Over recent years, workplace wellness has become increasingly popular, with more and more employers taking an increased interest in the health and wellbeing of their employees, in terms of their job satisfaction and productivity levels.

At David Barber Occupational Health, we have developed our own health and wellbeing programme that measures, monitors and puts the steps in place to help improve employees’ health and wellness.

Why is Health and Wellbeing Important in the Workplace?

The average Briton will spend over 3500 days at work in their lifetime. This is a significant proportion of your time, and if you are unhappy or unhealthy at work, this can dominate more than just your working time.

It comes as no surprise that unhappy, unmotivated and ill employees have higher rates of absenteeism from the workplace. They are also less productive and more inefficient in work time.

When an employee’s health or wellbeing suffers, so does their quality of work. This means the impacts aren’t just reflected in a lack of employee engagement and lowered productivity – unhappiness in a lot of cases can lead to employee absenteeism.

Over the past few years, stress accounted for 35% of all work-related ill health cases (according to a BHF study), which highlights the significant impact health and wellness have on employees, and how this should be recognised and addressed within the workplace.

The longer a person experiences poor health and wellbeing, the more long term issues this creates, and the greater length of time this will take to introduce them back into the workplace. The stress of employees’ job roles is cited by 19% of employees as a key reason for leaving(According to evidence found by the BHF); this negative impact on labour turnover and subsequent impacts on recruitment and training costs shows the longer-term impacts of not having a health and wellbeing program in place in your organisation. Contact us to find out more about reducing these impacts.

What does a Health and Wellbeing Program involve?

A workplace wellbeing programme is about supporting your employee’s physical and mental health. An effective wellbeing programme should do this in a range of different ways, including helping to support their mental health and encouraging employees to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

It can be handled in a variety of ways. Many employers choose to combine active health promotion among their workers through wellbeing initiatives with health assessments to help highlight areas for improvement.

At David Barber Occupational Health we offer employee wellbeing program support that runs on the basis of ‘4 checks in 10’. This means that our specialist Occupational Health Technicians come into your workplace and carry out 4 workforce health checks in the space of 10 minutes.

These short health assessments include:

• Blood sugar test
• Cholesterol test
• Height, weight, blood pressure and BMI measurements
• Urine dip test

From these results, our team can present you with an instant snapshot of your employees’ health. This can then be used as an outline for actions to be put in place moving forward.

For male employees, David Barber Occupational Health are also able to offer a PSA test, which is a blood test that picks up markers for prostate cancer. In the UK, about 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime. It’s most common in men over 50, this is because the risk grows with age. Taking a PSA test can help spot this condition early, allowing quicker and more effective treatments. As well as offering this test, we are able to talk through the process with your employees to outline whether it is the right choice for them or not.

Another important way to support workplace wellbeing is by offering comprehensive mental health support. This can be through educating employees on relevant topics, such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance or mental health awareness whilst providing active support for wellbeing.

Here at DBOCC, we have staff who have completed a Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). This means they can can offer active treatment to help employees who are struggling with their mental well being. This is something we can tailor to you and your employees as part of your health and wellness plan.

What are the Benefits of a Health and Wellbeing Program?

Putting in place an effective wellness program will be of mutual benefit to you and your employees. Research shows that genuinely supportive employee wellbeing programmes can lead to:

• Lower rates of employee absence
• Higher staff morale
• Stronger employee engagement
• Better working relationships
• Increased productivity

Health and Wellbeing Benefits for an Employer

If you are truly interested in supporting employee wellbeing, the benefits for your business can be impressive. If your employees are in good health you will see reduced sickness absence rates – both thanks to lowered instances of ill health but also through a significant lowering of absenteeism.

An increase in employee health can do more than just reduce employee absence though. Once your workforce is happier and feels more supported, they will be able to enjoy greater job satisfaction deliver greater productivity and feel a greater commitment to their workplace and employer.

Health and Wellbeing Benefits for an Employee

Nobody is able to perform at their best unless they are in good mental and physical health. This applies as much to life outside work as it does inside.

Feeling supported and cared for at work will let you feel more relaxed and recover more completely when you’re at home.

Health and Wellbeing Program in Derby

We can help ensure that you remain fully compliant with all workplace and governmental laws that surround health and wellbeing in the workplace, whilst getting you the results you require.

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