How to share the benefits of business healthcare with your whole workforce

Across our lifetime we’ll spend about a third of our time at work, so there’s no doubt that our employment has a big impact on our lifestyle. By the same token, the way we live can have a direct impact on our health. In fact, the World Health Organization’s Chronic Disease report shows that lifestyle factors account for some of the most common diseases – like heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Add this to the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which can affect those with pre-existing conditions more severely, and it’s clear that maintaining good health is more beneficial now than ever. Our Britain’s Healthiest Workplace research, highlights that healthier employees are happier and more productive, and with work such a huge part of life for many, what can employers do to promote healthy living across their workforce?

Healthcare at work

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for health insurance to form part of the employee benefits package, giving people cover should they fall seriously ill. In some cases, perhaps due to cost, it’s only offered to those in more senior positions, but it’s often those lower down who are most in need.

If cost is a concern, insurance isn’t the only way to offer health benefits. Workplace wellness programmes can provide your staff with effective ways to manage and improve their health – and evidence from our research suggests that these initiatives work best when the whole workforce takes part. While cover for when things go wrong is reassuring, a good workplace wellness programme focusing on prevention and early intervention could have even more far-reaching benefits.

Where to start

Britain’s Healthiest Workplace data shows that often, people don’t really have an idea of how healthy or unhealthy they are – and tend to overestimate their health. We’ve found that the best place to start is to help people understand their current health. We do this by encouraging people to take our online Health Review. It’s a series of questions that assess people’s lifestyle factors – around age, diet, weight, exercise level, mental health, smoking and alcohol consumption – to provide a snapshot of their health. We also offer in-person health checks which check key health measures such as cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar.

This is a good way for not only your employees to be in the know, but also for you as an employer to get an idea of how healthy your business is as a whole. Having accurate aggregated data, and insight into your workforce can help highlight any areas of concern and help you target interventions more accurately.

Sharing the benefits of healthy living

Once you and your employees are informed, one of the best ways to make sure your workplace wellness programme is effective is by promoting a general culture of health within your business. Targeted interventions, fast access to primary medical care, such as stop smoking programmes, weight and diet management, physiotherapy and mental health support are a good place to start. Many of our business clients find that focused wellness days and interest groups have been effective – say for running or yoga.

However, even with the tools available, often people continue to make poor choices when it comes to their health and wellbeing. We have found that incentives play a key role in driving significant behaviour change. This is borne out by Britain’s Healthiest Workplace research which demonstrated that providing incentives and rewards is associated with 70% higher levels of employee engagement in workplace health initiatives.

By offering rewards when people do healthy things, it encourages them to develop long-term healthy habits. This in turn reduces their risk of serious illness and makes them happier and more productive. In fact, research from Britain’s Healthiest Workplace has shown that healthier employees on average benefit from 25 days’ additional productivity per year.

If health insurance isn’t an option, you can extend the benefits of healthy living to all by ensuring that your entire employee population has access to a wider health and wellbeing programme; which is good for them and good for you.

The author is Jill Pritchard, director at Vitality at Work.

This article is provided by Vitality at Work.