South African employers may be underestimating the real cost of poor employee health, says Dr Themba Hadebe, Bonitas Clinical Executive, adding that corporate wellness needs to shift from a soft HR policy, to a hard business strategy.
Wellness is the buzzword of our time, not to mention the feel-good flavour of HR at the moment. How organisations are approaching wellness activities and interventions may vary, from the occasional mental health webinar or training session to smaller everyday gestures like fruit baskets in the canteen, and daily email reminders on self-care, but the reality is that wellness is more than a tick-box exercise, and its bottom-line impact is all too often underestimated.
According to a 2024 GIBS study, the combined cost of mental health-related absenteeism and presenteeism in South Africa is estimated at R250 billion a year, or roughly 4.5% of the country’s GDP. Added to this, the surge in chronic conditions like hypertension and type 2 diabetes is causing a widespread health crisis to play out in boardrooms, on factory floors and Zoom calls.
The question for business and HR leaders is simple: are you investing in wellness to truly protect your workforce or to tick a compliance box?
Unhealthy employees = unhealthy businesses
Between January and April this year, Bonitas Medical Fund screened over 5,000 employees at Bonitas-affiliated companies during on-site wellness days, and found that elevated blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol and high blood glucose levels were common. This was also often the case in employees who showed no outward symptoms.
“These are the very risks that slowly and silently drain productivity, because workers grappling with chronic conditions are more likely to take sick days, underperform, disengage and burn out. And when left untreated, these issues escalate into more serious and costly outcomes for both the employee and the organisation,” says Dr Themba Hadebe, Bonitas Clinical Executive. “This is where the business case for strategic wellness becomes undeniable.”
During those on-site wellness days, Bonitas identified elevated risks in thousands of employees, many of whom had no prior diagnoses. These early interventions led to targeted disease management support and, in some cases, the prevention of far costlier downstream claims. Over R29.6 million in early-stage claims were paid out under the Fund’s Benefit Booster initiative during this period, a figure that underscores how early detection can be a powerful tool for risk mitigation.
While wellness interventions do require planning and budget, the cost of inaction is higher. Absenteeism alone is estimated to cost South African businesses over R19 billion annually. Factor in the indirect costs, such as lost productivity, pressure on team members to compensate, poor morale and high churn, and the business risk grows exponentially.
“Most organisations are already sitting on a ticking health timebomb,” says Hadebe. “The data tells us that once we start screening, we immediately uncover significant, actionable health risks across all sectors, whether it’s mining or finance. There needs to be a culture and perspective shift among businesses to treat wellness more like a core driver of business continuity and less like an HR line item or once-a-year campaign.”
Hadebe adds that employee wellbeing requires a long-term, integrated plan that is supported by leadership and aligned to company goals. This might include ongoing risk screening and reporting, mental health support and coaching, and preventative care access, including vaccination and lifestyle screenings.
“Healthier employees drive stronger performance, lower risk and more sustainable businesses,” says Hadebe. “Wellness is no longer an optional extra, but the foundation of a high-functioning, future-ready organisation. Don’t wait for a claims crisis or a burnout epidemic to act, because the data is already telling the story.”
