Employee health
As part of Novo Nordisk’s commitment to employee health and to halting the vast increase in the number of people with diabetes, the NovoSund (NovoHealth) employee health promotion programme continues to promote healthier lifestyles among employees. Currently, NovoSund is active only in Denmark, where 53% of the company's employees are based. During 2007, the programme will be launched internationally in Novo Nordisk affiliates around the world.
Performance 2006
- In 2006 NovoSund continued the company-sponsored smoking cessation programme. A total of 891 employees have during the programme taken part in this programme, which has previously shown a high success rate of 47% (percentage of participants still not smoking after 12 months). As smoking at work is a poor fit with Novo Nordisk's ambition of encouraging healthy living both inside and outside the company, it has been decided to ban smoking at work at Novo Nordisk worldwide by the end of 2007.
- A nutrition policy is currently being developed by a cross-organisational working group. As the leading company in the fight against diabetes, the food offered at Novo Nordisk must of course support our company aim to change diabetes. The policy will leave room for cultural variation and ensure equal access to a selection of healthy food throughout the company.
- Promotion of various sports events, including the annual five-kilometre company relay run. The run is part of a fitness initiative with other companies and attracted some 3,000 Novo Nordisk participants – corresponding to 25% of the Danish workforce – in 2006. This was an increase of nearly 600 compared to 2005.
- NovoSund has recently completed a study of health checks and personal health advice among 1000 employees at Novo Nordisk Måløv. Participation was optional. At the initiation of the study in 2004, 68% chose to take part, whereas 52% participated in the last health check-up in 2006. The results are unquestionable: the employees who have health checks and receive personal health advice improve their health significantly. The largest health improvement was measured in the fitness test. The number of employees with a low fitness decreased from 27% to 20%, and employees with a high level of fitness increased from 33% to 42%. The following parameters were also improved: waist circumference, blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. The data from the pilot study will be used in a study investigating the outcome of employee health activities.
- A network of 18 NovoSund ‘ambassadors’, who will promote both company-wide and site-specific NovoSund activities, was established.
- In collaboration with the Danish National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), NovoSund conducted a pilot study to investigate the nature of stress and how to deal with it proactively. The project is a follow-up to a major NovoSund questionnaire survey conducted in 2005. The 2005 survey was conducted among all 12,000 employees in Denmark and revealed, among other things, a number of stress-related problems. A report with the final results of the study will be available in early 2007. Action plans on how to deal with the department-specific issues have been developed by the departments in question with the support of an external process consultant.
- A follow-up health evaluation questionnaire to be conducted among all employees in Denmark in 2007 is in the process of being prepared.
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