Civil engineering client

CASE STUDY LENGTH: 2013 – 2020 | APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 4,000+

Client context: An international provider of technical, professional and construction services, as well as scientific and specialty consulting. This client required a consistent approach to addressing health and wellbeing across a geographically diverse workforce.

Focus areas: Health and wellbeing support  |  Ergonomics/injury prevention  |  Mental health support  |  Fatigue management

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The challenges

This client had a geographically diverse workforce across Australia and New Zealand, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart, Canberra, Cairns, Newcastle, Townsville, Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington.

With rising costs from injury and ill-health, particularly workers compensation claims and ergonomic interventions for office-based workers; the client needed a consistent approach to health and wellbeing across these regions, with an ability to understand and address the different needs of each site. They also needed to be able to measure the effectiveness of what they were doing to address health and wellbeing on these sites.

In addition, this client wanted to provide their people with a culture of care and become an employer of choice by supporting positive health and wellbeing.

Over the seven-year partnership with Healthy Business, like many other organisations, they faced the economic downturns from the impacts of COVID19, which resulted in an increase of mental health concerns among employees facing redundancies and restructuring.

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The solution

To address their needs, this client partnered with Healthy Business to design and deliver a program, across their various locations, that would engage their people and support positive health and wellbeing outcomes.

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The health and wellbeing program included:

• Providing employees with individualised one-on-one health and wellbeing coaching to:
  - proactively identify and address any health and wellbeing concerns early;
  - provide them with personalised support, education, and empowerment to make sustainable improvements to their health and wellbeing; and
  - to target support to those we identified as needing it the most.
• Having a systematic approach to ergonomic assessments for all new employee’s and periodic re-assessment of all employees.
• Providing employees with education and group training sessions in manual handling, ergonomics, and fatigue management.
• Working with existing mental health providers to help employees with high-risk mental health concerns to connect with the EAP, or their own medical professional.
• Adapting during COVID-19 to continue providing support to employees remotely, via phone coaching, and the use of a dedicated ‘check in’ survey and mobile application.
• Providing education and support to employees working from home, including how to set personal boundaries, correct workstation/ergonomic setups, and then the transition back into the workplace, and
• A monthly organisational risk profile to provide the company with oversite and to guide the appropriate interventions and/or the allocation resources.

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The outcomes

From the beginning of the program in 2013, Healthy Business were able to improve the general health and wellbeing of the workforce, with over 55% (2,712) of their employees participating in the program over a seven-year period.

From initial health assessment data, there has been a:

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By working with these employees and providing the appropriate early intervention, we have been able reduce their risk of developing more serious and potentially life-threatening conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, heart attack or stroke.

In addition, 1,184 musculoskeletal issues were resolved, potentially preventing them from developing into serious injuries, which could lead to absenteeism and even compensation claims.

The health and wellbeing program has made significant improvements on the lives of this client’s employees. By creating a healthier workforce and proactively addressing musculoskeletal issues, there is a flow on effect of less absenteeism from injury and ill health. On top of this, productivity levels increase, with staff feeling more engaged, motivated, and cared for by their employer.

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“By having consistent health and wellbeing visits from Healthy Business that are free for staff, it genuinely feels like [the company] cares for us.”

Company employee

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