A Program ‘Take Action’ in a Company Productivity Essay

Introduction

There is a relation between productivity of a company and health of the employees of that company. Good health of the employees of a company determines the growth and higher productivity of that company. “Savvy employers know that healthy employees demonstrate increased productivity and morale and lower health care costs.” (1) Businesses in California realized the importance of the wellness of the employees. They started a program to focus on the efficiency of the employees. Overweight and obesity are the major health problems that the employees suffer and they are hazards for them to perform their work efficiently. In order to overcome these health problems they started “Take Action” program.

This program is conducted in many of the hospitals, companies and institutions to make their employees efficient. This program can be applied on a universal principle which is known as cause and effect principle. This program envisages consumption of vegetables and fruits by the employees, thereby reducing overweight, obesity and other health problems that might affect the employees in their efficiency. The “abundance of fruits and vegetables helps keep workers focused and full of energy.” (2) This paper presents what is ‘Take Action’ program, effectiveness of ‘take action’ program in relation to consumption of vegetables and fruits, and the limitations of the program and strategies to overcome the limitations (3)

Take Action’ Program

‘Take action’ program is a worksite program which is free of cost, lasting for ten weeks. It is a web-based program. It focuses on improving health of the employees by increasing their consumption of vegetables and fruits. The program aims at improving health of the employees, increasing the productivity of the company by making the employees efficient, and “decreasing absenteeism.” This program was first introduced in California. (4)

Aims and goals of the program

Employees’ active, cognitive, and physical activity need more nutritional food. Vegetables and fruits are the best providers of nutrition. Increasing the amount in consumption of vegetables and fruits increases the efficiency of the employees in a firm or institution. Today, the major hazards of the employees are overweight and obesity which are result of improper diet and lack of physical exercises.

So, physical exercise and consumption of fruits and vegetables are the best way to get rid of overweight and obesity. ‘Take Action’ program aims at increasing the productivity of the employees by increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables and regular physical exercises. Healthy and productive employees are the most vital asset as far as an institution or a company is concerned. In this competitive world, the employees have to perform their level best to withstand the intra and inter institutional competitions. This program is going to be an attractive strategy for enhancing the overall wellness of employees.

Objectives

1. Conducting ten week, web-based program to tackle the health problems of the employees.
2. Maximizing the productivity of the company through increasing the employees’ consumption of vegetables and fruits, and physical exercises.
3. Bringing mutual support and morale among the employees. (4)

Limitations of ‘Take Action’ Program

The following limitations are found to be affecting the success of this program:

1. Difference in work schedule
2. Adaptability of employees
3. Sustainability
4. Availability of quality fruits and vegetables
5. Lack of universal applicability.

Difference in work schedule

In many firms and institutions, the employees have different work schedules like night shifts, overtime etc. In such a situation, the employees are deployed at different locations at the same time. Therefore, it is difficult to bring all of them together under a single roof. The officials have to allot fixed time to execute this program. This may affect overall work schedule of the firm or institution. The sudden shift in the work schedules may put pressure on the employees and this may lead to decline in productivity. Thus, it has a neutralising effect, that is, on the one hand the company is trying to extract maximum output from the employees by executing these types of programs, and on the other hand, the employees are facing undesirable outcomes. (5)

Adaptability of employees

The employees come from different socio-economic backgrounds. They may have various responsibilities in their families. In a normal working condition, they are able to keep punctuality. But, in case of a slight variation in any area of their job, like shift in time schedule etc, they may not be able to cope up with the situation as the employer demands. Here is a controversy. The institution is trying to implement ‘take action’ program so as to attain growth of the company through improving health, reducing absenteeism, building morale, and enhancing productivity of the employees.

On the other hand, inability of the employees to adapt may counteract with the company’s perspectives. Since the adaptability of the employees is a crucial factor in determining the growth and progress of a company, the officials cannot overlook this factor. So, the company officials have to set aside a specific period of time to make the employees adaptable to whatever situation the company demands. (6)

Sustainability

Basically, this is a ten week program. Four stages are involved in this program. They are planning, promotion, activity, and evaluation-cum-celebration. During activity stage, the employees are allowed to choose the food they want to consume. Along with this, they are provided with education materials, seminars, workshops etc, to make them aware about this strategy. The short duration of this program may not bring the expected result because this short period of ten weeks is inadequate.

However, this may bring some desirable changes in the employees. After completion of the program, what will be the next step taken by the company? If the company terminates this program, it will not meet the objectives. So, it is necessary to ensure the sustainability of this program and make it a success. Here, the term sustainability means “maintaining and continuing the programme services.” (7)

For that, a long term plan is necessary to prevent relapse. (8)

Availability of quality fruits and vegetables

Availability of fruits and vegetables of good quality is another obstacle. Nowadays, to increase the production of fruits and vegetables, a lot of chemicals and pesticides are being used. This results in a hike in production and a decline in quality. Most of the fruits and vegetables available in the market are polluted with these poisonous chemicals. In this condition, it may be very difficult to get fresh and quality fruits and vegetables. The company officials have to ensure the availability of good quality fruits and vegetables; otherwise it may harm the health of the employees.

In order to ensure the availability of quality fruits and vegetables the company can take the advantage of “farmers’ markets.” (9) Let the employees of the company know when the “farmers’ market will open, the day and times of operation, and when the farmers’ market will close.” (10) Even though the Americans are consuming the required amount of fruits and vegetables per day, there is not much improvement in their health. The reason behind this might be the usage of contaminated fruits and vegetables. So, while implementing ‘take action’ program, the company officials should consider this fact.

Lack of universal applicability

The applicability of this employee wellness program is questionable, since the working condition and requirements of companies operating in different sectors are different from each other.

Strategies to overcome the limitations

Awareness program

The program focuses on the wellness of the employees. So, the employees have to play a crucial role in this. In order to make them well equipped, they should be provided with a well input session. This session should deal with the objectives and goals of the program, methodology and importance of health, reducing absenteeism, building up of morale in the growth of the company as well as individual development. (11)

Frequent health check-up

This is an ongoing evaluation of the health condition of the employees who are participating in the ‘take action’ program. Since the employees belong to different age groups, vulnerability of one employee will be different from the other. So, there should be a regular health check-up of the employees. The major health check-up include Haemoglobin count, platelet count, blood sugar and lipid profile. This will enable the company officials to get rid of complexities and help them change the plan of action in need. (12)

The Processes of evaluation

Many people think that evaluation process is something related to substantiate the success or defect of a program. This step will indicate the shortcomings and thereby effective steps can be taken to improve the program next time. This will help one to continuously upgrade the standard of the program by accepting feedback. (13)

In this context, we will adopt summative method of evaluation which is usually done after the completion of the ‘take action’ program. This is advantageous since this action plan is having short time duration. While evaluating, one should take into consideration the number of employees participated, the method adopted, the extent of physical activities done, the measures taken to reduce absenteeism, the steps taken to improve productivity of the employees and building morale.

A comparison between the situation before the implementation of this action plan and after the implementation is essential to measure the effectiveness of the program. In this way, one can come to a conclusion about the outcome (immediate effect) and impact (long term effect). Generally speaking, the process of evaluation comprises three different steps. They are:

1. Understanding the objectives and strategies involved
2. Planning the sequence of evaluation
3. Implementation of the evaluation process (14)

Conclusion

‘Take action’ is a program that envisages maximizing the productivity of a company by increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruits by its employees. This is a short term and web-based program having four different steps. This is an employee oriented one with a lot of significance. Though it is an effective program with regard to many of the firms and institutions, there is still doubt about its universal applicability. The main limitations of the program are adaptability of the employees, sustainability of the program and availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. Some strategies to overcome the limitations of this program are also given in this paper.

Reference List

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