Health the mantra for sharp firms

By PAULA OLIVER

Two years ago, Linda Sewell could not even run to the end of her street.

Now the Carter Holt Harvey finance and strategy chief is training to run the most gruelling half-marathon in the world - up 4000 steps and along the Great Wall of China in 42-degree heat.

Ms Sewell decided to transform herself into a model of fitness to better handle the long hours and endless travel that her job demands.

After just 12 weeks' preparation, she has finished her first half-marathon and says the benefits have been immeasurable. "I haven't had a sick day since I started running, I cope with the travel better now that I'm fitter, and I'm better at motivating other people to meet their goals," she says.

Attitudes like Ms Sewell's are permeating hundreds of stale offices around the country, forcing balding executives and youthful computer geeks alike to throw away their Twister mats and dust off their Bata Bullets.

The idea that a healthy employee is a happier and more productive employee has led to firms paying for teams to enter everything from dragon-boating to touch rugby, marathons and unisex netball.

But are these fitter, leaner employees really performing better at work or are they simply wasting the warm fuzzy corporate dollar? Carter Holt Harvey, employer of 11,000, is one that has literally bought into the idea. The forestry giant recently spent about $75,000 putting 500 of its staff through a full professional assessment and training programme to run the Auckland half-marathon.

Chief executive Chris Liddell, a keen runner himself, is a big supporter of the concept.

"From my point of view, obviously there's some physical benefits for people, but there's a big sense of achievement for a lot of them," he says.

"Now we're looking at broader things, like improving nutrition through better cafeteria food, and maybe allowing more flexible work patterns."

Ms Sewell, who led the marathon project, says reduced absenteeism is a measurable benefit for the firm. But the project had also given staff a reason to talk to one another in the corridor, taught them to balance their lives, and shown them what they were capable of.

"It's an awareness that the extra 10 hours they do in a week aren't actually that productive. You can take an hour out of your day and go for a run at lunchtime, but it doesn't mean you have to add that hour to the end of your day.

"It took a while to get them out of that mindset, but they found they could get the same amount of work done in less time."

A survey after the event showed that 76 per cent of the runners had a more positive attitude towards Carter Holt. Almost all of them said they had higher energy levels, and felt generally more motivated. About 62 per cent felt they were more a part of the company.

The impact of the project, at about $150 a head, far outweighed the likely benefits of sending somebody on a $400 one-day training course, Ms Sewell said.

The Carter Holt experience is backed by exercise physiologist Jon Ackland, who set up a business dedicated to corporate and athletic health called Performance Lab.

His work with finely tuned olympians and office staff over the past 15 years has given him the impression that Beryl the mail lady actually has more in common with Cathy Freeman than she might imagine.

For example, a high-performance athlete's optimum preparation time for an event is 12 weeks. "There's a lot of research that shows that no matter what you are doing, you can really focus for 12 weeks and then you need a breather," he said. "It's based on central nervous system fatigue."

Among the recommendations Mr Ackland makes when companies ask him to help improve their staff's health is to split projects into 12-week periods.

Planning and goal-setting are other aspects of an athlete's life that can clearly be applied to business. Being passionate about what you do and pushing yourself to new heights are others.

"If you can set people a goal that seems beyond the scope of their imagination, like running a half-marathon, and they achieve it - then they think they can do other things too," Mr Ackland says. "That changes the person's potential, and if you get enough of them doing it then it changes the company's potential."

Simpler events like dragon-boating or playing touch also reap benefits for the company and its employees in raising morale and encouraging teamwork. But convincing companies of this is not always easy.

Cost is often the first objection, but Performance Lab managing partner Kerri McMaster says it is not prohibitive.

Frontline assessments for employees in large companies can be done for $45 a head. A local computer company which has put its staff of 90 through a programme to improve nutrition, work habits and fitness has ongoing costs of about $1000 a month.

The cost can be balanced out against the fact that today's workers are being asked to work harder, faster and longer.

Companies are starting to acknowledge that they cannot continue to thrash their best assets - their people.

New Zealand still has a long way to go.

Most research data comes from the US, where firms often sponsor fitness to gain insurance premium discounts.

And in other countries sports teams have almost become the business itself - in Japan, rugby games are played between firms such as Sanyo and Toyota rather than between provinces. So too with Pakistan's domestic cricket competition.

Ms McMaster says larger NZ firms are beginning to embrace the idea of investing in their employees' health.

Many are altering working hours to give more balance after finding that a culture that encourages staff to have longer and longer days can lead to poor productivity.

Carter Holt's staff could benefit from such changes.

In the meantime, some of them will enjoy the memory of running being a great leveller.

"Chief executive Chris Liddell is a good runner, but he's not that fast," Ms Sewell said.

"For some of the staff to be running alongside him and seeing him struggle as much as they were would have been great."