Discovery Healthy Company Index results

With 15 million people employed in South Africa, the health and wellbeing of the country’s workforce is more important than ever before. With this in mind, we are proud to release the results of the latest Discovery Healthy Company Index which offers an insightful summary of the overall health and wellness of corporate South Africa.

This year, Discovery partnered with the University of Cambridge and RAND Europe who have offered a global perspective from their vast experience in this space. 67 companies participated in the 2014 survey with health information from 14 460 employees across South Africa, with the majority of participants in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Of the respondents, 61.6% were women and 38.4% were men and most survey participants were aged between 18 and 40.

The results showed that there are some important improvements in employee health. In 2012, the average Vitality Age, a measurement of health risk-related age, was 6.4 years older than the average real age of employees. This year, the Vitality Age was younger – 5.8 years older than the average real age. Although still not ideal, it indicates that people are more physically active, are managing stress better, and have a lower smoking rate.

“The Healthy Company Index showed that South Africans suffer an 11.4% loss in working days due to suboptimal health, which equates to 25 working days per employee,” adds van Stolk, “When compared to the UK, SA employers have a 2.3% higher productivity loss rate due to employees being unhealthier and taking more sick days.”

Congratulations to the winning companies in the 2014 Discovery Healthy Company Index:

Healthiest employees winners – small, medium, and large categories

-  Small: Open Box Software

-  Medium: Ogilvy and Mather Cape Town

-  Large: EY

Healthiest workplace winners – small, medium, and large categories

-  Small: Vital Health Foods

-  Medium: Johnson Matthey S.A.

-  Large: OUTsurance

Healthiest company winners – small, medium, and large categories

-  Small: Vital Health Foods

-  Medium: Johnson Matthey S.A.

-  Large: Hatch Goba (PTY) Ltd

“We look forward to our ongoing role in encouraging behaviour change of large sections of the population through these types of initiatives and encourage all companies to be part of the next Discovery Healthy Company Index,” Dr Nossel adds.