In a first for corporate Australia, AGL Energy Limited (AGL) today became the first Australian company to be financially rewarded for its efforts in building a healthy workforce.
At a ceremony held in Melbourne today, Medibank Private, Australia's largest private health insurer, presented AGL with a cheque for almost $12,000 in recognition of the company's achievements in building a healthy workplace and promoting good health.
Medibank Private's National Manager for Corporate Products Anthony Goldman praised AGL's health and wellbeing program.
"AGL really are a leader in caring for the health of their employees, and they take it very seriously," he said.
"They also recognise Medibank's commitment to the needs of the corporate sector, as shown by our recent groundbreaking research into the cost of presenteeism to Australian business.
"It goes to show that by choosing Medibank Priority not only can individual employees receive all the great benefits they expect from their private health cover, but, most importantly, it can have real commercial benefits for the company," he said.
In order to qualify for the payment AGL staff who signed up to Medibank Private's 'Priority' range of health insurance had to meet certain targets including keeping the organisation's insurance claims with Medibank lower than preset Australia-wide benchmarks.
AGL's Head of People & Culture, Ms Jane Thomas, said that the incentive payment is a first for both AGL and Medibank Private.
"We are proud to be the first Australian company to receive this award from Medibank Private, the result of an innovative partnership and indicative of our commitment and approach to workplace wellbeing," Ms Thomas said.
"With Medibank's help we have found the right tools to foster a healthy workforce that is happier and more productive. These tools include a company wide employee health and wellbeing management program, allowing AGL to better understand how health issues impact staff performance.
"AGL recognises that wellbeing is about living a healthy, happy and productive life by making personal choices that contribute to a balanced lifestyle.
"We also recognise the competitive advantage this gives us in terms of attraction and retention of employees in today's candidate-short market and understand there is now a real link between employee health and productivity.
"Our partnership with Medibank Private not only means contributing to our employees physical wellbeing but also their financial wellbeing, an important component of everyone's lives."
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Medibank
James Connors - (03) 8622 5163 or 0433 992 677
e-mail: james_connors@medibank.com.au
AGL
Andrew Scannell - (03) 8633 6167 or 0407 290 658
e-mail: ascannell@agl.com.au
About Medibank Private
Medibank Private is Australia's largest health insurer covering nearly three million Australians and representing almost 30% of the private health insurance market. With over 100 retail centres in every state and territory Medibank Private is Australia's only national private health insurer, and through it's Members' Choice network operates the largest health care provider network in the country.
About AGL Energy
AGL is Australasia's leading integrated energy company. Drawing on 170 years of experience, it includes retail and merchant energy businesses, power generation assets and an upstream gas portfolio. AGL has Australia's largest retail energy and dual fuel customer base supplying around 4.1 million customer accounts. This includes customers supplied with gas and electricity through AGL's joint venture partnerships, ActewAGL and AlintaAGL. AGL has a diverse power generation portfolio including base, peaking and intermediate generation plants, spread across traditional thermal generation as well as renewable sources including hydro, wind, solar, landfill gas and biomass. As Australia's largest listed renewable energy producer, AGL is looking to further expand this position by exploring a suite of low emission and renewable energy generation development opportunities.