Indian cos focus on health to enhance employee performance

More and more Indian firms have started focusing on "robust health and wellness strategy" in order to boost employee performance at the workplace, according to a Towers Watson report.
As much as 96 per cent Indian employers feel that health and productivity (H&P) played a moderate to essential role in their organisation's health strategy, and three in every four Indian employers expect the focus on H&P to grow in the next two years, the global professional services provider said in the report titled "Staying@Work".
It is extremely encouraging to find Indian companies placing greater focus on health and wellness, Towers Watson, India, Director (Benefits) Anuradha Sriram said.

"But to translate this focus into tangible improvement in employee well-being and productivity and thereby financial performance, companies must identify effective programmes rather than copying popular ones and strive towards evolving a robust health and wellness strategy instead of implementing a number of tactical initiatives," she added.
Leading the Asia Pacific markets, almost half (44 per cent) of the Indian companies plan to put in place a health and well-being strategy in the next couple of years, while 48 per cent already have one in place, the report said.
Globally, companies with the most effective H&P programmes are more productive and generate 34 per cent higher revenue per employee, it reveals.

Moreover, the report said the number of leaves taken by employees of these companies goes down by 1.0 for each employee per year.