The effect of a physical wellness pathway on the chronic absenteeism of shift workers at an Eskom power station

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:For many companies, health care can consume half of corporate profits or more. Someemployers look to cost sharing, cost shifting, managed care plans, risk rating and cashbased rebates or incentives. These methods merely shift costs.Absenteeism in South Africa claims 3.2% of all scheduled work hours, 43 000 work hoursper week, 9 days lost per employee per year and 1 employee in every 15 on a weeklybasis.The main objective of this study was to establish the effect of a physical wellnessintervention on the chronic absenteeism of a governmental company like Eskom. Fiftyfourmales with a mean age of 42.13 years, participated in the program. Morphological andphysiological variables included fat percentage; body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, bloodpressure (BP), flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, waist circumference and muscleendurance.The participants were divided into four groups consisting of 12-15 individuals. Data wascollected over a period of six months (March-August 2001). There were six sessions inwhich the subjects participated namely: wellness awareness, general body wellness, heartwellness, stress wellness, posture wellness and nutritional wellness. These sessionsfocussed on education, testing and physical activity, with follow-ups and maintenance atthe Biokinetic rehabilitation station.Trends for the group were traced using a statistical analysis for absenteeism tallying theGSAR (gross sickness absentee rate) and AFR (absentee frequency rate) for theparticipants. The GSAR and AFR were significantly lower during the intervention. Thereturn of investment was calculated based on the amount of hours worked per month onthe August 2001 payroll, where the increment figure is based on an average increase of7.9%. The result of the study concluded that work-site body wellness is health care reformthat works, with absenteeism decreasing significantly and an improved employee healthstatus.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University