Working For Health

The Age

Saturday December 6, 2008

Max Berry

Workers could soon be enjoying subsidised gym memberships or exercise classes in the workplace under preventative health measures agreed at last weekend's Council of Australian Governments meeting.

THE Federal Government is considering paying employers incentives to encourage their staff to live healthy lifestyles as part of the Health Prevention National Partnership signed off by the federal and state governments.

The Commonwealth has allocated $448million over four years for the partnership, which the official COAG statement explains could support "provision of incentives for workplaces and local communities to provide physical activity and other risk modification and healthy living programs".

Although studies citing the costs to business of obesity, depression, smoking and excessive drinking suggest it is in employers' interests to encourage staff to lead healthy lifestyles, the jury is out on how businesses - let alone governments - should intervene to promote the health of employees.

So far, Australian companies have shown little interest in non-mandatory health measures, apart from flu shots and inoculations against workplace-specific risks, such as hepatitisC at water and sewer utilities. It's likely they figure that employees who take advantage of subsidised gym memberships will belong to gyms anyway, while those who most need more physical activity will remain inactive.

The partnership's details are yet to be worked out, but cutting workers' compensation premiums for companies that embrace employee health programs is likely to be an effective incentive if the US experience is any guide.

Research commissioned by Medibank Private has found that employees with poor overall health are nine times more likely to take sick days and only one-third as productive as their healthiest colleagues.

But sickies are often unrelated to genuine illness and have more to do with child care or a belief that a "mental health day" is warranted. That's why there's been a recurring debate about whether employees should be financially rewarded for not taking sick leave. This incentive would give a worker who never took sickies an annual bonus of an extra week's pay.

Australia's governments have also agreed to conduct a workforce health audit and to set up a national preventative health agency under the COAG agreement. But expect more debate on how such preventative health programs should operate.