How Healthy is your team?

Off late, it has become routine to wake up every morning to a bank collapse, liquidity crunch, SLR/CRR cuts and many more such jargons that many of us have read in graduate school and forgotten. There are umpteen numbers of articles written or views aired about this and its effect on the Indian Economy, the jobs, the pay cuts and so on. I am raising a more pertinent question that is to be thought about by an individual, addressed by an organization and that is of paramount importance to the nation.
How healthy is our Manpower? Will we able to sustain the growth rate at the current levels and achieve the vision 2020 dream or projections set by various leading consultancies of India being the most powerful economies vis-à-vis the health status of our human capital?
Reality Check ?
We, the younger employed generation today have imitated the western world in many of our practices, be it the pizza or a coke revolution. Unfortunately we have not learnt the importance of taking care of our health. Contrary to the old adage “prevention is better than cure”, we tend to practice the opposite.
Already considered the diabetes capital of the world, India now appears headed towards gaining another dubious distinction — of becoming the lifestyle-related disease capital as well. A recent study shows the incidence of hypertension, obesity and heart disease is increasing at an alarming rate, especially in the young, urban population. According to WHO Heart Diseases to be single greatest 'killer' in India by 2015 with 1 in 8 affecting people under the age of 40. According to the study, the average Indian waist size has increased by two inches over the last three decades. It also indicated that around 100 million people suffer from hypertension now, compared with 4-6% in the 1970s.
The contribution of the service sector to the country’s GDP is also mounting over the years (1980-81: 41%;2006-07: 54%)and is expected to go up further. Needless to say the most important producing asset in the service sector is the manpower. The service sector and knowledge based economies rely on intellectual capital which is critically dependent on the quality and health of employees. It is important to note that by 2020 an estimated 17% of the population will be in the age group of 35-54 years. This is the age group when an individual peaks in his/her knowledge quotient and intellectual inputs. We need to assess the health & productivity status of our Manpower, (the most important capital) and take steps to improve the health & wellness condition if we are to dominate the world economy in the years to come. A detailed analysis needs to be done and steps taken towards maintaining and improving one’s wellness condition.
For instance lets take the IT/ITes sector which contributes close to 5.5 % to The GDP. This industry employs close to 10 Million people directly and indirectly (Crisil survey). The sedentary lifestyle of people employed in this sector invariably leads to long-term damage to health and wellness thus rendering an individual unproductive. For organizations in this sector the key revenue and profitability driver is the human capital itself and hence should form the core of the people management as only a healthy individual can be optimally productive to meet organizational requirements.
A PeopleHealth study over the past three years has indicated that health risks have increased phenomenally. 1 in 3 have at least one health risk and the happiness index is at a dismal low of 8%. Also awareness about general health conditions and wellness is missing. These health risks if not addressed by modified lifestyle could lead to serious disorders. Productivity Loss due to Health conditions have started affecting the bottom-lines. Each health risk in an individual leads to approximately 1 day of productivity loss in a month. The monetary loss because of health risks if computed throws startling figures.
What is the solution?
The need of the hour is to evaluate the situation and understand the implications this could have on an individual’s health, organisation’s growth and the country’s economy. Thereafter it is imperative to create an effective long term execution plan, both at macro and micro level to protect the human capital from health disorders.
Organisations and the Policy makers can at best make healthcare more accessible and lay guidelines. However nobody else can be held responsible as much as the individuals themselves for managing their health
Watch out for views on how the developed world has tried to manage its corporate citizen’s healthcare, the global trends, the current Indian scenario and the possible ways of protecting human capital for years to come