Opportunities to take care of health depend on the individual, but also on external factors. There has been a lot of talk recently about rising health costs and declining access to healthcare. But what can be done to replace the word ‘help’ with ‘prevention’? An employer can lend a hand on this journey by showing the way to a healthier lifestyle.
Viimsi Haldus, a small company with 25 employees, has made it a priority to promote the health and wellbeing of its employees through joint activities, possible benefits and prevention. Heidi Kirsimäe, HR Manager, shared her experience and vision of how a small company can successfully contribute to the health of its employees and make a difference, even at zero cost.
Providing additional benefits is important and motivating in a small business.
According to Kirsimäe, it is important that employees are healthy and enjoy going to work. As the average age of the workforce is quite high, it is particularly important to raise awareness of the importance of exercise as a whole, while also giving employees the opportunity to experience different sports.
“Some employees don’t always dare to take the risk of a new sport, but together you can kill several birds with one stone – enjoy the company of colleagues, learn about the theory and practice of a new activity, test yourself in activities you might not otherwise know. Some of these experiences were padel and a spring adventure on e-bikes in Kõrvemaa,” says Kirsimäe, describing how to de-risk and motivate.
She adds that a small workforce always requires extra effort – the healthier the employee, the smoother the working life. Health is the greatest asset an employer can give to its employees. When you’re well, everything else is surmountable.
But it is important to understand that people are primarily responsible for their own health. “As an employer, we can create a safe environment combined with a good atmosphere and encourage people to discover new sporting opportunities through joint activities. And the example of managers cannot be underestimated. When managers take part in joint activities or share their exciting physical experiences outside of work, this also inspires employees to be active themselves,” adds Kirsimäe, adding that managers also have an important role to play.
A small business has advantages over a big one. One advantage is a more personal approach to employees: sharing suggestions on what to do to promote their health and paying more attention to the issues that matter to them.
Being physically and mentally fit is really important
The nature of the work at Viimsi Haldus is such that it requires employees to be physically fit: administrative staff move around a lot in the course of their day-to-day work, carrying out repairs, mowing lawns and shovelling snow. At the same time, office workers are often at their desks to carry out their duties. In order to ensure that everyone can get plenty of exercise, Viimsi Haldus has begun to organise frequent joint activities.
“We do activities together in the fresh air to keep the mind fresh and the body toned. We’ve played bowling, badminton and ice hockey together, held walking meetings and hiked on local forest trails to keep the office workers busy all day. In the spring, we held a month-long joint walking competition, which was actively participated in,” says HR Manager Heidi Kirsimäe.
You can give back a lot for a little amount
According to Kirsimäe, it is also possible to do something every day at little or no cost: “In August, we went cycling with all the staff. With all the riders on the trip, we took the whole group of employees out for a swim. On the way, we visited a local beach, where we made a swimming stop, and afterwards our own employee taught everyone how to shoot a bow. The whole thing was zero budget. The company employees were very happy with the trip and any joint activity is a great way to bring the work family together. The advantage of a small company is that we all know each other, which makes spending time together all the more fun.”
Simple mental health solutions have been found to create a sense of community and interest. More specifically through play. “This year, we joined a sports betting competition, where we could follow the athletes participating in the Summer Olympics. All the participants in the betting competition confirmed that their interest in sports, and Estonian athletes in particular, grew in connection with this game,” adds Kirsimäe, all of which can boost motivation to find new challenges.
The future of health promotion is also in the hands of employers
There is already evidence that health issues are becoming increasingly important in society, as people are more health-conscious and value good health. When choosing a new job, look for a company that cares about its people.
“A responsible company should not only be inspired by caring for the environment, but also find ways to nurture and develop employees. From the employee’s point of view, pay is certainly important, but if you don’t have health, you don’t have anything to do with that money, or a large part of it goes on medicine. The value of every employee is their knowledge and skills. Think about it, you have people in the office with good salaries who are not healthy and therefore have to take several weeks off work a year – nobody wants that,” says Kirsimäe, stressing the importance of sharing health knowledge in the company.
Stebby is a big step forward in offering a wide variety of wellness services and health insurance.
All 25 employees of Viimsi Haldus have the opportunity to join Stebby, which is a big step forward in providing employees with the right health promotion opportunity for them. “There are those who enjoy going to the gym and those who want reassurance through health insurance. Stebby offers something for everyone,” Kirsimäe praises.
Although Stebby has been in operation for less than a year, as a company the decision is not regretted, both from a performance and budgetary point of view.
“Thanks to Stebby, we’ve been doing things like going to the gym and the spa together. It’s common interests that unite employees and Stebby creates opportunities for joint activities. Those who perhaps didn’t pay so much attention to their health in the past, now that their employer is helping to cover half of the cost, are trying out different sports training programmes as well as looking into health insurance options. Some of our employees have started to cycle more – for example, walking to work and discovering new hiking trails. Those who have already found their own interests, for example, take advantage of the health insurance package.”
According to Kirsimäe, Stebby is very handy for the employer, clear, simple, user-friendly and easy to access. It is easy to manage and the employer can offer the employee a very wide range of options to promote and maintain health. “Stebby is a good choice because the employer can be sure that the money invested will go to promoting the health of the employee and thus the employee will be in better health. And, as mentioned earlier, the Stebby environment is very easy to use and the data is easy to manage,” praises Kirsimäe.
Read more about the 360° Health Protection packages and joining Stebby – business.stebby.ee.
