Growing pressure on workers from demanding workplaces, poor infrastructure, and economic challenges requires employers and government to make employee wellness central to workplace and public policy.

Speakers at the fourth Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) Summit, organised by Sages and Scribes Consultants in Abuja, said workers’ physical, psychological, and emotional condition directly affects productivity and organisational performance.

With the theme, ‘Employee Wellness: Employees Are Our Greatest Assets,’ the summit stressed that employee assistance and wellness programmes should no longer be treated as optional welfare schemes, but as part of a broader strategy for sustaining productive and healthy workplaces.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Consultant of Sages and Scribes Consultants and founder of the EAP Summit, Adelowo Adesina, said sustainable productivity could not be achieved without adequate attention to workers’ welfare.

Adesina urged employers to move away from the traditional “them and us” relationship with workers and recognise employees as valuable resources whose well-being directly affects organisational performance.

“The most valuable asset is the human person. Development is not for development’s sake. Development is for the sake of the human person,” he said.

He also called for government policies that would promote fairness, equal opportunities and an enabling environment, including reforms to make education more practical and skills-focused.

Also speaking, the President of EAPA Nigeria, Daniel Odekunle, said employee wellness should be treated as a business necessity rather than merely a welfare initiative.

He said organisations invested heavily in recruiting and training workers, stressing that poor employee wellness could ultimately affect productivity and business performance.

“When they are not well, their performance drops and it affects the bottom line of any business,” Odekunle said.

He called on government to develop policies, legislation and guidelines that would encourage organisations to institutionalise Employee Assistance Programmes and other wellness initiatives.

The Chief Executive Officer of the council, Adeyoyin Adesina, said the conversation should extend beyond employee wellness to “human wellness”, noting that government, employers and individuals all had roles to play.

She identified the environment, workplace and individual as critical areas for promoting wellness, noting that poor transportation and infrastructure could leave workers physically and mentally exhausted before they even arrive at work.

Adeyoyin urged employers to create psychologically and emotionally safe workplaces, while calling on government to provide policies and infrastructure that would enable people to live and work productively.

She said wellness should not be treated as a luxury or one-off programme but as an essential condition for people to perform at their best.