched a wellness program which
extends focus beyond health, encouraging adoption of sound financial
decisions as critical for employees’ mental stability.
“We
have particularly incorporated mental wellness in our wellness
programme because mental health disorders attributes to significant
number of indirect deaths through suicide and self-harm,” CEO Sammy
Muthui said.
With many firms chasing efficiency, job cuts have resulted in the process usually causing panic and anxiety among workers.
Firms
such as Barclays, KCB and National Bank sponsored financial literary
programs for the staff that had been laid off to assist them on how to
utilise exit packages.
In May, Liberty Life Kenya and
Heritage Insurance launched free financial literacy programmes targeting
workers as well as the public.
Heritage Insurance MD
Godfrey Kioi said employers must see the opportunity and self-interest
in promoting a financial wellness agenda at the workplace.
Millennials
now occupy a larger portion of the workplace, and it will increasingly
become essential for employers to create an employee-centric culture
that fosters productivity, according to job placement website
BrighterMonday.
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