The Importance of Health Risk Management

November 6 - Stress management is still a relatively new concept in the corporate world, but insurance groups are calling on employers to direct funds and energy into ensuring that their staff are taught how to handle pressures before it becomes too late.

Managing stress is not only beneficial to the employee who enjoys reduced healthcare costs in the long run, but also the the employer and the economy at large due to less work time being taken off for stress related reasons.

Aon South Africa's Health Risk Management Division has emphasized the needs of companies to invest in training their Human Resources personnel to identify stress and learn how to deal with it in the workplace.

"We're beginning to see companies take a more pro-active, self help approach to managing stress by using employee assistance programs for lifestyle advice and counseling," said Christine Oosthuizen, the Business Unit head for Enterprise Health Risk Management.

She encouraged more training and workshops for corporate managers which could teach them to identify the early stages of stress, preventing them from becoming chronic over the long run.

"In turn, this helps to reduce claims for private medical insurance and group income protection plans, while most importantly helping the employee to return to work," said Oosthuizen. "This needs to form part of a company's overall wellness strategy, taking into account the objectives of the organization and its ability to measure ROI."

Oosthuizen said that stress could be caused by a number of factors, not necessarily only from the workplace. "Showing that you have stress management plans in place will help protect your employees and could you defend a costly employers' liability insurance claim," she said.