Services

Calmspace Limited offers a flexible Massage at Work service which has an immediate positive impact on the workplace but requires little effort from the employer.   Massage at Work is best used as be part of an integrated stress management strategy.

When used in this way, Massage at Work:

• Improves and maintains employee health and wellbeing
• Motivates staff, enhancing both performance and productivity
• Reduces absenteeism due to stress-related illness
• Helps reduce muscular-skeletal conditions developing
• Create a good impression of the employer both within the company and the community

It does this by:

• Reducing levels of stress and perceptions of stress
• Increasing alertness, improving concentration and mood
• Lowering anxiety and depression
• Releasing muscle tension
• Being a highly visible demonstration of employer concern

Techniques used include:  Swedish Body Massage, Seated Acupressure and Indian Head Massage.  The techniques used are designed to be energising so employees will not be sleepy or less productive after the massage.

The massage is delivered either in a room set aside by the employer or at an employee’s work station.  It is delivered through the clothing seated on a special chair so there is no need for employees to get undressed or to lie on a couch.

The length of the massage can be adapted to fit the needs of the business but is typically between 15 and 30 minutes.  Sessions can be booked as either a one off visit or as part of an ongoing programme of regular scheduled visits.  It can also be booked as part of a wider health promotion strategy.

Payment

Massage at Work services can be paid for by the employer who will be charged by the half or full day or by the employee who will be charged per treatment.

Musculoskeletal disorders cost British companies around £7.4billion each year

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common occupational illness in Great Britain.  Most MSDs develop over time and are caused either by the work itself or by the working environment.  Pain is the chief symptom of most musculoskeletal disorders. The pain may be mild or severe, local or widespread (diffuse). Although pain may be acute and short-lived, as is the case with most injuries, pain may be ongoing with chronic illnesses.  Movement may also be limited especially when motion causes pain.  Weakness in the affected area is also often reported.

MSDs affect large numbers of people across most industries and occupations especially health and social care, construction and building trades, transport and machine drivers, process plant and machine operatives.  MSDs have the potential to damage people’s lives, they are often associated with mental health problems and therefore a quick return to work is more likely if people feel they are supported by their employer.

MSDs also impose heavy costs on employers and society as a whole.  Recent research undertaken by Canada Life Insurance found that MSDs accounted for 50% of absence from work and 28% of their income protection claims.  Research undertaken by the Work Foundation in 2008 found that MSDs are by far the most prevalent cause of work-related illness in the UK, accounting for one third of all GP consultations and resulting in 9.5.million lost working days and costing society around £7.4billion each year.

It is therefore no surprise that the HSC/HSE have identified MSDs as a priority sending out the following key messages for both employers and employees:

• You can do things to prevent or minimise MSDs
• The prevention measures are cost effective
• You cannot prevent all MSDs, so early reporting of symptoms, proper treatment and suitable rehabilitation is essential

In its Health, Work and Wellbeing Strategy the government is promoting a coordinated approach to dealing with MSDs that includes increasing awareness and understanding of the impact of MSDs on the labour market and the particular needs of small businesses.

Dame Professor Carol Black, national director for health and work said:

“I hope that in time MSDs will become less relevant to work and working life. Until then, efforts to raise awareness of them must continue with ever greater urgency.”

By adopting an integrated approach to dealing with MSDs employers are:

• Able to demonstrate their moral responsibility towards their employees
• Demonstrate duty of care and in doing so reduce the likelihood of a legal claim from an injured employee
• Reduce sickness absence and staff turnover related costs
• Increase productivity

One of the ways in which companies are responding to the problem of MSDs is to provide back, shoulder and neck massage treatments in the workplace.
Each treatment typically lasts around 20 minutes, can be conducted at the workstation sat on a specially designed chair. The employee does not have to undress.  As well as dealing with MSDs the techniques used have been designed to:

• Improve and maintain employee wellbeing
• Increase alertness and improve concentration, employees will not become sleepy or unproductive after the treatment
• Simulate endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemical

“Massage in the workplace is growing in popularity as it has been proven to be effective in helping to prevent musculoskeletal disorders developing.  A good therapist will not only provide massage treatments that are designed to alleviate back, neck and shoulder problems, they also provide information and guidance on how to prevent MSDs e.g. work station exercises.”