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PRIO invests in employee health with Health & Wellness program
PRIO, the largest independent oil and gas company in Brazil, offers its employees activities such as shiatsu, physiotherapy, jiu-jitsu, and awareness lectures with doctors and specialists – recorded and made available in the company’s application.
The goal is to create a healthier and safer work environment, as well as to combat sedentary lifestyles and promote activities that help employees adopt good health practices.
The results were not long in coming. Since 2018, the company has reduced the rate of employees with hypertension by 85%. The improvement in the indices is a result of the habit changes brought about by the program, which has also yielded financial results.
“We provide the first care and generally refer the employee to outpatient care, which has a lower cost compared to emergency care. By implementing the culture that employees are responsible for their health, we were able to greatly reduce the claims rate, which today is around 55%. This result allows the values of the company’s health plans to be the same since 2018, which is an achievement against the current inflation scenario,
says PRIO’s Wellness Manager, Anderson Rocha.
PRIO has about 400 employees, 150 at the headquarters in Botafogo (RJ) and 250 embarked on the company’s platforms in the Campos Basin.
Pioneering on the high seas
Since July of this year, the company has become the only one in the country to have a physical education professional on board 100% of the time at the offshore oil production units. The employees who work in the Polvo (RJ) and Frade (RJ) fields, as well as in FPSO Bravo (RJ), receive full support, and are assisted in gym and workplace exercise activities.
“The program aims to offer a service of excellence, providing employees with a set of routines and interventions carefully designed to help them take care of their most important assets: their health and quality of life. Our vision of health is broader, our focus is not aesthetics,” explains Rocha, who celebrates the expansion of the program. “Today we are a sector in the company,” he adds.
During the pandemic, PRIO managed to keep its employees engaged with the program by broadcasting activities online in the form of lives or lectures.
Focus on mental health
With social isolation, the mental wellbeing of employees has gained prominence in the program. A partnership with the Psicologia Viva project has made it available for employees to consult psychologists remotely. In addition, activities such as yoga and guided meditation have also been made available in lives.
Currently, the classes are back to face-to-face.
The effectiveness of the PRIO Health & Wellness Program is also the result of careful physical and mental assessments. From the family history and cardiac, strength, and flexibility tests, among others, it is possible to make a complete diagnosis of the employee and define the best strategy to reach the desired goal.
Connected to this principle, the company collects stories of overcoming and changing habits. Richard Douglas, from the Reservoir Engineering sector, says that after starting regular exercise he no longer feels pain in his lower back, and his knee has improved considerably.
For Maritza dos Santos, who works on board in the operational area of PRIO, the presence of physical educators on board is making all the difference.
“The teachers are excellent coaches, they follow us closely. Their presence contributes to
the improvement in the development of physical activities that directly impact the performance of the activities on board”, Maritza points out.
Anderson Rocha clarifies that helping the employee to take care of his health is no longer seen as an expense, but rather as an investment. And he warns: “The next steps are already defined: remote assistance with a nutritionist and the reform of the Offshore Health Promotion Centers,” he adds.