Women at Work (The Guardian : 18/07/2017)
According to a recent PEW Research Center analysis of labor statistics in 114 countries, women make up 40% of the workforce in more than 80 countries globally. Tanzania with 50.5% working women is amongst the top five countries with the highest female representation in the workforce.
Why workplace wellness is vital to women
According to a recent Mercer study titled “When Women Thrive, Businesses Thrive”, when health related programs focused on the needs of women, they were recognized as a key factor in a company’s long-term ability to engage and retain female talent in its workforce and improve gender diversity.
Women suffer from different health issues, interact with the healthcare system differently and are more often caregivers for others, compared with their male counterparts.
Working women spend a large proportion of their day at workplace and have become an integral part of the business world, yet they tend to it as the most challenging to experience personal work-life balance. From raising a family to dealing with difficult assignments, working women often experience high levels of stress that, over time, can cause a wide range of physical and mental illness. While some working women have access to personal wellness resources, many others do not, leaving them feeling overwhelmed, depressed and hopeless to do anything about their circumstances. When this happens, women employees can become less productive and unhappy about their careers, factors that affect the bottom line of the companies they work for.
Therefore, it makes sense to include programs that are geared specifically towards the needs of women at work. Here are examples of workplace wellness initiatives that are beneficial to women:
Women’s Health Seminars: These can be offered as lunch seminars and can pull experts in women’s health and wellness in different areas, from fitness and nutrition to reproductive health, gynecological care and cancers.
Women’s Health Fairs: What makes workplace health fairs for women unique is that they help women take more interest in their own health and encourage screenings for sensitive issues like breast cancer and cervical cancer
Healthy Lifestyle Programs: Such programs are designed with women’s health in mind and incorporate physical activity, diet and nutritional needs for areas such as weight management and pre and post natal care.
Pre and Post Natal Care: While many employers may view pregnant employees as liabilities, some companies are seeing the potential of reaching out to this group by offering pre and post natal exercise and wellness programs and a nurse hotline to promote healthy pregnancy as well as maintain employee productivity and engagement during this stage.
Employee Assistance Programs: Many women balance work and motherhood and the combination can be stressful and overwhelming, and at time detrimental to mental health. Employee assistance programs, although open to any employee, often have specific counselors who specialize in specific women’s health issues.
Working women juggle multiple roles and responsibilities in their careers, families and social spheres. With increasing demands on their time and energy, the ability to juggle various roles can have its limits. Effective wellness program will help working women to be more productive and engaged.
Reply back to bhakti@impactafya.com or call +255 754 694 643 with your feedback. We welcome your suggestions for corporate wellness tips you’d like to see covered in our future columns.
Bhakti Shah, MPH is the Founder and Managing Director of ImpactAfya Ltd, collaborating with Workplace Options and Mayo Clinic, USA to provide Corporate Wellness and EAP Solutions in East Africa. Bhakti is also the Advisor for the Africa Business Portal and the Past President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Tanzania.
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