Global Healthy Workplace Awards Summit – Brazil 18th -19th May.

This year’s top employers for having a healthy workplace programme were announced at the 3rd Global Healthy Workplace Summit which took place in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, 18th – 19th May. The winners of these prestigious Awards were: Multi-national: GlaxoSmithKline (UK) Large Employers: Unilever (Brazil) Small & Medium Sized: Lan Spar Bank (Denmark) The runners up of these prestigious Awards were: Multi-national: Chevron (USA) Large Employers: Vanderbilt University (USA) Small & Medium Sized: Naya Jeevan (Pakistan) The gathering of business leaders and investors is a further illustration of the growing importance being given to the affect health and wellness has on business productivity. The Summit heard the latest trends in workplace health and wellbeing with stress being a major concern. A survey published by the Global Centre for Healthy Workplaces showed that more than a third of employers rate the stress level within their organization as “high or very high.” US employers rate stress levels the highest, with 53% rating levels as “high or very high” compared to 34% in Brazil, 30% in Singapore and 28% in UK. Employee performance was seen as the most important reason organizations address work-related stress and poor mental well-being. Of the employers surveyed, 87% believe it is extremely or very important, with workplace accidents and injuries extremely important for 41%. Employee engagement, productivity and motivation follow closely behind. Wolf Kirsten, co-director of Global Centre for Healthy Workplaces said, “This latest survey shows that stress and mental wellbeing is at the top of employer’s agenda. It has a direct impact on the output and performance of business organisations. On a positive side, there is growing evidence that Chief Executives are taking it seriously and our Awards programme is designed to enable employers to share better practice in tackling such issues.” http://www.globalhealthyworkplace.org/summit-florianopolis-2015.html