Asian Workers Are Healthier Than Their Counterparts In The West.

Asian workers are healthier than their counterparts in the West.

Rand Europe's survey shows that long working hours, bad eating habits and sedentary lifestyles may make Asian employees worse off than their Western counterparts.

Asia may be sitting on time bombs in the field of public health, because long hours, malnutrition and sedentary lifestyles may lead to worse health outcomes for employees than their counterparts in the West.

While employees are under pressure and lack of social support, employers are faced with the spectre of coping with the prospect of an aging workforce and the rapid rise in obesity rates and the consequent risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

AIA AIA Healthiest Workplace is the second annual survey conducted by the consulting firm Rand Europe (RandEurope), funded by health plan AIAVitality and supported by the financial times.

The survey revealed a high level of mental and physical health problems.

It also shows that the proportion of daily loss per employee due to absence from work and "false attendance" (employee attendance, but due to illness, distraction or discomfort) is much higher than that in the UK (see table below).

"Asia's productivity loss is deteriorating," said Christian vanStolk, director of the RAND European research group, Christian vanStolk.

Mental health problems may not necessarily be exacerbated because indicators are almost the same.

But some factors in the working environment are deteriorating.

People report that they have little control over their work and are not sure about their responsibilities. "

The data seem to indicate that the prevalence of non communicable diseases such as diabetes, malnutrition and sedentary lifestyles in the west is spreading rapidly in Asia.

"We really accumulated huge public health problems very quickly," Van Stolk said.

I think we did not anticipate these problems, and the health department was surprised.

The cost is huge, and employers are caught unprepared, both in the public and private sectors.

Asian wasted working hours in 2018

The proportion of working hours lost by countries due to absence from work and "false attendance"

Sri Lanka 18%

Australia 20%

Thailand 28%

Malaysia 28.1%

Hongkong 30.7%

UK 13.6%

Source: VitalityHealth/ Rand Europe

Of the more than 25 thousand employees in more than 300 of the 5 Asia Pacific economies surveyed, the results of Hongkong were particularly striking: the number of employees there lost more than 30% of their working hours due to absence from work and "false attendance", compared with less than half of that in Hongkong.

More than 12% of respondents said they had depression, and nearly 40% of respondents thought they had no choice in deciding what to do every day.

At the same time, more than 21% of Hongkong's employees were obese (height and body mass index (BMI) reached 30 or above).

Overall, this special administrative region lost 79 production days per employee per year.

An important trend is the change in the population structure of the workplace.

The population of some Asian countries is aging rapidly, which puts pressure on employers to arrange more flexible working hours for employees who need to take care of their elderly relatives.

The survey shows that younger employees are less involved, and they suffer from over proportions of fatigue and mental health problems, such as depression.

Van Stolk said: "the workplace is not really set up for younger people.

Businesses will have to wake up and adjust faster than their counterparts in the West.

Overall, Hongkong ranked lowest in obtaining health plans provided by employers; more than 1/5 of employers did not provide any intervention.

However, Hongkong does not score the worst in all aspects of employee health.

In the survey, nearly 16% of Australians reported drinking more than 14 units per week, while Malaysia and Sri Lankan people were the lowest, less than 1%.

However, the highest proportion of smokers in Sri Lanka was 11%, and the highest proportion of employees reporting at least one work stress index (59.2%).

Sri Lankan people are also most likely to be bullied in the workplace (31.4%).

Malaysia employees have the highest absenteeism rate each year and the highest proportion of employees who sleep less than 7 hours a night.

They had the least physical activity, the lowest consumption of fruits and vegetables, the highest levels of blood pressure and cholesterol, and the highest overall risk of lifestyle, clinical and mental health.

It is necessary to look at these figures cautiously.

Hongkong's sample includes a large number of employees working in the construction industry.

In some countries, people belonging to their employees may affect hereditary risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol.

However, no matter what the risk is, employers are responding. There are examples showing that Asian countries, including the health sector themselves, are stepping up their support.

Rand Europe reported that it found an increase in the number of employers' pre employment measures last year, and that half of the employers in the sample now provide physical examination.

KantimaLerlertyuttitham, chief human resource officer at Advanced Info Service of Thailand consulting company, said that since launching the health plan, she has found that her sick leave has decreased by 15% and productivity has also improved.

She also believes that it is necessary to respond to the changing expectations of employees: "as more and more people have health awareness, our organization is faced with a pition to a new generation of employees who require health benefits rather than fringe benefits like medical benefits."