Commit to becoming a healthier organization, together
Is your company considering a wellness program for some or all of its staff? While there can be many elements involved, including nutrition and basic fitness, there is one discipline that should serve as the foundation of all such initiatives, considering its proven effectiveness in helping people of all ages and with a wide range of health conditions – physiotherapy. Today, we’re going to take a look at why your organization should look to the health and wellness concept when building (or rebuilding) a program from the ground up.
5 Reasons Why Your Company Should Start a Corporate Wellness Program Founded in Physiotherapy
1. Address the Needs of Staff that Face High Risk of Injury
Many corporate decision makers wrongly assume that their company poses no physical risk to staff, given that there may not be manual labor involved. However, it’s a fact that office workers face significant risk of repetitive strain injury, including lower back pain, hand/wrist pain, and text neck. In addition, chronic headaches and migraines are being reported at higher rates than ever before. The physical threat to office workers has become so prevalent that we have dedicated an entire article to the benefits of physiotherapy for office staff, which you can reference here.
2. Healthy Staff = Healthy Productivity = Healthy ROI
The equation is simple. If your workers work with a physiotherapist, they will not only be able to rehab existing injuries, they will be in a much better position to prevent them from occurring in the first place. In addition, their bodies will functional more optimally, which means they will be able to perform their daily tasks more efficiently. All things equal, you will have a healthier workforce, which in turn will result in fewer sick days taken, fewer leaves of absence (for health reasons), and reduced avoidable health/medical care. From the warehouse to the executive suite, physical therapy will help increase productivity and ultimately increase your chances for a better looking bottom line.
3. Improve Morale
Companies that introduce a corporate wellness program rooted in physiotherapy show staff that they’ve taken the time and effort to provide a service that truly considers all core concepts of physical health. Physiotherapy after all, is so much more than physical fitness (more on this below). It includes chiropractic treatment, manual therapy, laser therapy, alternative treatments such as acupuncture and dry needling, orthotics, core fitness, and even dedicated women’s health programs. It’s honestly too much to name here in this article, but one look at the services offered and you’ll see what we mean. And once your staff sees what’s on offer, they will truly know that you’re committed to their wellness and THAT will have a very positive impact on their morale.
4. It Will Help Attract Talent
With modern companies (especially in the tech sector) attracting the best talent with incentive programs, small, medium, and enterprise level businesses alike are starting and promoting corporate wellness initiatives. Human resources are important in remaining competitive and thus proving a dedication to the health of this asset is instrumental to success in 2019 and beyond. Competitive salaries, bonuses/commissions, and an increased (over traditional) number of personal and vacation days are now standard, what else will your company do to draw talent away from the competition? Adding physiotherapy to the mix is a great place to start.
5. Fitness Alone Doesn’t Cut It
It’s true that companies are getting better at providing staff with incentives to become healthier. However, more often than not the gesture involves them ponying up (via reimbursement) for memberships at the fitness facility closest to the place of business. While this is a good start, it can in fact inflate the risk of injury. Think about it, this is staff that may have no significant experience in how to workout with adequate warm-up, form, and cool-down, which together may have the opposite effect on their physical health. By arming them with gym memberships alone, you may be giving them a proverbial loaded gun that can result in a torn hamstring, herniated disc, and more. No company fitness program should exclude physiotherapy, and if the budget only allows for one, then physical therapy is where you need to allocate funds.
If your company operates in the Greater Vancouver area, contact Absolute PhysioCare to discuss corporate insurance coverage and the options available to you and your staff.