The Cost of Neglecting Female Health in the Workplace
For years we’ve known that investing in employee wellness programs can have a significant impact on workplace productivity and the overall financials. By improving employee health, you increase energy levels, decrease absenteeism and sick days, enhance focus and concentration, improve morale, and foster collaboration which is necessary to get things done. Still, poor health among employees costs employers more than $575 billion annually, and women make up greater than 60% of these costs.
This is disturbing but not alarming. Traditional corporate wellness programs are tailored to women and men equally despite the different healthcare needs. Women have different physiological concerns, social concerns, and family concerns that affect their overall well-being. For instance, high-intensity exercise classes, a simple gym membership, or a generic nutrition plan, won’t cut it for a woman who is postpartum or perimenopausal. With the increasing pressure on women to be superhuman at home, at work, at school, and in life- women in the US now have higher rates of chronic conditions and acute illness compared to men. In a recent survey, 57% of women reported higher stress levels in the workplace compared to 43% of men. With the current political landscape, I’m sure these figures will change- but the concern isn’t to women alone. Repeated sickness, women’s health complications, depression, anxiety, and fatigue, translate directly to excess days off, decreased productivity, and increased turnover. The effects of a cookie-cutter approach to women’s health proved to be detrimental to the workplace and ultimately society.
We must do better. But where can we start? Start by gathering a quick HER employee wellness survey, I’ve provided a template below. . Gather information and yes- READ it. Listening and HEARING what your fellow employees or staff have to say about how they view their workplace health is important. This gives you a foundation to build upon. If you don’t have an employee wellness program, do this survey yourself, or give it to your colleagues and present it to your people operations or HR department for feedback and brainstorming. This could be the start of something good. Once you capture information from your employee wellness survey do the following.
Aggregate the data, and rate the health of your female employees.
Identify the biggest opportunities reported in the survey.
Begin to implement education, or wellness groups associated with the areas of health and wellness most important to your employees, coworkers, or yourself.
Begin to implement wellness initiatives requested by the staff. You can start small, it doesn’t have to be an in-office gym, it could be a lunch walking club or step challenge.
Create a small group to begin to brainstorm ways to address and improve women’s health issues such as menstrual issues, pregnancy, headaches during perimenopause, etc at work.
Finally, if you need help creating a workplace plan that aligns with your organizational needs. Contact HER Balance for a free consultation (https://www.herbalancewellness.com/workshops) and a chance to win a free HER Balance Seminar during Q3! Her Balance’s wellness strategy is a holistic approach to women’s health designed to facilitate improved health and experiences for women in the workforce. When women win physically, mentally, and emotionally- they win professionally. I’m excited to partner with you. Let’s do this thing!
Check out the HER Employee Health & Wellness Survey for your team now!