Workplace absenteeism cut with Alexander TechniqueThursday 5th November 2009 | 3:25 PM« Back to ListingGoogle, ranked number four on the 2009 Fortune magazine's top 100 best employers, first implemented the Alexander Technique for staff as part of a series of personal growth workshops. The internet giant is one of many companies searching for creative ways to solve the problem of absenteeism due to injury and ill heath. The Alexander Technique is a centuries-old practice of body awareness. It provides users with an understanding of movement which enables them to correct their posture and body movement for better all-round health.
Paul Dundon of Direct Health Services said the average Australian worker takes 8.62 days off a year due to ill health, amounting to $26.6 billion in lost productivity for the Australian economy each year. A growing number of companies are now focusing on preventative health for workers rather than the standard practice of using treatments and specialist referrals in the workplace. Other international employers trying to prevent workplace ill health include Victorinox, the makers of the Swiss Army Knife which employs almost 1,000 people in Switzerland. A recent survey by Victorinox found that educating employees on body awareness through the Alexander Technique had a dramatic impact on absenteeism. Prior to implementing their program a Victorinox representative described their situation as, ‘...helpless. For certain tasks, pain outweighed motivation and employees could not work because of symptoms of wear and tear. We had to take action. We decided to choose the Alexander Technique'. Between 2002 and 2007, absenteeism at Victorinox was reduced by more than 42 per cent due to an Alexander Technique program. One employee who regularly treated chronic shoulder pain with physiotherapy and injections said a ‘new understanding of shoulder anatomy and how it functions in the movement sequence' had dramatically reduced his body pain. Commenting on the most valuable aspects they learned at the pilot Alexander Technique course, Google employees said: ‘Learning habits of caring for my back; realising that good posture is relaxed, not tense'. ‘...allowed me to refine my movements and realise that I wasn't developing worse habits, but simply becoming more aware of those bad habits'. For more information on how to implement the Alexander technique with corporate clients, visit www.bodychance.com.au. Body Chance trains injury prevention experts in the Sydney CBD using methods based on the Alexander Technique.
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