Last week, the Centre for Ethics and Health (CEG), offered this identification note “Lifestyle Effects on the Shop Floor” to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Public Health, Welfare and Sport. “Employers now offer a range of health programs”, says a spokesperson for CEG, which is a partnership between the Health Council and the Council for Health and Society (RVS).
Grey Area
“They do that with the best intentions, but there is often a gray area. That someone cannot show up at work smelling ofalcohol is clear. But what if a person is too fat? Does that mean that he does not do his job well?”
According to the spokesman, measures to increase the fitness of an employee are not mandatory. “With the growing number of health apps, you can now get help with things like losing weight and quitting smoking. You can control everything, but the question is whether you would want that as an employer too”.
Vital Company
Family business from Bruil Ede is one of the many companies that deal with the vitality of their employees. In July, they were named as the most vital company of Gelderland, as part of the election to the most vital business of the Netherlands. That election is organized by SME Netherlands and insurer ONVZ.
According to Hans den Boer, Manager of People & Work at Bruil, creating a health plan for the company was a “huge quest”. “We went to seminars and meetings, but they were mostly about nutrition and exercise, while in our view the point was about something much broader: people and energy”.
Bruil appointed thirty employees of the company from about 400 nationwide to “positivo's”.They work for a year on their health and act as ambassadors. “You should not force things, but you can convince your people”.
Decreased Absenteeism
Den Boer agrees with the CEG that employers and employees have to agree amongstthemselves. “We have made a plan and the Work’s Council was involved. Then we went round the country at various sites to show and explain our plans”.
“It must not sound like nonsense”, says Den Boer. “We want to havea conversation with every employee and ask each one of them what they need to function well in the coming years. This may be exercise, butit could also be education”.
Among others, Bruil gives courses to stop smoking, to put fruit baskets down at work, and it organizes running clinics. “We are busy with this about three-quarters of a year and we are already seeing a dramatic reduction in absenteeism: from 5.7% in 2015 to 3.4%”.
Source: http://www.nu.nl