Wellness programs nourish the employee's vital health

Absenteeism from work for reasons not attributable to health problems, whether physical or mental, is a reality that, after the pandemic, has become seriously entrenched in organizations. Absence from the care of family members or dependents and personal reasons generally cited dominate the reasons motivating it, followed by lack of motivation and dissatisfaction with the job or work environment. This was revealed by a consultation conducted by Urban Sports, the results of which were analyzed in the ORH Webinar 'Employees as co-responsible for their health in corporate sports programmes'.

The session included the participation of A Maria Linares, Head of People and Culture at Rastreator, and Andrea Tabanera, Human Resources Director at Urban Sports Club, Who complemented their interventions from the practical perspective of the Rastreator's wellness program and the additional dimension of sport as an institutional strategy for urban sports.

To start, Andrea broke down the results of the consultations conducted among her clients with the aim of finding out the rate, frequency, causes and features of absenteeism and the responses and strategies implemented by companies:

• Young workers (24%) exceed the absenteeism of older workers (14%) by 10 points.
• The majority of sick leave (50%) lasts between 2 and 6 days, and those lasting a full day fall to 20%.
• The highest rates of absenteeism occur in groups of employees who are not managers and who may (24%) or may not (28%) have responsibility for managing the team.
• As you move up the organizational hierarchy, absenteeism decreases, reaching 16% in management, 10% in managers, and 14% in managers.
• Adequate leave and rest policies along with flexible schedules and remote work, at 46%, have the greatest impact on reducing absenteeism.
• Although a majority of 68% realize that corporate exercise programs can help improve absenteeism rates, they are the least implemented in companies (12%) and least known by employees (3 out of 5).

For this part, Maria Linares, Head of People and Culture at Rastreator, She explained the foundations of her corporate wellbeing programme, which includes a wide range of measures to promote the 'vital' health of her employees; That is, with proposals related to mental, physical, relational, financial, organizational, etc. health.

It highlights the Wellbeing Committee, which is made up of a range of volunteers from across departments and roles, and acts as an “idea incubator” that links employee needs to company strategy.