Forward thinking: Catching employees before they fall

It’s Prism’s belief that as 21st century employers we have a responsibility to our workforce to help them be fit for work and play.  Preventative measures play a large role in this and it’s very much a wellbeing strategy which intends to help catch employees before they fall ill.

 

As part of that commitment, we’ve taken steps to help and in May 2016, we introduced Prism’s first wellbeing assessment day.  It’s a voluntary day but has always been very successful with over 70% take up by employees who obviously see great value in the day.

 

The day itself sees a series of tests including blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, body fat, hydration levels and metabolic rate.

 

Does it help?  Yes, and it’s making a real difference.  Particularly to one employee who at one of Prism’s well-being days two years ago, feeling fine and with no indication of anything array, had a blood pressure check which caused alarm bells to ring, and ring loudly.  A regular blood pressure for a young man of 25 years of age should be around 120/80. In this case the blood pressure reading was 217/116, meaning that he was in hypertensive crisis, putting him at risk of a heart attack, stroke and acute life-threatening problems.  He needed immediate emergency treatment and since has had several investigations which are still ongoing today for potential heart conditions and being treated with medication to reduce the severity of the symptoms and tests are now ongoing through the companies’ private healthcare scheme.

 

Samantha Warwick, who organises the day for Prism said “If the wellbeing day hadn’t found out about the condition, the employee could have had a heart attack or stroke.  All the cholesterol and other tests were fine so the really scary thing is that he would never had known about it until it was too late without the wellbeing day at work. It really is invaluable.”

“Another positive from the day is that as a young team, we get a health journal, so each year it’s updated and you can see whether there’s been any change so you can easily monitor your health journey.  It raises awareness and gives employees advice on how to change.”

 

Prism has also introduced other health initiatives throughout the company such as Pilates classes or a high intensity work outs bi-monthly.  We give employees routines they can continue to use at home and particularly focus on core strength exercises which can help with lower back issues which is a common issue for desk-based roles.  We even provide yoga balls in the office to help.

Looking to the future Prism are looking at mental health with the possibility of training key employees in mental health support, the same way that companies have first aiders, Prism will have key mental health workers.  Other initiatives in planning are providing the flu jab to those who would like it on site. This brings benefits to the company and the employees – less time out at the doctor. Also, Prism hope to run further nutrition courses to help to prepare healthy lunches on a budget as that worked well last time and moving into winter will be looking at car safety, sharing information on how to look after your car, tyre pressures, window wiper, anti-freeze that type of thing.

 

It’s an all-round approach to employee wellbeing as Prism believes a happy, healthy workforce is better for everyone.