10/07/2025
The Saint Lucia Employers’ Federation (SLEF) is lending its voice to the national campaign for healthier lifestyles. At a recent breakfast meeting, employers were urged to take a more proactive role in promoting wellness in the workplace. Executive Director of SLEF, Cornelia Jn Baptiste, says the aim is simple, healthier employees lead to more productive businesses.
“Non-communicable diseases are on the rise. Other injuries and other incidents, other sicknesses, diseases are on the rise, and we are aware that the Ministry of Health and the NIC has been pushing an agenda of getting persons to recognize the need to live active lifestyles and to eat healthier and to just have an overall sense of well-being in their everyday lives. And so it gave us pause and we thought it was time to lend our voices as employers in support of that fight.”
With support from the Ministry of Health and the National Insurance Corporation (NIC), the Federation is encouraging its members to promote wellness through activities targeting both the physical and mental health of their employees.
“What we heard today was phenomenal. Employers are now introducing lifestyles and activities and encouraging workers to live the active lifestyles, to live, to eat healthy, to recognise well-being, because well-being is not just for the benefit of the employee but for the employer as well. A worker who is healthy is a productive worker. And so employers on their own, even outside of our meeting, have begun to push that agenda of health and wellness. Some activities we've heard of, we've heard of employers doing a sneaker day, not just in keeping with the national sneaker day, but their own sneaker day. We've heard of water days. We've heard of persons having a no juice day. We've heard of employers who exercise as a team on afternoons. We've heard of employers who have a wellness or mental area in their workplaces where workers who feel a little stressed could take a time out and go and sit and relax. We've heard of a growing trend of persons who have gymnasiums in the organisation that encourages workers, whether it's through the lunch hour, an extended lunch hour, to exercise. So all of these ideas employers on their own have already come up with, and we're encouraging employers who have not begun to look into these areas and see how well they could incorporate these in their everyday activities at work.”
The meeting also revealed startling statistics from the National Insurance Corporation (NIC), showing high numbers of health-related claims data forcing many employers to reconsider how health impacts productivity and business continuity.
“This information is astounding. Because it shows, and you would recall that we recently had a meeting. The Federation was looking at the abuse of sick leave or possible abuse of sick leave and absenteeism. And we recognize that whereas there may be areas of abuse, there are genuine concerns and genuine situations where persons are ill. And so the statistics from the NIC reveal that persons are ill and the cost to the NIC is very interesting and alarming and it's worth noting.”
The Saint Lucia Employers’ Federation is calling on businesses of all sizes to adopt workplace wellness policies emphasizing that healthier teams not only strengthen individual enterprises but also drive national productivity.
