Staff wellness

Norkhalid Slamat

Head, Staff Development, Pasir Ris Primary School

No matter how sophisticated the wellness programme, it will not serve its purpose unless it meets staff needs, which is why HR must be well-connected to it. First and foremost, staff wellness programmes should be designed to address the staff’s physical, social and emotional health.

Routine exercise is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Individuals see benefits to their physique and levels of energy, making them more alert during the day. Regular workouts are also beneficial in fighting disease.

Staff wellness programmes also provide opportunities for employees to socialise with one another in a collegial environment. Staff can bond over team-oriented activities like games of football.

The emotional component of staff wellness programmes is also important, especially in a school environment. Staff need to manage their stress levels and maintain work-life harmony.

Being in touch with staff should be the basis of any wellness programmes. HR must be highly involved in the inception, and they must follow through to see if it meets the intended goals.

Paul Ong

General Manager, HR, Sony

In today’s competitive job environment, it is critical to attract and retain talent. To be an employer of choice, companies should encourage staff to maintain their physical and mental wellbeing, thus creating harmony between work and wellness. By investing in staff wellness programmes, both company and employee will reap long-term benefits by creating a win-win situation.

There are a few key factors. HR should first find out employee needs through a survey or focus group discussion. Then a staff wellness committee – comprised of committed and passionate staff – should plan activities around these needs.

These should be activities which excite and motivate participants, and let them feel that they can have fun with the support of the management. Distance and time are important factors – if the facility is difficult to get to, staff will be deterred. Some suggestions are talks during lunch hours and after-work exercise events. Other incentives to encourage staff to adopt a healthy lifestyle include co-payments for sports enrollment and medical tests.

Wee Seng Teo

Director, People Management & Development, National Library Board

We believe HR should be involved in the area of staff wellness because it is part of our retention strategy. Enabling staff to create work-life balance is an initiative we take seriously. The resulting high levels of engagement are a testament to the effectiveness of staff wellness programmes.

We look at three areas of wellness – mental, physical and overall health. For mental health, HR has launched educational talks and exhibitions to create awareness of stress-related health problems. We also provide employee counseling to support those who are undergoing personal difficulties.

For our physical health initiatives, we have facilities for recreational purposes, as well as for staff to do more rigorous exercise if they wish. We also have specific sports interest groups which encourage staff to get together for the common purpose of enjoying sports such as badminton, bowling or soccer.

Medical screenings are conducted on a comprehensive level to ensure staff are aware of their overall health. During the H1N1 epidemic, we provided screenings to ensure the virus was identified if staff were infected.