Employers rarely practice what they preach on workplace health

Although there is a general consensus that a healthy workforce is beneficial for both employees and employers in a variety of ways. A recent study by Bupa has revealed that employers are ignoring opportunities to improve and sustain the wellbeing and health of their workforces.

Bupa’s research focused on the views of workplace health and how employers are promoting and encouraging it. Their study gathered the opinions of 17,800 employees from the UK, Australia, Poland, New Zealand and Spain. Some interesting results were drawn from the study. For instance, while 73% of those questioned agreed that a healthy workforce is more productive, 30% stated that their employer provides no health or wellbeing benefits within their compensation packages. Digging deeper, only 4% said that their employer actively provides support to help employees quit smoking. Only 5% said their employer encourages good health through awareness and education programmes.

Meanwhile, 47% of those surveyed stated that their employers offered health insurance. Although this is encouraging to know that many employees are insured health-wise, health insurance is not the best preventative measure. Plus, it does not encourage good health on a day to day basis. This is a shame as a healthy workplace is beneficial to everyone within it.

Almost half (48%) of those surveyed believed that they would be more productive if they felt healthier. It is clear that workforce health has mutual benefits to employees and employers. Essentially, it is a win-win situation. This is especially the case  when it comes to implementing preventative measures for serious illnesses such as cancer. After all, failure to intervene early in the identification and treatment of serious injury and illness amongst employees can result in substantial long-term absence costs.

Bupa’s study provides a vivid insight into the lack of wellbeing and health initiatives amongst countries throughout the world. Regardless of the enthusiasm they may show on paper for such programmes.

For tips and advice on how to properly implement effective wellbeing initiatives in your workplace, get in touch with the Honeydew team today.