Digital technologies can revolutionise workplace wellness by providing organisation leaders access to valuable, near real-time business intelligence about the workplace experiences of their employees.
This is according to Joanne Doyle-Went, senior consultant at Deloitte Digital Africa, who explains digital technologies in the workplace empower organisation leaders to make the changes to the organisation structure and implement human resources (HR) models that bring out the best in their employees.
"Traditional employee engagement tools are typically in the form of company surveys - completion rates are poor and the information they provide is long out of date by the time business leaders see it and formulate a strategic response.
"Smart, mobile, analytic and cloud (SMAC) technologies are driving a redesign of this entire process. These new digital tools are mobile-phone based, making them accessible to employees who aren't bound to a desk. They are also allowing for more frequent feedback from employees in the form of monitoring and evaluating real time data of employee's physical activity, pulse checks - regular, stress levels and quick-to-answer prompts for specific information about the workplace experience. This can help employers evaluate the drivers of health risks to their employees, and potentially prevent long-term sick leave," she points out.
While there may be the perception that the use of technology to monitor employees' health and wellness may be an invasion of privacy, Doyle-Went says activities like pulse checking are not so much a question of invasion of privacy as they are about whether the basic level of trust exists between employer and employee.
"If the trust exists, pulse checking forms part of any normal, healthy employer-employee relationship as the goal for any employer in implementing a workplace health and wellness plan is to focus on workplace health and productivity," she explains.
Sandra Swanepoel, VP of Midmarket Africa at Sage, says employees - especially millennials - want dealing with an employer to be as easy as banking online or via a mobile app.
"The organisation's internal portal, social network tools, self-service platforms, employees' wearables and smartphones can play an important role in promoting employee wellness programmes, while monitoring employee participation. Companies can use these tools to keep employees up to date about their wellness programmes and initiatives such as cholesterol screening, flu shots or gym benefits. Data gathered from wearables can also help an organisation make a business case for a wellness programme, or fine tune one already in place," she explains.
By encouraging employees to use wearable fitness devices to track their movement, sleep and eating habits and share their accomplishments with their colleagues, organisations can help everyone to become heathier and more efficient, concludes Swanepoel.
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