Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council – healthy eating and exercise
| Company name | Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council |
|---|---|
| Sector | Local government |
| Number of employees | 10,000 |
| Type of workforce | Mix of manual, office-based, managerial and professional |
What issue was the organisation facing?
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) suffered from high levels of corporate sickness absence. In 2006, the figure stood at 11.3 days sickness absence per employee.
This was lower than in previous years due to the introduction of new policies and procedures around the management and reporting of sickness absence, but still considered high when compared with the national average.
In 2009, the CIPD put the average cost of absence per employee in the UK at £692 per year and with an average of 7.4 days lost per employee per year.
Using this figure as a baseline, the council worked out that 11.3 days per employee would average out at a cost of £1,057 per employee per year.
What action did the organisation take?
After successfully applying to Sport England for lottery funding, the council introduced a two-year-pilot ‘Active Workforce Project’ in 2006 to attempt to improve the health and activity levels of its workforce.
The project included free employee health checks (blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat %, BMI etc), inter-service tournaments, free back care and weight management courses, discounted gym membership and lunchtime and after-work fitness classes / sports sessions.
At the end of the two-year pilot, the project was funded for a further three years by the council, based on a cost per head for the number of employees within each council service.
What has been the impact of implementing health interventions?
In 2010, corporate sickness absence had been reduced to 9.4 days (Source: Performance board report, June 2010), which equates to roughly £879 per employee per year.
With the number of RMBC and related service employees at around 10,000, savings year on year since the project began equate to the following (estimated):
| Year | Average sick days per employee | Cost of sickness absence | Reduction in sickness costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006/07 | 11.3 | £10.57 million | N/A |
| 2007/08 | 10.6 | £9.91million | £660 k |
| 2008/09 | 10.0 | £9.35 million | £560 k |
| 2009/10 | 9.4 | £8.79 million | £560 k |
| Total | £38.62 million | £1.78 million |
Although the council cannot prove the Active Workforce Project has had a direct effect on reducing sickness absence, it can demonstrate specific health improvements in employees through health check statistics and repeat testing.
Health checks
Of the total number of people tested across all eligible services:
- 36% are considered overweight, 17% obese
(total 53% overweight, compared to national averages of 32% for women and 42% for men – NHS website)
- 25% have high blood pressure
- 37% have high cholesterol
- 43% are within healthy weight guidelines
- 17% are smokers.
Of the total people re-tested:
- 44% reduced their body mass index (BMI) by losing weight
- over 50% have reduced their blood pressure
- 44% of those with high cholesterol reduced their cholesterol level.
It is worth noting that some of the better individual service sickness absence figures come from those services which are heavily involved in the Active Workforce Project. All these services have supportive workforce champions and all regularly submit teams for inter departmental competitions.
The project is now run by Link4Life, the trading arm of Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, and includes the council and four other partner organisations.
More information
For more information contact Ben Collier:
Or visit the website: