Healthier Women Employees – A Way Towards Success!
Being healthy is a trend these days. People these days not just make sure to stay healthy, but companies too have started concentrating on this aspect of its employees. And when it comes to women’s health, it has gained attention like never before!
Workplace is considered as one of the priorities when looking at women’s overall health. Obviously, susceptibility to hazards is different for men and women. Women face different health challenges than men.
Apart from social, economic, and cultural factors that put them at risk for injury and illness, it is found that women generally face more cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, and anxiety and stress disorders.
Levels of stress-related illness are nearly twice as high for women as compared to men. Job stress has been linked with heart disease, muscle and bone disorders, depression, and burnout.
Many a times, women who work in insecure jobs may fear that bringing up a safety issue could result in job loss or more difficult work situations. On the other hand, any liberty in terms of safety can also lead to a work-related injury, which is comparatively lesser than men.
In India, the scenario of breast cancer is different from that in the West. It is estimated that by 2030, breast cancer will cause maximum deaths among women in India than any other cancer. Right from awareness to detection, diagnosis, counselling to treatment in order to overcome the disease, there shortcomings at every stage still persist. Workplace exposures to hazardous substances may play a role in the development of these types of cancer.
Food, clothes, chemicals, furniture, oil and coal are just a few products processed by manufacturing workers. Women are underrepresented in India’s manufacturing sector with participation ranging from only 3 per cent to 12 per cent as per a study by Consulate General of Sweden in India reveals. With variety of products processed, women working in manufacturing may be at risk for exposure to hazardous chemicals, physical demands, loud equipment, and long work hours. Women working in construction may be concerned with musculoskeletal disorders, loud noise and hearing loss, fumes, and job stress.
Women also suffer due to menstrual cycle not only at home but also at the workplace. Besides messiness and practical problems, heavy bleeding can result in an iron deficiency. This in turn causes great fatigue. Many surveys have been carried out with regards to problems faced by women during their menstrual cycle while they are at office. Some of them are listed below;
1. 67 per cent women shared that their offices do not stock sanitary napkins at work premises. About 6.5 per cent women shared that their organisations provide paid access to sanitary napkins.
2. 8 per cent women menstruated in the middle of their office routine but did not have access to a pad. Of these, 60 per cent women asked colleagues for help while 29 per cent had to immediately rush to the market.
3. Women have to go through acute abdominal and lower back pain that makes them difficult to even sit at office. Most of the companies do not consider this as an issue and do not allow women to take leaves.
4. With constantly deteriorating health ratio of humankind, a large number of women in India face menstrual disorders such as irregular and heavy bleeding. Stressful work environments and commutes add to the pain and discomfort and even affect the hormonal balance. Some women resort to tinkering with their menstrual cycles by using hormonal pills, possibly without medical supervision, to avoid menstruating on days of important day of office and meetings. Unsupervised use of hormonal pills leads to a lot of health complications, which may be harmful in the long-term.
While the number of women working or choosing a professional career is only increasing day-by-day, when it comes to women’s contribution towards the success of any business, they have always led the way; then why not provide them a healthy work environment that will only help them to perform better?
The bottom line is that it is of utmost importance to make sure that healthy life is maintained at their workplace. Below are some of the suggested measures that we suggest that can surely make a difference, thus creating a health work environment for women at their work place.
• Take Frequent Breaks: Each hour, a person must get up from desk and go for a quick walk. It could be just to collect your print-outs from the printer, or refilling your water bottle rather than your office boy doing it for you. Small and frequent breaks mainly help readjust your posture and enhance concentration. Many orthopaedics and chiropractors prescribe this to those who spend long hours sitting in an office chair.
• Provide Healthy Office Snacks - Knowingly or unknowingly, many women employees end up skipping their breaks or take very few of them. May be due to morning chores at home that are required to be finished, family responsibilities or there could be endless reasons to it. This habit of not taking breakfast actually affects their physical and mental health in many ways. Having food available in the office makes it quick and easy for women to have snacks when they need that little bit of extra energy to get throughout the day. Hence, it is important to make sure that your office canteen or cafeteria includes some healthy options in their menu them to choose.
• Regular Doctor Visits and Screening Tests: While women are always concentrating on the well-being of their family member, women tend to ignore their health most of the times. Regular doctor visits at work place can be a great help to them. Moreover, there are a number of important screening tests that can help protect women against cancer. Some of these tests find cancer at an early stage when they are most treatable, while others can actually help keep cancer restricted from developing in the first place. The organization should conduct such medical tests for free for the women’s employees.
• Maintain a smoke free workplace: As we all are aware, smoking is a large reason for deaths around the world. Reducing the effects of smoking in the workplace is paramount to better health of women.
• Implement A Team Health Challenge: Not only can a team health challenge motivate women employees to create long-lasting behavioural changes and develop better personal health; but it can also be a part of your team-building exercises. A comprehensive strategy will make it easier for women employees to understand and address their health issues, ultimately leading to both, better mental and physical health.
• Security Planning: Women employees, who commute alone for work, especially at night, are vulnerable to violent assault. You can help keep your workers safe by training them to recognize and respond to workplace threats. Basic Karate classes at work place or seminars on self-defence could be a great idea!
• Encourage Regular Exercise: Have a yoga instructor or fitness coach come in and run sessions at the workplace or buy women employees a gym membership as a gift or incentive. It will surely help them and motivate them to perform better.
• Stress Management Sessions: Have a professional come in and give advice on stress reduction techniques to all women employees. It is kind of a must these days with regards to the kind of competitive and stressful lifestyle that we live in.
Women are an integral part of all the aspects of society and their participation will continue to grow. Programmes and initiatives geared towards women’s health are becoming increasingly common and have been met with significant enthusiasm from both sides. Healthier employees are obviously good for a company, and the benefits reaped usually make their way back to the source.
