We’re urging more businesses to be prepared for the changing employee health agenda in 2019, with the emphasis shifting from the causes of workplace problems to the solutions companies can, and should, be implementing.
This year, we published our white paper on Tackling Poor Health In The Workplace, which looked at the various issues affecting workforce’s across the UK. Through our comprehensive research and data collection, we found that a lack of support at work for employees resulted directly (and indirectly) on sickness rates, presenteeism, reduced productivity, and team morale.
Our CEO, Kevin Rogers, explained:
“More companies are waking up to the idea they need to implement policies and practices which look at the holistic health of their staff – including their physical, mental and financial health. This is all really positive, but we want to remind business owners the time to act is now.
“Some may keep putting it at the bottom of their to-do list, or even finding reasons not to consider introducing a health and wellbeing strategy at all. But there are so many benefits of doing so, for both the employees and the company as a whole – and actually there could be trouble brewing for those who choose not to act.”
The knock-on effect to businesses of poor employee health is hugely underestimated. Not only can long-term and consistent absences become more prominent, but the financial impact to employers can stack up.
Within our research, we also identified the important links with issues affecting employees within an organisation — such as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on productivity and absence, a lack of emotional support resulting in higher levels of stress and anxiety, and workplace culture affecting the level of communication and support between staff and their managers.
“With an ‘always on’ work culture where we are never too far away from email alerts or notifications on our phones (potentially adding to stress or worry), one in four people experiencing a mental health problem in any given year, and musculoskeletal disorders (conditions affecting muscles, bones and joints) accounting for 6.6 million lost working days annually, the time to do something really is now,” he concluded.
To download the full white paper, click here: https://www.paycare.org/tackling-poor-health-in-the-workplace/ 