 Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Private Property Farming Podcast. My name is Mbali Mawka and thank you so much for joining us this evening. I just want to say that before we go into our guests this evening, I just want to give you an update that please, this is a live show so our guests are joining us live and so you can ask us questions, please comment as you always do. But without further ado, I'm joined by two ladies today which is quite exciting, you know, it's a table of women and it's always great to get women in the agricultural space. And today we are joined by Marty Konradie as well as Marsha LaRue who's coming back the second time on the podcast and Marty is the medical advisor at Agility Agri and Marsha is the sales executive at Agility Agri. Ladies, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. I know Marsha we've had you on the show before but just maybe to start again just by your introduction and what is it that you do for Agility Agri and then Marty as well you can tell us about your position and your role within Agility Agri. Thanks and Bali and it is such a pleasure to be back with you and the audience and I'm sure we're going to have such a fantastic discussion leading up to the first one that we've had and I mean it's a pending topic as always. So just as a reintroduction, I am Marsha LaRue. I'm the sales executive at Agility Agri and my main purpose definitely and especially for this audience is to assist our audience should it be from an individual or a group perspective with the right decisions to make when it comes to health care and especially what we're talking about today, employee well-being. Awesome. Marty? Yes, so I'm the medical advisor at Agility Agri. So what I do is kind of more behind the scenes and we try to make sure that we develop a product that really looks after the employee's health. So to make sure that all the elements are there and then also for all of the other health products that Agility manages just the medical advisory. Oh wow, awesome and Marty I'm sure your role right now is quite overwhelming because like we're saying just before we started the podcast that you know a lot of people are getting sick they're having the flu and they're testing negative for COVID and it seems like everybody's not getting sick with you know unexplained illnesses or you know the typical illnesses that we would usually get during this time around not specifically COVID because the minute a person coughs everybody thinks it's COVID so you must be busy this time around. Yeah, no it's quite it's quite busy so but you know people always get sick but we are fully there to help. Awesome so for anyone watching the podcast tonight and maybe just might think they do have an understanding of what employee wellness programs are but maybe just unpack it to us in terms from an Agility Agri perspective what are first and foremost employee wellness programs? So employee wellness programs is actually a combined program that consists a little bit about health promotion so that is you know when an employer makes a point of promoting health you know wash your hand posters or that type of just health promotion and how important it is to wear your PPE or all of that. Then there's also the component of well-being and more the wellness offerings so when you have your wellness days or when you do a HIV testing campaign or a mental health program and that type of more evaluating the people and ascertaining you know their health and then there is the last component which is more employee assistance programs so that also offers so much more to an employee where you can really assist him so once you've identified a program you can actually offer him whether it is helplines so what Agility offers is we've got the nurse helpline which just answers a little bit of clinical questions you might have or a financial helpline because often we underestimate the effect that financial problems could have on your mental well-being and even your physical well-being and then there's also the legal helplines which is just offering that a little bit of extra advice you might not know you need and you know there's always the mental type of support that you can get through what is often referred to as a psychosocial helpline and then some companies also offer some rehabilitation if they do identify that maybe a lot of employees are struggling with alcohol dependency or that type of situation so the combined you know when you combine all of those products you kind of get to an employee wellness program as a whole. Wow and I want to bring in Marcia here into the conversation to ask basically because you are Agility Agri and you are focusing on a specific niche or segment in the market which is that being Agri how different is the employee wellness programs that Agility offers Agility Agri offers to its client as opposed to normal employee wellness programs. Well I think the key here is you know the uniqueness of our members and then obviously especially the Agri industry so one gets quite a lot of options out in the market to identify what you as an employer would like to do in terms of an employee well-being program be it as Dr Marty said a financial aspect legal aspect a health aspect or maybe risk management from an employer perspective for their return on investment so what makes Agility Agri different in this market is the way and the methodology we take and put together in order to create the right solution when it comes to employee well-being we spoke previously about locations demographics you know farms are not always located near metropolitan areas so how does one provide a service to employees to better their own personal lifestyle and as an employee but being so far removed from the city life so that's where the absolute focus comes in to say all right these are the providers in that location that we can access employee well-being from an agility perspective for instance we have one of our products actually complementary to any employer group that belongs to Agility and also our medical aid health grid which we administrate so that means we can already give one aspect a tick and I hate the word ticking a box because it's it's more than that you know HR lots of times have this onus on them to say but you know what we have to look after employees what what can we do all right we've put this in place but does it actually is it being utilized how can we measure the outcome of this benefit that you are giving as an employer so from Agility's perspective for our employer groups and especially on the farms we have a helpline a 24-7 helpline which these employees can access for either health financial or legal assistance which is fantastic because this is you know and things never happen in working hours especially when it comes to health it is late at night something happens to my child and I'm not sure how to respond to that and it's just that quick call to a professional to say this is the situation what is your advice so it's become very very very crucial and nearly like gold for our employers at the moment because the employees feel a sense of duty that's coming from the employer to take care of them and giving them an access to a professional that is not linked to the organization you know we we proud and as South Africans we have a sense of culture that we don't always want to let people know our weakness or when we are actually experiencing something difficult like a financial or legal situation and especially with COVID you so scared you just wipe your nose or sneeze because the individuals around you might think that you've got COVID and you can then as a stigma think that you could lose your job so this is an absolute channel that is private it is absolutely free and the employee doesn't have to worry about the advice that they're getting and that it will be shared somewhere else that could potentially be threatening to them. Wow thank you. Marty I want to know at what point do companies feel that they need an employee wellness day like what are the signs that they should pick maybe they should look out for to say that okay maybe we should start organizing an employee wellness day so what at what point do companies implement or start to introduce employee wellness days? So yes employee wellness days it's not the it's not the solution to everything but it is a very good starting point so it actually shouldn't be triggered by anything it will be best if it is just done before there are any problems you know that is the ideal and that is what is often offered if you go to an external company like Agility to bring in people and arrange a day before there are any triggers and you know what then can happen is from that day you can determine the need for either future wellness days or so but your unfortunately reality is that often first the people become a bit sick regular sick leave also one of the signs that companies have to look out for is when they know that the stress levels are high of employees and mental well-being in the workplace is becoming a very you know major topic in the industry of occupational health so often in wellness days we thought okay high blood pressure testing then you know cholesterol check weight check a little bit of lifestyle advice that used to be a wellness day nowadays a wellness day is a little bit more specialized and you know mental health services or education or just supportive people that is becoming a little bit more important and creating awareness also of workplaces of what the stress levels is so yeah we hope to change and get more wellness days out there you spoke about productivity so does this mean that make basically you know for farm managers or farm owners or just anyone in management if they start also you mentioned obviously that we shouldn't wait for triggers right but just for a productivity perspective anybody in management even if when should when they start seeing signs of their team underperforming and it's not necessary any has anything to do with their physical strength or you know how fast they could do stuff in the farm but just basically when people start noticing that ah this certain or this team is really not mentally at work you know they're physically at work but they're not mentally at work maybe they're not communicating properly with their team members they're just forgetting small tasks are those also maybe it's just some of the signs to say okay I think the team is in a downed need you know and I mean we are in a global pandemic a lot of people are being affected by a number of things and so could it be that even when we spot these type of signs is it safe to say that a wellness day is due? Definitely so I mean those are the starting signs of burnout it definitely indicates stress levels in your employees and the problem is one employee who is very stressed or anxious for whatever reason will affect the others around them and so it is you know it is not just a single employee who might need help it is probably of the whole group of the employees so those are definitely signs to watch out for you know decreased productivity and all of that but like I also just mentioned wellness days it is a good trigger to you know then arrange a wellness day but then to also make sure that the wellness day focus on the specific problems and it's also at that point where you can immediately start with a little bit of health education to the people or just enabling them to deal with the issue even before on a wellness day is arranged so you know just telling your employees about help lines that's available you know there are employee wellness companies who offer these services but there are also free help lines you know out there so just educating your employees in that situation and then also arranging a wellness day is definitely good. Great and this question goes to both of you ladies and especially I'm sure Marsha because Marsha because you're the one that engages directly with the with the clients so basically how does agility every implement these wellness programs on farms and basically what really happens in the wellness day because like you said Marti it's not really checking blood pressure you know or you know the weight and this and the height of the person anymore it goes into much deeper level than that does it maybe also involve just is it like people just sitting around a circle and talking about the problems like therapy firstly how are they implemented and what yeah just basically give us a scenario of how you conduct the wellness day. It's a very good question and it's like Marti says you know it's it's not the england be all but it can definitely mitigate quite a lot of risk factors that's been identified so typically with a scenario with a group for instance what we do is we keep a reporting mechanism which is a risk management tool that we use in terms of claim histories for the group so for instance if we identify that there's been an influx on specific doctor visits or claims for specific medication so this will always be a generic overview never from an individual perspective but one gets a very good idea what the trend would be in the company and what the staff are going through so for one instance that I'm dealing with now and actually a wellness day an employee well-being program that I'm initiating at one of my employer groups was we saw a massive massive trend for on the claims history of these employees that were on the medical skin for diabetes and eventually realized that the environment that these individuals work on and and the type of diets that they are following weren't very healthy which obviously immediately flagged a risk for for diabetes hypertension so immediately identifying those triggers one can then say let's do a wellness day where we can have these tests done a fingerprint test let's check your glucose let's check your cholesterol let's look at your BMI and while the nurses are at this wellness day they will then advise these individuals based on the test results what is a better step to take so again and I always mention it but I'm very passionate about the duty of care of an employer so the employer is actually now bringing a professional to the workplace such as a wellness day where these individuals can get these simple tests done that can prevent something bigger happening and leading the warning and listening to the test results putting measures in place then to say well how can we take this wellness day further now again we're not taking a box we want to make sure that the well-being of these staff are actually being measured being managed and then saying such as Dr Marty to give some dietary advice what are good tips that these individuals can follow how can HR get involved with it so that's one scenario so you can pick up trends from the the risk management reports that we do for our employers they would also sometimes feel that they would like to run a specific campaign for a day or for a month with the employees and these are all customizable so really really depending on what is the need what is the trend that's showing and what is that little risk that's popping its head out that we'd like to get under control and I mean with that obviously putting this in place you've got a healthy employee group and a happy employee group absolutely Marty is that is there anything you want to add there no I completely agree um happy workforce is a productive workforce um so it used to be neglected previously you know wellness wasn't one of the top priorities um often in mining it was legislated so it was just done tick but it wasn't really you know followed but nowadays there's so much you can do and you can offer like Marsha said you know to the people um that you can really make a difference like I said happy employee happy workforce talking about that happy or positive outcomes what have been some of the positive outcomes that you've experienced out of the the wellness days from my side and my experience definitely employees that feel that they are being taken care of first of all everybody loves you know a you know a occasion where a provider comes through to them looking after them and contributing to their own personal health so it definitely creates a sense of morale um height and positivity um and doing these tests and giving the results and having a backup plan um lessens absenteeism so it really becomes a fantastic way that doesn't always have to be expensive even if it's just sharing information like where we are now and what we spoke before about flu what do I do um should I always go for a test should I what are the the trends that we have to look at and just getting a professional to come speak to the employees so it definitely creates a lot more information and education so that people can make more informed decisions and then for the employer definitely lessen absenteeism and more productivity because people are now informed and they know what to do with triggers that they normally not would have known about do you have any uh uh uh things to share about some sort of positive changes that have come out of world day wellness days over and above what Marcia said well one thing that I could add you know she she definitely touched the most important points there but and one thing that I could add is maybe um many companies are rurally located and the employees do not always have access to um I want to say reliable healthcare or trustworthy sources um maybe not even to google uh you know we turn to it very quickly but wellness days and then employee wellness programs create this opportunity to enable your workforce who might not otherwise have access to these sources to then take responsibility for their own health and I think that is what um employee wellness programs can really do. Wow I just want to say to anybody watching at home please uh if you've got any questions for um Marti or Marcia tonight please drop them into the comment section and we're happy to answer any questions that you may have uh around employee well-being around wellness days basically on our discussion and if you're just joining us we're joined by Marti and Marcia from Agility Agri discussing the importance of employee wellness days or employee wellness programs within the Agri sector and um so just to sum up our conversation Marti and Marcia I just want to know and especially just as a farmer as an entrepreneur um I mean we're faced under a lot of pressure just personally I think as a farmer farm as a farm owner and obviously as a business person farming is not the most easiest sector to be in and so there's a lot of pressure and demands just running the farm at the end of the day and just managing it as a business because you know under these tough economic climatic conditions um it's quite it can get quite stressful for business owners or farm owners to say but even going back to the employees as well still we are in a global pandemic a lot of communities are facing a lot of poverty pressures with service delivery etc and that could definitely affect the psyche and well-being of farm workers so what can we all do as people and professionals within the Agri sector to ensure the well-being of not only the farm workers farm owners but just ourselves and individuals and I forgot to say actually just not focusing on the farms it's also professionals like yourselves because you guys are servicing the Agri industry and if your clients Marti I'm sure you made it might attest to this if your clients are stressed in essence you will also be stressed because you know that you know you're servicing a clientele that's quite stressed that's got extreme pressures and demands from all forces so what can we all do as individuals as professionals in the Agri sector to ensure that not only our physical health but also mental health is taken care of especially in such tough economic times so I'll start at that Marti I will have lots to add probably so um obviously um your own wellness and healthy lifestyle and um your mental health that is important so if you aren't healthy you can't help other people you can't help your family um and you actually make a more negative environment at work so you know we all know the healthy habits you know more exercise and more vegetables add a little bit of vitamins there lots of water um so preferably not smoking less alcohol so those are the harder ones um but uh following a healthy lifestyle will be um very good for you and then I think how we support other people is to be understanding um and to be aware of other people's problems you don't have to be the one to fix it but you could know someone or something that could help them um and being supportive and understanding will create this environment where people might um to promote help seeking behavior so just having the service of maybe a nursing call or a psychosocial helpline um and promoting the use of that will actually help um all the people around you so you know that's from my side I can definitely add to that and say um and what Dr Marti said um and what I've realized um within my own position and role as you said and Bali is support support and understanding having empathy that people are dealing with quite a lot of pressure that we normally wouldn't have dealt with all together in one basket so having empathy having understanding and realizing as an individual that you're not alone in feeling how you are feeling and if there are a psychological aspects coming up which is very prevalent at the moment um if you look at the statistics of individual suffering from depression now and having mental illness and especially those that already suffered from mental illness the escalation that it's gone to now um within the pandemic that we've been in but also the other stresses that come um it's it's that old saying don't judge until you've walked in that person's shoes and I think more than ever now we need to be aware of it that we are all dealing with some sort of stress and um being empathetic listening understanding and having a little bit more patience can definitely help um something that's perceived as a negative to actually be explained as what the reality is and then going on to that looking after ourselves physically can definitely help increase our energy levels so you know obviously it goes hand in hand if you eat well you've got more energy if you've got energy you feel more positive so trying to always remind yourself that at the end of the day it is still you fighting the battle with everybody around you and the more we look off to ourselves the more we will be able to also look off to others from a psychological and a physical perspective wow thank you must say I mean you know as you're talking it it definitely hit home because um sometimes a shy away from reading the news because of the terrible things that we read especially the farming sector if it's not farm work um farm murders this week it's hearing about a farmer who committed suicide because you know uh maybe they they they farm just couldn't recover from drought etc and you know they're under financial stress um yeah so I think and it's it's topics that we really don't really um uh deeply dive into and really unpack and you're right it can definitely get lonely especially in the farming sector um over and above just having a a business in general so I think what's so assuring to know farm agility agrees that there is a support line most importantly a 24 hour support line so you know members can obviously get that support to say if I'm feeling depressed or if I'm having anxiety and I'm sure it could be happening amongst woman farmers or woman farm workers with all the farm work uh farm murders etc uh you know in the violence that is happening so it's great to hear that you're not only providing a service where you know we're just paying a monthly fee and then we just you know uh contacting agility agree if we're sick or if we're not feeling well or if you want to design uh or come up with uh wellness days but you are there from uh you know just a call away to support um just on any other things that are just triggering uh the low productivity but ladies it's been fantastic speaking to you guys today you know you're just unraveling a lot of more things that we still need to do as a sector being a community still supporting each other still and really attacking or tackling issues that are really important not only from a workspace but just making sure that we are all safe we are all you know mentally fit to still come at work to be productive to take care of ourselves and just our working environment so thank you firstly for the work that agility agrees during the sector and thank you guys for for your roles and your participation in the podcast today you definitely did educate me more on what your service offering provides not only to farm owner myself but more importantly to to to the workforce it's been an absolute pleasure Bali and know that we are there and always happy to to chat to you and the audience with anything else that that that you would like us to to unravel and support you with thank you thank you so much Marty any last words no no all the best on the farms um there's always challenges but I hope you all stay very healthy so awesome thank you so much we've just come to the end of the show this evening and I was joined by Marcia and Marty from Agility Agri if you missed tonight's conversation please head on to our Facebook and our YouTube channel where you'll find this video posted and we didn't get any comments today I think maybe you're just listening quite intently with all the things we've been unpacking but I hope that the show today has been very educated and informative most importantly to you and anybody you know that is working within the agri sector and I think what I'd like to leave you with lastly is that you know if you're feeling down if your mental health is just not improving and you're just noticing a common trend where nothing is making you happy definitely speak to someone even if it's not Agility Agri or if you're not a member definitely speak to someone closest to you and if you need further support and especially for people working in the Agri community I think Agility Agri is a company that maybe you could reach out to you whether it's Marcia or Marty this evening but we'll put their link to their website on our show notes on YouTube and I hope this was quite an eye-opener of the many many challenges that we face in farming over and above the positive stories that we always love to share but thank you so much for tuning in and I wish you a very very good night and I will see you next week Tuesday at 8 o'clock thank you