26 Sep Investing in Employee Health Produces Health Benefits for Employers

It is possible that in the United States, with the continued debate on health care reform and the emphasis on eating well, staying fit and losing weight, employers are more aware that health is connected to productivity, but we cannot say for sure. Some companies might pay lip service to the notion that employee health can increase profits, but they may need more convincing before they put company resources behind efforts to improve employee health.

A survey of British employers found that “three quarters of employers (76%) do not correlate employee health and wellbeing to productivity. This figure rises to 86% amongst Finance Directors.” It seems that Finance Directors, who keep an eye on the bottom line, are the most likely to not see the need for an organization to be concerned with employee health, but they are surely not alone and we know this is not just happening in England.

“Simplyhealth’s engaging employees through health and wellbeing report also found that three quarters of employees whose employer cares a great deal about their health and wellbeing describe themselves as very loyal. The failure to correlate benefits with productivity could mean that employers do not fully understand the impact they can have, and are missing a key opportunity to engage with staff.”

An expert from a business school suggests that “…employers would perhaps be wise to consider the most cost effective means to maintaining tangible key benefits, whilst still finding ways to enhance engagement that are less reliant on money.” This is especially true in cases where an organization has to increase employee workloads.

The good news is that you do not have to figure it all out on your own.