Some of the business professionals that attended Day 2 of the ‘Week of Excellence’ Workshop which was held at Solidarity House yesterday morning.
Ministry endorses wellness programme
Having wellness programmes in the workplace environment is a good idea.
While giving her remarks during the opening session of the second day of the “Week of Excellence” at Solidarity House yesterday morning, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Sen. Dr. the Honourable Esther Byer Suckoo, expressed that she believed the concept of workplace wellness programmes is a concept that will benefit the island in the coming years, as we continue to seek and promote excellence and improve the country.
She said that wellness should be viewed as a holistic concept and explained that there are eight elements of wellness; social, emotional, spiritual, environmental, occupational, intellectual, physical and financial. She added that they zeroed in on promoting wellness in the workplace because of the captive audience within the work environment. She also explained that persons spend half of their “awake time” at work and noted that the workplace was the best place to help persons change their unhealthy behaviours. Furthermore, she expressed that there needs to be a focus on how to inculcate that change, and figure out the best way to do it.
Suckoo expressed that people usually got so busy taking care of their families – sometimes their children’s needs and their work needs – that they forget to take care of themselves and sort out their physical and mental health. She noted that sometimes persons only went to the doctor at the last minute and by then, their situation might turn out to be something that could have been nipped in the bud if they had visited earlier.
While acknowledging that you can not force someone to be healthy, as being healthy starts with the individual, Suckoo mentioned that she believed that by bringing these wellness forums to the workplace, persons can begin to work on their health through receiving information from these wellness programmes. She added that the forums also give colleagues a stronger support system as they work towards being healthy together.