If they told you that within the performance of your duties at work there is the possibility of training, would you do it? Get paid to get in shape? The Investment in occupational health encompasses numerous benefits for both the employer and the worker.including those who have never played sports. However, it is still a pending issue in our country, since Spain leads work absenteeism due to temporary disability in Europe and the data are worrying. According to World Health Organization (WHO), between 2020 and 2030 there will be almost 500 million new cases of non-communicable diseases that could be prevented with greater practice of sport. These absences have a direct, negative impact on the workers who are affected, but also on companies and society as a whole.
In fact, the percentage of employed people who were absent from work due to temporary disability has doubled in the last decade in Spain: from 2% in 2013 to 4.1% in 2023, as reflected in the ‘Socioeconomic study on the evolution of temporary disability and accident rates in Spain’, prepared by Umivale Activa and the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Ivie).
Occupational health: fashion or custom?
Companies look for results. To this end, the greater the commitment to quality and the well-being of workers, the greater the motivation for a job well done and, therefore, greater performance will be achieved.
The care that companies offer their employees is precisely that added value. And how to get workers to come to the office eagerly and happily? Committing to optimize and liven up the work environment.
A good relationship with colleagues and team leaders improves productivity and makes teleworking take a backseat. “I’m looking forward to going to the office,” explains Elena Daniela Constantin, manager of the training department of the management program of the consulting firm RK Informatika. A company, whose CEO, John Pollock, Born in Australia, he wanted to implement a culture that is very common in his country of origin. Consists in invest in the physical and psychological well-being of your workers, through team building techniques (team buildingin English), that help them “in improving their mood at work,” he explains to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA.
The Basque company pays the fee so that workers can go to train whenever they want and voluntarily.. 200 meters away is the ‘Crossfit Gernika box, a gym where the training system is based on functional exercises, and there is the only time of the day where different departments of the company can interact and spend time together, since at other times it is more complicated for them when they are in various projects of work. “They spend time together and get in shape at the same time,” he says. Jon Causo, coach and coordinator of the sports center. Not only do they strengthen their muscles, but it is also a good time to de-stress and build teamwork.
This initiative started a year ago and in all these months they have noticed an important change. “The atmosphere in the office has improved a lot,” says the CEO, confident that This expense for your company is “very small” compared to the benefits obtained. Currently, 90% of the staff, about thirty workers, have a split shift so they take advantage of that lunch hour with extra free time to go to train. “We extend the lunch hours, we give them about 20 minutes of work so that they can organize themselves without stress,” adds the executive director of the management software developer company.
“It’s very inspiring because you see the evolution of when they arrive, Most of them are computer profiles who sit in front of a computer all day, and you participate in the change in their physical form., since they are gaining confidence. I remember that at first they arrived very shy and insecure and now they are very different people,” adds Causo while reflecting on the existence of less absenteeism from work. “It is not an expense, it is an investment because you offer health and in exchange they give you greater profitability.”
And so much so that not only the employee Elena Daniela has improved her work habit, but other workers such as Damin Abdelhadi, commercial director, has joined this initiative despite having had a complicated physical and health situation due to a collapsed lung. from which he had to undergo emergency surgery. After weeks of recovery and rest, he progressively resumed his activity. “My job does not have much physical strength and when I joined I did it little by little, mentally I needed a disconnection and CrossFit helped me,” he confesses in conversation with this medium. Therefore, to recover his smile because for him, in any field, relating in a smiling way is the key, He decided to gradually encourage himself to take classes with his classmates in which each training session was adapted to him. until you get a good rhythm and go an average of four days a week. “I always look forward to coming to work and being infected by the joy of my colleagues,” she admits.