Distribution Network
Content
Businesses operating in Russia are to work together to improve the population’s health, in particular Russians’ eating habits.
BP, Interros, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Unilever and Uralsib are behind the initiative, which is co-ordinated by the International Business Leaders’ Forum and will be formally set up at a business leaders’ summit in Moscow later this year. The World Bank and the World Health Organization are also involved.
Tackling the health crisis is ‘the most important element of corporate responsibility in Russia today’, according to IBLF chief executive Robert Davies, and could be a ‘catalyst for collective action with the public health authorities’. The aim will be to slow the rapidly increasing rates of death and chronic illness that undermine the country’s competitiveness.
The initiative follows a roundtable of 50 company executives and public officials in Moscow, hosted by the oil company TNK-BP and Pfizer, that discussed the findings of a World Bank study on ill health and injuries in Russia. Dying too young revealed that Russian men could expect to live 16 years less than men in Western Europe, and that the life expectancy of women was also lower compared with their counterparts in Western Europe, though by a much smaller margin.
Patricio Marquez, author of the report, said time spent off work due to ill health was lowering productivity. One Russian resources company told the roundtable that 70 per cent of its male workforce had heart disease risk factors and that smoking, alcoholism and, in some sites, drug abuse are endemic.
The Russian Union of Industrialists has agreed to collaborate with the IBLF on the project, which is being overseen by a business-led task force that will set up measures to improve and monitor workers’ health.
One role of the task force, which will consist mainly of human resources and health and safety managers from Russian and multinational companies, will be to issue case studies showing how businesses have benefited financially from improving the health of their workers.
Brook Horowitz, head of IBLF’s Russia Partnership, told EP: ‘We expect that once companies have understood the cost of ill health to their shareholders, they will develop internal and external programmes to promote healthy work practices and lifestyles. So the first part of the programme is to educate the business community and to help corporate leaders understand the business case for action.’
Health economists will assess six companies to calculate how much sickness is costing them and recommend improvements. The results will be made public. ‘We’d like companies to reach some sort of agreement to commit resources to dealing with this issue,’ said Horowitz. ‘However, we don’t want it to stop at declarations. The most critical issue will be to reach agreement on very specific individual actions by companies and joint actions with each other, with their employees, and with local and federal government.’
The IBLF hopes the programme will encourage Russian companies to work collectively for the first time on an area of responsible business practice ‘of interest to everyone’.
The conglomerate Interros and Uralsib, which is a financial holding company, both became IBLF council members in 2004.
BP, Interros, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Unilever and Uralsib are behind the initiative, which is co-ordinated by the International Business Leaders’ Forum and will be formally set up at a business leaders’ summit in Moscow later this year. The World Bank and the World Health Organization are also involved.
Tackling the health crisis is ‘the most important element of corporate responsibility in Russia today’, according to IBLF chief executive Robert Davies, and could be a ‘catalyst for collective action with the public health authorities’. The aim will be to slow the rapidly increasing rates of death and chronic illness that undermine the country’s competitiveness.
The initiative follows a roundtable of 50 company executives and public officials in Moscow, hosted by the oil company TNK-BP and Pfizer, that discussed the findings of a World Bank study on ill health and injuries in Russia. Dying too young revealed that Russian men could expect to live 16 years less than men in Western Europe, and that the life expectancy of women was also lower compared with their counterparts in Western Europe, though by a much smaller margin.
Patricio Marquez, author of the report, said time spent off work due to ill health was lowering productivity. One Russian resources company told the roundtable that 70 per cent of its male workforce had heart disease risk factors and that smoking, alcoholism and, in some sites, drug abuse are endemic.
The Russian Union of Industrialists has agreed to collaborate with the IBLF on the project, which is being overseen by a business-led task force that will set up measures to improve and monitor workers’ health.
One role of the task force, which will consist mainly of human resources and health and safety managers from Russian and multinational companies, will be to issue case studies showing how businesses have benefited financially from improving the health of their workers.
Brook Horowitz, head of IBLF’s Russia Partnership, told EP: ‘We expect that once companies have understood the cost of ill health to their shareholders, they will develop internal and external programmes to promote healthy work practices and lifestyles. So the first part of the programme is to educate the business community and to help corporate leaders understand the business case for action.’
Health economists will assess six companies to calculate how much sickness is costing them and recommend improvements. The results will be made public. ‘We’d like companies to reach some sort of agreement to commit resources to dealing with this issue,’ said Horowitz. ‘However, we don’t want it to stop at declarations. The most critical issue will be to reach agreement on very specific individual actions by companies and joint actions with each other, with their employees, and with local and federal government.’
The IBLF hopes the programme will encourage Russian companies to work collectively for the first time on an area of responsible business practice ‘of interest to everyone’.
The conglomerate Interros and Uralsib, which is a financial holding company, both became IBLF council members in 2004.
Super Featured
No
Featured
No