How to make your employee wellness programme a success
In December, I finally had the opportunity to meet with a man I have been trying to interview since I attended the HR Expo in October last year, Nthato Malope, end-user marketing manager for Kimberly-Clark.
His health and wellness presentation in the speakers’ corner at the expo was the one main impression that stuck with me after leaving the Expo. His mixture of charisma, humour and shocking wellness facts bowled over the audience completely and had me anxious to hear more about his take on employee wellness.
Nthato has the responsibility of adapting regional initiatives and programmes to suit South Africa’s end-user activation needs. He is the man behind the implementation of the Healthy Workplace Project (read Lia Marus’ article to learn more about the Healthy Workplace Project), which was innovated by Kimberly-Clark, which marries hand hygiene and employee wellness. This project has managed to put this company ahead of the health and wellness game. Having this competitive edge in employee wellness has encouraged them to keep being innovative and to evolve continually in their ways of engaging employees and inspiring them to keep their workplaces healthy.
The big question is: How did they get this so right?
Nthato effortlessly answered all my questions about how the project achieved such success.
1. Why do you think the project had such positive feedback and success?
The project’s implementation team went out of their way to partner with customers to create exceptional workplaces. They identified the customer’s need to create a workplace where employees take a proactive approach to their own well-being. They also differentiated themselves from other wellness approaches by introducing their three-step approach (Read Lia Marus’ article to learn about this approach).
The secret to the project’s success? People ‘get it’. In all 38 countries the project has launched in, no one finds it difficult to understand that decreasing germs will decrease absenteeism. The project has received no criticism because the concept is flawless and the value drivers of reduced absenteeism and increased employee engagement are priceless (even if you finally just get your employees to wash their hands).
2. So how did Kimberly-Clark make this so appealing to the public?
Surprisingly, through a mixture of radio and ‘CSI agents’. These agents pose the wellness questions that South African companies are asking (i.e. What is the impact of germs on absenteeism) and then illustrate the solutions through visual clips.
Example:
The question posed:
What levels of contamination do we deal with on a daily basis in the office?
The answer:
Kimberly-Clark publishes a visual clip on their website that answers the question and provides a solution. The clip shows Nthato using a device, which measures contamination levels, on a cellphone. He reads out the incredibly high-level captured by the device to the owner of the cellphone. He then explains how important it is to sanitise personal artefacts such as cellphones and keyboards regularly to break the chain of contamination. He then offers a solution by revealing a Kimberly-Clark product, such as a sanitising wipe.
All of this is demonstrated in a quick and easy-to-follow 3-minute clip.
By providing visual evidence and case studies of the project’s success, they managed to convince big businesses like FNB that reducing germs leads to decreased absenteeism. They offered a guaranteed method of managing absenteeism by showing that 40% of absenteeism is caused by minor illnesses, such as stomach bugs and flu, which are caused by germs and cross contamination.
Companies were attracted to this programme because of the financial costs of absenteeism. Adcorp conducted a study which revealed that “sickness-related absenteeism has cost South Africa R47.5 billion in the past 11 years and it has grown four-fold since 2000. In 2011 alone, 3.4 million workers, equivalent to a loss of output of R3.9 billion, were absent as a result of sickness, up from 700 000 in 2000 – an increase of 397%.”
3. How did you break the chain of contamination while engaging employees?
Employees appreciate being rewarded for achievements. And so, they introduced opportunities for recognition like, the cleanest desk competitions, to encourage good hygiene behaviour while catering for employees’ need.
By making employees partners in the project, companies also improved their standing with them by showing that they are part of a company that cares.
4. Which company achieved the best results from the project and why?
Kimberly- Clark actually has a case study on the project’s success with FedEx. They held a 17 -week pilot phase for the Healthy Workplace Project across two sites. Each site had the same number of employees and similar variables. The site that implemented the project saw a 45% decrease in absenteeism.
Why was FedEx in particular so successful?
They took ownership of the project. They understood the research and philosophy behind it and made it their own. This helped to:
- Influence their behaviour over the 17 weeks;
- Gradually weave this way of thinking into their corporate culture; and
- Embrace it and customise it.
5. How did you reach employees?
The project team, politely, ‘hijacks’ internal communications systems to reach the employees through, for example, company intranets or payslips. They design message themes, create rewards for recognition and facilitate better hygiene communication. They then build up wellness champions as ambassadors of wellness. They act as role models for other employees, which in turn creates a chain of cleanliness.
6. What is the biggest germ hot spot in most offices?
They have performed close to 7 000 tests in different companies and discovered that the dirtiest spot in most offices is the microwave.
Another scary statistic is that the average desk has 400 times more germs than a toilet seat.
With this in mind, it’s time to change your company’s attitude towards wellness and hygiene by engaging employees and encouraging them to take a proactive stance towards wellness.
It’s time for companies and employees to fight the good fight against absenteeism.
Frew Murdoch is the assistant editor of HR Pulse. She is currently completing the last semester of her BA degree in Communications and English. "I stumbled across your review of our Ethics Guide published 28 June 2012 and wish to thank you for the positive and complimentary comments made – this was a lovely surprise and most rewarding. I will certainly pass this on to all co-authors of the Guide."
Christine Botha, co-author of 'Ethics in HR Management: A guide for HR professionals and line managers', had this to say:
