The statistics are stark (see below).

One in three people in the UK will get cancer and 1 in 4 will suffer from heart disease. The incidence of stress is increasing dramatically, as is the growth of type 2 diabetes and allergies. Most of these increases can be traced to lifestyle related factors. The response of the medical profession to the statistics is to offer more and more prescription drugs. (The consumption of drugs in the UK has increased by 40 % over the last decade). This has serious implications for peoples’ health and well-being.

The effects of medication upon the body and how it relates to work

Every year 700,000 people in the US need emergency hospital treatment following an adverse reaction to their prescription drugs. The UK is not far behind and it is evident from the number of sick days taken that the damaging effects of drugs is a contributory factor to the poor health of personnel working within a company. For example, many people take paracetamol as a result of headaches, backache and hangovers and it is now well recorded that this constant use leads to other complaints such as stomach upsets and ulcers. In order to have a healthy, well-motivated staff, it is important that people are weaned away from the effects of this type of medication and seek other means of controlling their everyday health problems.

Some interesting statistics 

Sickness absence

1 The average level of sickness absence is 3.9% or nine working days per employee (based on a working year of 228 days),
2 The public sector has the highest average level of sickness absence at 4.6%; with the private services sector the lowest at 3.1%,
3 Over 90% of organisations consider sickness absence to be a significant or very significant cost to the organisation, but less than half monitor this cost,
4 Nearly 90% of employers believe that it is possible to reduce absence levels, although only about half have set a target for this,
5 The average reported cost of sickness absence is £567 per employee per year, a rise of 8.6% on the CIPD’s 2002 survey – an average of £25,515 in a 45-year working life!
6 Back pain is cited as the leading cause of long-term absence for manual workers, while stress is the leading cause for non-manual workers,
7 Increased levels of job insecurity, demotivated staff and low morale have all led to higher absence levels,
8 Involving occupational health professionals is seen as the most effective tool for managing long-term absence.

Alcohol and Drug Related Problems
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), states that alcohol causes 3 – 5% of all absences from work. On the basis of other HSE research this amounts to between 600,000 and one million working days lost a year. Recent estimates indicate that alcohol misuse is costing British industry up to £3.3 billion a year, while the annual costs of drug abuse are currently estimated at around £800 million.

However:

The effect of alcohol and drug consumption on work performance is currently unquantified but is estimated as causing up to a 15% overall drop in productivity. A health programme would help individuals identify and heal the underlying causes of alcohol and drug problems, working to improve self-esteem and emotional health.


Stress
(CIPD fact sheet March 2001)
It is well recognised that stress reduces employee well- being and that excessive or sustained work pressure can lead to stress. Research has found that:

1) Stress is one of the most important reasons behind sickness from work,
2) 75% of executives say that stress adversely affects their health, happiness and home life as well as their performance at work,
3) Stress may be experienced as a result of an exposure to a wide range of work demands and in turn can contribute to an equally wide range of health outcomes.

Stress is likely to become the biggest risk to business in the 21st century. 20% of workers report feeling extremely stressed at work – equating to 5 million in the UK. Compensation payments for stress related injuries are rising. Currently half a million people per year experience stress at a level which has made them ill physically or mentally.

However:

As bad as stress is for the leaders in business, the most dangerous form of stress is that over which the individual feels they have no control. This puts individuals who have jobs with high responsibility but little power or control at the greatest risk. A health programme would work with individuals finding the route cause of the stress and helping to support with supplementation, nutrition and discover where emotional issues are exacerbating the problem.

Heart disease and cancer

Currently one in four people die of cancer in the UK, and two in four of heart disease. However, both of these diseases are over 75% lifestyle related and are strongly protected against by healthy lifestyle and most particularly by strong networks, team spirit or community bonds.

However, with the right level of personal and collective political will, many of the untimely deaths and suffering from these sources could be eliminated. The main risk factors for both illnesses are smoking, poor diet, obesity, lack of exercise, stress, unhappiness and isolation.

Whilst appreciating that many of these factors could be covered by other programmes, there is the underlying question of what happened at the beginning of the person’s life to lead them to the situation in which they could find themselves. This programme starts with the original route of emotional factors that might create illness.

Recruitment

Companies spend thousands of pounds training top personnel, so it would be useful to have a programme of health assessment at the time of interview. With kinesiology, psychotherapy and NLP, it would be possible to assess where the person being interviewed is likely to be in a few years time, confronted with the type of stresses they might experience in the job being offered.

See also our interesting section : Background Information to Health

Our vision: to promote the connection between health, vitality and productivity thus creating a more harmonious, vigorous team spirit within a company, leading to greater profitability