Professional of the Year 2007: Employee Healthcare

Rising work pressure, performance-based pay, increasing costs of living and tough competition – some, if not all these factors may be the cause for stress and stress related problems that affect not only employees’ health but also the health of an organisation indirectly.

With professional achievement considered a symbol of success, people spend more time in the workplace. The workplace is even considered a second home by many, making employee well being an indispensable aspect of HR today.

Some approach employee healthcare from a physical health perspective, but it stretches beyond that. This holistic view is increasingly being held by organisations including Motorola. Its vice president of human resources, CP Lee says, “Employee healthcare should not only cover their physical state of health, but also mental well being.”

Finding the right balance between work and life may be vital but having a good healthcare benefits package is equally important. Without a flexible and tailor-made employee healthcare plan, companies may find it hard to balance budgets and even harder to motivate staff to give their best.

IBM, HP and Microsoft are ranked top three for their approach towards employee healthcare in Human Resources magazine's HR Professional of the Year survey. Other companies in the top 10 include Shell, Procter & Gamble, Citibank, Motorola, Singapore Airlines, UBS and Singapore Health Services.

HP continues to win more of the local business vote, with 11.33%, doing better than top-ranked IBM, which wins 9.12%. Microsoft, ranked third wins the least of the local business vote, with just 0.83%. Foreign companies largely prefer IBM to HP, giving
it 13.10% as opposed to HP with a mere 4.83%.

Microsoft also does better than HP, receiving 8.28%. Industry vote doesn’t reflect any particular trends, with HP winning the majority vote of business & personal services with 15.83%. Comparatively, IBM receives 10.83% but Microsoft does rather poorly, with 3.33%. Engineering, mining & construction also vote in favour of HP with 11.71% of their vote. Both IBM and Microsoft win 7.21% each of the industry’s vote.

Top winner IBM garners 20% of votes from financial services, whereas Microsoft receives no votes from this industry. On an average, general manufacturing doesn’t contribute much to the employee healthcare category, giving about 5.26% of the vote to IBM. HP and Microsoft win 2.63% each from general manufacturing. Government & community services vote in favour of HP, giving it 16.67% and IBM 7.14%. Microsoft doesn’t fare very well with 4.76%.

Another strong boost for IBM came from IT & telecommunications, receiving 20.75% of their vote. On the other hand, Microsoft does better than HP here, with 7.55% as opposed to 5.66%.

Companies with a headcount of over 500 give their majority vote of 10.96% to HP, 10.50% to IBM and 5.02% to Microsoft. HP does better with companies that have a headcount of 251-500, winning 8.74% as opposed to IBM with 7.77% and Microsoft with 2.91%.

However, Microsoft does better with companies that have a headcount of 101-250, with 6.67%. When dividing the vote based on job function, IBM receives maximum votes from senior HR personnel (VPs and HR directors) and HR Management, at 12.63% and 9.87% respectively.

However, first runner-up HP does better than IBM with training management personnel, winning 9.68% and 9.92% of the vote. Microsoft fares poorly with just
3.23% from personnel management and 1.65% with training management.

Comparatively, it does well with finance and administration management, winning
8.77% along with HP. IBM tops with 15.79%. HR professionals with regional or international responsibility largely vote for IBM (12.82%), giving HP 8.61% and Microsoft 4.83%. HP wins the majority vote of 7.91% from those with local responsibility. IBM receives 5.65% and Microsoft 2.26%.

The majority female vote goes to IBM (12.28%), whereas the majority male vote goes to HP (14.29%). Putting all parameters together, IBM tops this category with
10.87% of the overall vote. HP comes close with 8.42% and Microsoft gets 4.13%.

IBM and Motorola have long-term employeehealthcare programmes that focus on  both the physical and mental health of their employees. HR director IBM Singapore, Tho Lye Sam shares three best practices at IBM. She first cites a “Flexible Benefits Programme” that allows employees to choose a programme best suited to their needs. Coverage includes choice of medical and dental care, fitness programmes, vacations and a spending account.

For optimum flexibility, both Basic Single Medical Plans and Comprehensive Family Plans are available.

Tho next mentions the Well Being Promotion Programme which comprises initiatives such as Blue Oasis, a professional coaching and counselling service for employees. The company also runs internal newsletters Well-Being Digest and Work Life Essentials to educate employees on the importance of health. She says, “Education is the primary avenue of reaching employees and empowering them to take
responsibility for their health.”

In keeping with this approach, the company has developed an online learning campus with interactive education modules on ergonomics, driving safety and AIDS. Lastly, IBM places emphasis on providing employees with a specially designed environment (ergonomically designed workstations, non-glare lighting, high acoustic ceiling), to make the workplace a comfortable space.

Lee of Motorola, in the seventh position, explains the company’s holistic approach to healthcare, is a wellness programme that “addresses the physical, emotional, social and financial well being of employees”. In order to ensure this, the company
organises many sporting activities, healthy eating programmes at staff cafeterias, executive health screenings, health talks and exhibits and encourages participation in some of Singapore’s popular races.

Motorala’s programme places special emphasis on work-life balance, giving employees flexible choices and benefits such as working from home, working part-time and compressed workweeks during school holidays. Flex Benefits also allows employees to claim up to $500 a year for preventive health screenings,
optical and dental services, holidays and sports-related activities.

The company also allows employees to claim for vitamins or health supplements. Lee specifically mentions the launch of the “smoking cessation programme”, which comprises of motivational talks, roadshows and workshops to raise awareness on the dangers of smoking amongst employees.

Despite all these measures in place, both companies face diverse challenges when it comes to creating a feasible and effective employee healthcare plan. For Motorola it’s the challenge of meeting the needs of a diverse workforce and working with different time zones on a 24x7 basis.

With IBM's transformation from a hardware sales company to a more services based one, the company needs to focus on enhanced safety in the workplace as well as driving and travel safety, its HR director says.

Another challenge both face is increasing competition and the stress related problems that go with it. Tho talks about managing stress-related illnesses such as burnout and hypertension. Motorola faces the same problem of managing stress and
keeping proper work life balance, given their 24x7 business.

Rosaline Chow Koo, APAC business leader of health & benefits at Mercer observes that 90% of HR professionals in Singapore are worried about escalating health costs. But she also highlights the increase in usage of flexible benefits that allows companies to contain healthcare costs and use health benefits as a means of attracting and retaining employees.

In a competitive environment, employees are under increasing pressure, but so are companies. In order to optimise performance and drive business growth, it may be wise to keep in mind that a corporation’s performance is closely intertwined with its employees well being. Employees may well reflect a company’s health, equipping it with the strength to forge ahead.