In India large Corporates are taking employee wellness more seriously these days, a recent trend has been observed by the way companies are approaching employee-based wellness programmes. Unfortunately, too many companies have also failed in the recent past while in the need of creating the perfect and successful wellness plan for their employees. Dr. Santosh Datar from Ziqitza Healthcare Limited commented that in a recent survey conducted by a leading Indian financial newspaper concluded that nearly 50 percent of the workforce in our country suffers from some kind of workplace stress. Another survey conducted by a medical journal found out that corporate employees around the world are at risk of developing physical illnesses like hypertension and diabetes owing to increased workplace stress. These numbers are not staggering considering the workings of modern-day corporates. Long working hours coupled with constant connectivity to laptops and phones leave little room for work-life balance.

Another study by researchers at RAND Corp reported that workplace wellness programs show little impact on participant weight loss, and no impact on cholesterol control. Additional studies have shown unhealthiest 20% of an employee population is driving 80% of the healthcare cost. These employees who are at high risk are being neglected. Dr. Santosh Datar from Ziqitza Healthcare Ltd commented that an Ideal corporate wellness programme should benefit both the employee’s health and the overall business outcome of the employer. The key elements for a successful and full proof Corporate Wellness Plan are engagement, strategy and motivation.

Explained below by the medical experts at Ziqitza Healthcare are a few steps of how to design a successful ‘Corporate Wellness Plan’:

• Conduct Employee Assessment: This is a critical step; it is important to understand employee behaviour. A company can either use the Health Risk Appraisal tool or conduct employee surveys to understand some details and information better. The company can even take guidance from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to design an employee survey to get the best results Health Risk Assessment will also help in assessing the employees’ environment to understand which programme will work best.

• Set goals and objectives: Santosh Datar from Ziqitza Limited emphases that after the employee assessment stage, design the goal for the organization. There should be a concrete motive and objective behind designing the ‘Corporate Wellness Plan’. For many organizations, the agenda is to improve workers’ health and thereby reducing health care costs. Others may want to reduce absenteeism, boosting worker productivity and increasing retention. The objective will differ from one company to another based on their working environment and employees.

• Budget for the programme: When creating a wellness budget, organizations should include the cost of incentives, marketing and program design in the budget. Key factors should be considered while finalising the budget
• Vendor and other provider’s fee who offers one stop solution
• Programme incentive cost
• Wellness technology cost

• Establish the wellness programme components: Finalise the components of the wellness plan based on the employee survey, assessment and budget. Common types of wellness programme include – Weight loss programme, smoking cessation programs, disease management, preventive care programmes, medical room with dedicated medical team and ambulances on site etc.

• Develop wellness rewards/incentives for the employees and written wellness policy: As with any other employee policy, the company should publish clear employee wellness program guidelines and a handbook. The programme can be rolled out during a wellness fair organised for the employees to explain them about the programme. It is extremely important to communicate and highlight the benefits and perks on the wellness plan to the employees, to witness more participation.

The team at Ziqitza understand that each workplace is different and might have varies requirements  of corporate wellness packages from health check to vaccination drive to set up OHC , ambulances on call or medical room at premise and thus the service offering takes into account the infrastructure, location, number of people at any given time, hazards involved, working hours, proximity to the nearest health care facility etc. Ziqitza Rajasthan has managed similar kind of corporate wellness requirements in the past.

About Ziqitza Health Care Limited

Ziqitza HealthCare Limited (ZHL), has been one of the leading players in India’s Emergency Medical Services industry since 2005. Ziqitza Limited Rajasthan & ZHL Rajasthan also have appreciated the On-site Ambulance services to make Worksite safe. Ziqitza Limited is a “one-stop integrated healthcare solution” for corporate or government that include Integrated Emergency Services and Corporate Health Solutions. The service network includes 3,300 ambulances, state of art Helpline centres and medical mobile units that services 2 customers every second in India.

For further information please contact: visakh.dayanandan@zhl.in