In a crisis, what keeps a company and its employees going? This was a question posed by Ulrike Niethammer, Gabriele Wagner and Ralf Elsner – all based at the Steinbeis Consulting Center for Company Health Management. Their aim: to establish a framework for companies to foster “health”. The team consults companies, government agencies and organizations on helping their people remain healthy.
Beleaguered by demographic change, talent shortages and increasing absence caused by burnout, small and medium-sized companies, government agencies, institutes of education, and public health bodies all find themselves asking a similar question: what is the connection between corporate efficiency and employee health? This raises many issues, such as: What instruments actually promote health? And what long-term steps can be taken to relieve the psychological burden on employees?
Every consultation the Center offers and every process it supports is based on a model called “salutogenesis”, which was developed by the sociologist Aaron Antonovsky. The model, which is based on empirical evidence, turns the spotlight on the relationship between job satisfaction and people’s willingness to work . Company health management (CHM) is an all-embracing corporate strategy consisting of several steps: needs analysis, action planning, execution, and evaluation. The outcome: fine-tuned, sustainable strategies – quite different from conventional health promotion methods such as exercise, relaxation and nutrition. Employee participation in surveys and health teams is the foundation of the CHM process, in which companies learn to approach health in separate steps and establish infrastructures that foster health. Support is provided by Steinbeis experts.
Practice demonstrates that investing in employee health pays off. According to the public German health insurance provider AOK, in 2005 it had 3 times the payback on money invested in healthcare. The federal government also offers employers tax relief – up to 500 euro per employee. Up to 50 per cent of consultation fees are paid out of the European Social Fund by the German Federal Office of Economics and Export Control.
To showcase the success of the CHM process, Steinbeis experts point to an educational institute with 13 employees that took part in a project called “Developing Infrastructures that Promote Health”. As they embarked on the project, a new senior manager had just taken up their position. Lots of issues were up in the air. There was obvious friction, new areas of work had to be managed, roles and responsibilities had to be redefined, communication channels and information flows had to be made more transparent with more involvement. To top it off, the project had to tie in with an upcoming EFQM recertification process.
Lasting two months, the CHM process lays down a variety of steps. First, employees are informed of the process. Then, they take part in an on-site survey, which is evaluated. Finally there is a kick-off event and project hand-over. At the kick-off a presentation is made of the survey results. Employees then write down their personal goals, set priorities and form work groups that will begin to take steps towards those goals. This is as much about clearly delineating roles, tasks and responsibilities as it is about clearly agreeing ways to channel information effectively. During the project, employees craft quick-win solutions that guarantee efficient work as they minimize breakdowns in communication and information-sharing.
Ulrike Niethammer | Gabriele Wagner | Ralf Elsner
Steinbeis Consulting Center Company Health Management (Herrenberg)