Have Thumbs Will Travel: Corporate Sessions

If you have three or more of these, you are living with stress. How often are these conditions affecting your work, your life?

With rising health care costs, more and more companies are investing in onsite wellness programs. By using Have Thumbs Will Travel in the workplace, employers and employees engage in a win-win situation. There are immediate benefits: Company morale is improved (which leads to a more energetic, positive and productive workplace); employee absenteeism and turnover are reduced; there is a dramatic drop in health care costs; and productivity levels also increase as healthier employees are more happy, creative and productive.

How On-Site Seated Workplace Massage works
Our massage practitioners come to your workplace. It's a short massage which lasts anywhere between ten and thirty minutes and is done through the clothing. It covers the neck, shoulders, back and arms and it feels great!

Learn techniques to understand and dissipate stress
We assess workstations and physical posture. By correcting and improving a person’s posture, symptoms of “dis-ease” and discomfort can be dramatically reduced. We also have a variety of easy-to-do one to three minute exercises to help dissipate stress and prevent Repetitive Strain Injury, a leading result of workplace injury. RSI affects more than carpal tunnel injuries of the wrist; it can refer to any part of the body which suffers from wear and tear due to repetitive movement, including neck and/or low back pain or sciatica which may result from sitting in one position for extended periods of time. A one to three minute break designed to increase circulation can significantly improve an individual’s physical and mental condition.

Stress Reduction
Stress, sedentary work and repetitive tasks have a devastating effect on the health and well-being of employees and the financial health of the company. On-Site Massage is one of the most cost effective solutions. Not only is it low cost, massage programs are easy to implement. On-Site Massage offers you the ideal solution during heavy work periods, deadlines, or stressful transitions.

On-site massage can reduce stress by 50-80% in only 15 minutes. Staff will feel refreshed, calm and healthier and will serve your customers better and more easily meet company goals. Human error will diminish as concentration skills and focus increase from our 'hands-on' approach. The knowledge that you, their employer, care about them personally will give you the edge in employee retention. Alert and effective staff is a key to better production and profit in any business.

Combating Stress
Many serious diseases have been linked to stress. The daily build-up of stress can cause a multitude of symptoms from irritability, to physical symptoms like headaches, stomach and abdominal problems, heart palpitations, tightness in ones throat or chest and even weight gain.

A good way to manage stress and to re-energize employees is with on-site relaxation massage. Massage can improve vitality (mentally and physically) and the short exercises replace boredom with excitement.

Stress Statistics
An Angus Reid poll revealed that Ontario is one of the three most stressed provinces in the country. 11% of employees book time off work to deal with stress related issues. 64% of people find themselves getting more irritated and upset. Ontarians are getting sicker and time lost for workplace injury is climbing steadily.

As reported in an Ipsos-Reid study released March, 2004 the main preventable contributors to employee absenteeism are:
- Depression/anxiety/other mental health disorders - 66%
- Stress - 60%
- [Negative] Relationship with supervisor or manager - 44%
- Co-worker conflict in the workplace - 28% more..

Other stress-filled factors prompting employees to call in sick are:
- Childcare issues -
- Parenting issues - 21%
- Addictions or substance use/abuse issues - 20%
- Addictions or substance use/abuse issues - 20%
- Eldercare issues - 19%

What measures is your company taking to reduce stress and improve the environment for your employees? How much can you save in lost productivity by initiating an on-site massage program?

For over a decade, research has been showing the effectiveness of Employee Wellness Programs. For every dollar spent on a Corporate Wellness Program, the returns have been cost savings of between $2.30 and $10.10 in the areas of decreased absenteeism, fewer sick days, reduced WSIB claims, lowered health and insurance costs, and improvements to employee performance and productivity.

Additionally, a healthy organization increases employee morale, improves the ability to attract and retain key people, all while having more alert and productive employees.

A healthy lifestyle impacts every part of your day-to-day work environment. Corporate Wellness Programs translate into fewer injuries, less human error, and a more harmonious office environment. They also let you know that your organization is concerned about your general health and well-being.

• Health Canada reports on its Web site a Return On Investment of $3.40 on each corporate dollar invested in wellness initiatives. The return is in the form of reduced turnover, productivity gains and decreased medical claims.
• Wellness initiatives attract excellent employees. Many companies use a wellness program to attract potential employees to work for their company. It is an excellent non-verbal way to communicate a sense of care for the well being of the employee.

On-site workplace massage sessions are generally utilized by all types of staff. It is well suited to reach staff who might not otherwise participate in stress management initiatives on their own.

On-site massage makes a great incentive for your employees who produce better results, more sales etc. Gift certificates for full sessions are also available for the holidays, birthdays, Secretaries Day or any special occasion.

WILL THIS BE COVERED?
Workplace On-Site massage is a preventative wellness strategy. It is not performed by Registered Massage Therapists. It qualifies for coverage if the benefit package includes ‘individual discretionary funds', funds that the employee can use for complimentary services like relaxation massage, nutrition counselling or health club fees. Some plans require a doctor's certificate to obtain coverage. This type of benefit is designed to address specific injuries. It may or may not be covered.