Last Friday we had a potential new customer who advised us he was feeling ill and needed to see his GP the following  Monday. This meant changing our meeting scheduled for that day. We were to discuss implementing Doctor2Go.

We set up some credentials, spoke with our medical team to ensure they were fine with accepting a new patient we had not registered previously, and 10 minutes later the customer was sitting in the Koru Lounge in Wellington having his consult before he flew home to Auckland at 4:50 p.m.  that night.

Our medical team sent him a script via email which he picked up from his chemist on Saturday morning.

We kept our meeting Monday but, more importantly, he was well able to work on the RFP response due that same day at 5 p.m. Instead of putting off seeing a GP we can, with early prevention, reduce and even prevent serious illness, and consequently absenteeism, in the workplace.

Additionally, the killer feature, the consultation fee, was picked up by his insurance provider. The patient in question was the MD. There is no real way to measure the ROI of Doctor2Go but that Monday the MD was signing off on an RFP response for a large deal. What was the real value of his business to being well on Monday because he was able to see a medical team without delay?

This story demonstrates that wellbeing is most important in quality performance, productivity and ultimately to business success and profit. When an individual’s well-being decreases, so does their performance and effectiveness. When health and wellbeing initiatives are offered to your employees, it shows that you care about their health and wellbeing. By investing in those who work for you, you retain and attract the best candidates. In addition to this, you help improve their confidence in the organisation, their job satisfaction, and their productivity.

Benefits to health and wellness can result in significant rewards. According to the Willis Towers Watson 2015-2016 Staying at Work Survey, there is a strong connection between highly effective health and wellbeing programs, high performing employees and strong financial results. It is evident that employers who prioritise employee health stand to gain much. Good health equals good business. The Doctor2Go telehealth service provides convenient healthcare for employees at their places of work through video conferencing. Doctors, nurses and mental health professionals who are part of the Doctor2Go medical team can thus remotely assess, monitor, and manage patients’ needs.

Employers have a duty of care to their employees – a responsibility to ensure their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing. Concern for the physical and mental health of employees is not just a duty of care, but it is also good for business. It can help improve staff retention and boost productivity. What’s more, a healthy and engaged workforce take less time off sick and works more efficiently. Employers can save a great deal of money if they manage to reduce absenteeism by improving employee health and wellbeing at work. Also, they reduce presenteeism – employees turning up for work but not able to work effectively because they are unwell or exhausted. Their productivity declines, and while they are at work, they negatively affect the productivity of their colleagues. According to a Gallup poll, employees tend to value workplace wellbeing to material benefits. Employers who prioritise a workplace culture that promotes good health and wellbeing have a huge impact on their employees’ productivity and their profits.

References

Harvard Business Review (2015). Proof that positive work cultures are more productive. Accessed 2/11/2017.

Business Balls (2010). Workplace wellbeing. Accessed 2/11/2017.

The Wall Street Journal (2017). Healthier workers are more productive, study finds. Accessed 2/11/2017.

Experience Life (2017). The profits of a healthy workplace. Accessed 2/11/2017.