Three simple tips to keep your workforce healthy and well

If you lack the HR manpower to run health and wellness activities, here's what you can do, Jerene Ang shares in this report on Employee Healthcare Interactive 2019, Malaysia.

The concept of healthcare has evolved. Nowadays, healthcare is certainly not just a trip to the hospital anymore. HR leaders are pre-looking at whether it is a cost of investment; how much of it relates to 'medical' and how much to 'wellness'; and what actually is the objective our policies are trying to achieve.

Knowing that employees aren't always happy with healthcare and their benefits, what can HR leaders do to align strategies better with employee wants as well as business requirements?

It is for this reason that we are bringing back Asia’s premier corporate healthcare and wellness strategy conference for the second year. Produced by Priya Veeriah and held on 3 October 2019 at Aloft KL Sentral, Malaysia, the exclusive invite-only conference saw a host of relevant sessions, including four interactive sessions on topics such as healthcare trends and costs, and assessing ROI.

From the on-site conversations, we gained three tips to keep your workforce healthy and well.

#1 Start with data and evidence

We know what is important when it comes to workforce wellbeing, but the challenge lies in the diversity of the workforce, wherein everyone's needs are different.

To address this, it is crucial to ensure a range of solutions. But, with so many solutions to choose from, you have the right data before implementing them.

After getting the right data in place, draw interventions based on the data-driven insights to get the right solutions for your workforce.

It's a marathon, not a sprint - you have to run slowly, not quickly. The process is slow but the results will come.

#2 Tap on employee resource groups

Employee resource groups (ERGs) are made up of a diverse group of employees with a common purpose. If you lack manpower in your HR team, consider tapping on these voluntary, employee-led groups to run your health and wellness activities.

While HR would need to help out in the beginning, as time goes by, the ERGs should be able to run the events on their own. Not only do these groups help free up HR's workload, it also gives employees an experience of getting to work across functions.

To ensure success of these ERGs and the activities they implement, it is crucial to have a leader as a sponsor of the group.

#3 Personalisation is the way to go

Currently, the number of health interventions offered by Malaysian companies are low across the board. However, what's even more concerning is the awareness of the intervention.

Assuming you already have the right range of programmes in place, how should you ensure employees are aware of them?

When it comes to programmes, we all know that a one-size-fits-all approach is never as effective as a personalised one. The same goes for communications.

Mass communications work for awareness, but it is not effective to ensure personal change. For change to happen, the message has to be personalised.

[Full set of photos: Employee Healthcare Interactive 2019, Malaysia]

Presenters, panelists, and moderators at  Employee Healthcare Interactive 2019, Malaysia included:

• Choy Shook Yee, Chief Officer, AIA Health Services
• Kavitha Sandrasagaram, Head of AIA Vitality, AIA
• Shino Lick, Head of Head of Technical Advisory Services, AIA
• Niyati Goel, Head Rewards CoE, AirAsia Group
• Charmaine Ho Su Mei, Business Expansion Manager, ASP Medical Group
• Jason Low, Marketing Manager, HealthMetrics
• Terri Chan, Head of Marketing, HealthMetrics
• Cynthia Soo, HR Leader, Johnson & Johnson
• Charlene Phang, HR Business Lead, Mondelez International
• Nicholas Yeo, Founder, Nicholas Actuarial Solutions Malaysia
• Dr Abu Hasan Samad, Chief Medical Officer, RAPID Central Medical Facility, Malaysia Operations Division, Parkway Pantai
• Azid Allan, Head of HR, Petroleum Sarawak
• Shu Tze Yuh, Head HR Strategy and Engagement at Samsung
• Ahmad Bukhari, Country Rewards Manager, Shell Malaysia
• Ooi Zhen Yang, Assistant Director of Business Development, Sunway Medical Centre
• Debbie Tan, HR Director for Southeast Asia at Swisslog

Human Resources Online would like to thank its sponsors and partners for their support and belief in this event:

Our long-term partner, AIA, with whom the conference is in collaboration with.

Gold sponsors:

• HealthMetrics
• Sanofi Pasteur

Silver sponsors:

• ASP Medical Group
• Nicholas Actuarial Solutions Malaysia
• Sunway Medical Centre