Member Article

Healthy, wealthy and wise: how to make your team happier and your business more successful

Research in the US has shown that businesses that use Workplace Health Promotion programmes (WHP) end up with lower absence rates, happier employees, and higher productivity. In the UK, over 130 million work days were lost to sickness in 2013 - an average of 4.4 days per worker, per year. WHP programmes work by encouraging employees to make changes to their lifestyles that make them fitter and healthier, reducing the risk of illness. Employees who take part in such programmes also report being happier, having more energy and being more productive when they are in work. Studies have shown that healthier lifestyles also reduce instances of presenteeism - that is, employees who are present at work, but are working at reduced capacity due to illness, stress or injury. Examples of factors causing presenteeism include high stress, being overweight, poor diet, long term diseases such as diabetes, mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, and anything that causes pain or fatigue. Many, if not all, of these factors can be significantly improved by the adoption of a healthier lifestyle - i.e., better diet and more exercise.

The UK government has recognised the importance of promoting wellbeing in the workplace, and is in talks about providing tax breaks to businesses that invest in the health of their employees. The Economistputs forward the case for healthier employees boosting profits.

In the UK, Workplace Health Promotion programmes are far less common, especially due to the fact that UK employers do not generally provide health insurance to employees, as we have the NHS. However, the arguments for promoting health and fitness in employees still stand: the healthier the office, the more likely a business is to be productive and profitable.

That’s where Nudjed comes in. Perhaps the easiest way to describe Nudjed is as “the Siri of health advice”. Nudjed is a subscription service which allows whole offices to track their health, set long term fitness goals and work together to make small changes that gradually improve the health, happiness and productivity of the team. The Nudjed team understands that it’s difficult to fit being healthy around a busy lifestyle; that’s why they developed a service that combines nutritional science with behavioural psychology to inform, advise and motivate every individual in the way that best suits them. Strategically timed reminders - nudjes - encourage the user to stay focused, and offer relevant advice and information in an understandable, easy format.

Nudjed already provide B2B services to a number of companies, including Welsh ICE and Wolfestone Translation, and are launching a Pilot Partnership Scheme with Superdrug in time for Christmas. They are currently crowdfunding through Seedrs in order to expand their engineering and delivery teams, and will be releasing native iOS and Android apps in early 2015.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Becky Smith .