Melbourne, 14 November 2017
AIA Australia today announced the winners from its first Healthiest Workplace Survey by AIA Vitality (the “Survey”). The Survey comprehensively gauged the health and wellbeing of individuals from 32 companies around Australia.
Conducted by RAND Europe and preeminent academic institutions from around the region, the survey acknowledged three winning companies in Australia:
Healthiest Workplace – Ashurst
Healthiest Employer – Announcer Group
Healthiest Employees – Profusion Group
The CEO of AIA Australia and New Zealand, Damien Mu said: “We believe that promoting employee health and wellbeing is of critical importance to companies of all sizes, creating a psychologically safe environment. Insights from the data will also support us championing Australia and New Zealand to become the healthiest and most protected nations in the world and help people live longer, healthier and better lives.”
Australia’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality is the first science-backed workplace survey across Australia that examines employee lifestyle, clinical indicators, stress and mental health, to understand the associated impact on wellbeing and productivity.
On average, results showed that Australians’ AIA Vitality age (a scientific measure of someone’s health, based on all aspects of health including exercise, nutrition and stress) is 3.4 years older than their biological age. This is lower than the average age gap in Asian countries.
Mu said: “These results will provide employers with useful insights to improve health and wellbeing in their company – and ultimately increase workplace satisfaction, engagement and productivity.”
Other key findings of the survey included:
43.7 days are lost per employee (through presenteeism and absenteeism) every year; this equates to approximately $10 million of lost productivity amongst participating companies each year
16% of Australians are exceeding the national alcohol consumption guidelines;
82% of Australians have musculoskeletal problems;
Most organisations report that their employees are sedentary for a large part of the day. Sedentary time increases a person's risk for disease beyond the negative impact of insufficient physical activity;
9% of responders are smokers, compared to 13% of the national average; and
26% of employees report getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night with Australians have more trouble falling asleep than our counterparts in the UK and Asia.
Mu added: “In the long-term, organisations that take positive steps to identify and address risks to employee health will undoubtedly improve business performance through boosting the engagement and productivity of their workforce, as well as increasing their attractiveness to top talent as an employer of choice.”
Preparations for the 2018 edition of the Healthiest Workplace Survey by AIA Vitality are well underway. Companies interested in participating can sign up and find more information here.
The Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality survey models on the success of Britain’s Healthiest Workplace, launched in 2013, which has surveyed over 100,000 employees and 400 employers.
More information about AIA Vitality can be found on the AIA Vitality website and about the Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality here.
Contact: Ingrid Nienaber, AIA Australia
T: +613 9009 4143
E: Ingrid.Nienaber@aia.com
