Wellness institute launched

Tinashe Makichi Business Reporter
Wellness Institute of Zimbabwe (WIZ), an organisation that supports institutions through consultancy and capacity building on wellness matters and certification of wellness practitioners, has been launched in the country.

The institute was founded by Proficiency Consulting Group International chief executive Request Machimbira and Vineyard Funeral Assurance managing director Dr Solomon Chikanda.

Speaking to The Herald Business, Dr Chikanda said the new wellness institution thrives to be an educational resource hub for the industry.

“Its purpose is to provide support to the productivity agenda of organisations through relevant advisory, consultancy and capacity building on all wellness matters.

Across the globe, organisations that have embraced wellness tend to have higher engagement levels of employees and equally a positive trajectory on productivity. Zimbabwe has been falling short in this dimension hence the Wellness Institute of Zimbabwe is designed to be the national solution”.

“The institute endeavours to be an educational resource hub for the Zimbabwean industry when it comes to wellness matters. It specialises in certifications, conferences, workshops, research and publications,” said Dr Chikanda.

“WIZ’s objectives is to positively impact organisational health by promoting wellness culture in organisations that help to prevent disease, reduce stress and enhance overall quality life. WIZ’s target market are the Government, private sector, non-governmental organisations and voluntary organisations in Africa and the rest of the world,” he said.

The organisation comes at a time when employee related diseases are on the surge. On the other hand, staff turnover is high while competition is increasing as the world has become a global village.

Dr Chikanda said the only source of competitive advantage is the state of the employee’s physical health, mind and emotional wellbeing.

Recent studies have found that employees who eat healthy are 25 percent more likely to have higher job performance.

The same survey also found that employees who exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times a week, are 15 percent more likely to have higher job performance. And healthy employees take fewer sick days.

According to the research, absenteeism is 27 percent lower for those workers who eat healthy and exercise regularly.

Employees are 14 percent more engaged when provided healthy food options, 18 percent more engaged when provided time for healthy activities, 18 percent more engaged when provided a flexible schedule.

Due to the above reasons, Dr Chikanda said the Wellness institute was born to help propagate wellness at the workplace and help increase productivity.

“Through its structured programmes, the company seeks to play a critical role of promoting wellness through formulating structures that support organisations.

“The success of any wellness intervention is predicated on the policy architecture that any organisation puts in place. Wellness institute of Zimbabwe helps companies to profile the scope of their wellness thrust and ultimately the design of functional and organisationally aligned policy frameworks,” said Dr Chikanda.

“Wellness is for everyone in the country. From the policymakers, businesses, manager and employees, we all have a role to play in changing productivity through wellness.”

Zimbabwe has generally been slow in embracing wellness. The few organisations that have embraced it have been very unstructured and less strategic in their approach. Above all, the majority have not been using Certified Wellness Practitioners. This is a big gap by global standards.

The Institute has introduced the Certified Wellness Practitioner Course which is being run in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University.

“We chose the Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University as our strategic partner due to their thrust to develop a total person. In order to reinforce monitoring an d evaluation of wellness issues, we have introduced Certified Wellness Auditor Course that is run over a five day period.

“It is our conviction that wellness must be championed by Certified Practitioners whilst at the same time being audited by Certified Wellness Auditors. We shall be lobbying for a government for a Statutory Instrument in this regard,’ said Dr Chikanda.

Research has proven that companies that care for and respect their employees are more competitive and successful.

For instance, the Great Place to Work Institute, which recognises the 100 companies in the United States for workplace culture, found that great workplaces have 65 percent lower employee turnover and stock market returns that were two times higher than industry peers from 1997-2014.

And conversely, companies with the lowest employee ratings on Glassdoor significantly underperformed in the market.