PC House initiates ‘Health over Wealth’ campaign

As one of Sri Lanka’s largest Organizations, PC House Pvt Ltd sees itself as more than just a ‘big company’; they believe they are an extensive family spread across the island. With thousands of employees working on different projects all over Sri Lanka, PC House has a larger responsibility than to just maintain profits; the well known company stance of an ongoing responsibility to the organizations employees, partners, customers and the community.

As a part of the organizations long term internal and external development goals, PC House believes that health is by far the most important and most basic contributory factor to employees’ success within the company. Too often health considerations are neglected in the commitment to achieve targets and exercise and rest sacrificed to long working hours. Over a long period of time, if neglected these conditions result in diseases and ailments that are often noticed too late to be avoided. The management of PC House has now introduced a novel health maintenance programme, in line with the motto ‘Stay well, Stay fit, Stay profitable’ to help employees maintain a high standard of health awareness and healthier living practices.

Speaking on this initiative S.H.M. Rishan, Chairman PC House Pvt Ltd was emphatic about the overall impact of this initiative. “We have always maintained that our greatest strength is our dedicated and motivated workforce. It is their hard work that has propelled us to such great heights and this has taken a lot of long working hours and dedication. Around the world, employees of big companies have shown a tendency to ‘burn out’ or simply put – run out of steam – due to health issues aggravated or caused by focusing too much on careers and less on health. It is this situation that we hope to avoid. By educating our employees on various aspects of health awareness we believe that we are giving them the power to control their lives and contribute their knowledge to their friends and families, which will begin a chain reaction that will spread throughout the community”.

The programme will educate employees on un-healthy dietary habits, Obesity, low exercise level and conditions such as Diabetes, Hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The programme will use recognized health parameters such as body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and HBA1c value to evaluate the health level of employees and ascertain what risk they face. By identifying potential risks or developing conditions, employees will be better able to control these conditions and avoid complications in the future.

Speaking on the programme, Jude Fernando, Director Human Resources, PC House, who will oversee the programme; spoke on the long term benefits to the employees, organization and community. “Healthy individuals are better motivated, more able to perform and generally more content. Health is far more important than wealth, and we believe that our stakeholders deserve the very best we can provide them with, starting with the empowerment to better their lives and avoid unpleasant and dangerous health complications. Our employees and stakeholders have gone a long way toward helping us maintain out edge over the competition, this is one way in which we can give back and make a long term impact on the lives of those who have made this company what it is”.

On a larger scale, PC House believes that this initiative will contribute to minimizing health issues around the country. Beginning with the internal stakeholders, the company believes that the chain reaction and spread of information will touch more lives than can be estimated initially. This is a generally neglected area in society, with the emphasis being on overall goal attainment and less on the side of life that is sacrificed for the attainment of the goal. PC House hopes to set a standard among local companies to initiate health awareness programmes for employees that will benefit all involved – a win-win situation for employees, organizations and Sri Lanka at large.

Photo: S.H.M. Rishan, Chairman PC House Pvt Ltd