Five ways in which employers can help employees be more healthy

The new year always brings with it a focus on health and many employers will doubtless have started 2016 with personal New Year’s resolutions to lead a healthier lifestyle. But what can they do to help their staff achieve a healthier lifestyle?

1) Develop a company wellness programme

Health and wellness has become a popular topic during recent years. Developing a comprehensive health and wellness strategy which aligns with your culture and business priorities should be key for 2016. The strategy should include prevention, as well as risk management, extending beyond investment in treatment and management of ill health.

For a wellness programme to be successful it is important to review what is currently in place, identify key risk factors and work out how to measure success. Once a programme has been implemented it needs to be regularly reviewed and adapted to ensure the programme stays on track.

Promoting such things as wellness days, health screenings, walking challenges, fitness challenges and healthy eating, will all contribute to raising employee awareness and knowledge about their health and wellbeing. It could also lead to a more productive UK plc.

2) Train line managers on the importance of job design

On 24 June 2015 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued guidelines on ”workplace policy and management to improve the health and wellness of employees”. The guidelines reiterate the Health and Safety Executive’s management standard for managing work related stress with regards to the impact job design can have on stress related illness. All line managers and HR representatives should be aware of the latest NICE guidelines and consider the six areas that can impact an employee’s mental wellness at work. These are:

NICE guidelines: 6 areas that impact on employee's mental wellness:

Demand – workload, work patterns and work environment.
Support – from organisation, line manager and colleagues.
Role – employees’ understanding of their role within the organisation, and conflicting roles.
Control – how much say the employee has in their work.
Relationship – promote positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviours.
Change – how change is managed and communicated within the organisation.

3) Help employees acheive financial wellness

According to the Barclay’s report Financial well-being: the last taboo in the workplace? , 46% of employees worry about their finances and 20% think their finances are impacting on their work. Providing a financial education programme could help reduce employees’ anxieties and help improve their performance as a result. Here are a few tips for setting one up:

Provide both educational information as well as access to resources to achieve the best financial wellness programme
Consider the need for different types of financial education depending on circumstances. For example, student loans, mortgages, credit management, retirement planning and budgeting.
For employees who are already struggling to meet their financial responsibilities, ensure line managers and HR staff are aware of independent debt advisors who can assist. Provide signposting to one of the relevant charities, such as Citizens Advice, StepChange Debt Charity, The Money Charity, and National Debtline.
Promote the use of Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs). They don’t offer financial advice, but will be able to signpost employees where they can get advice.
The company’s pension provider may be able to offer support especially around education on retirement planning

4) Manage absent employees

Take a proactive approach to managing employee absence and ensure the company’s absence management policy is up to date. With the introduction of Fit For Work, the government funded occupational health service, there is now an available solution even for those employers who do not have access to occupational health.

Fit For Work has a free advice line employers and employees can call for advice relating to occupational health related matters. For anyone off work for four weeks or likely to be off work for four weeks there is also an assessment service employers can refer the employee to.

It is time consuming and costly for employees to be off work, so managing absence at an early stage is vital and could increase the likelihood of the employee returning to work and preventing a long term absence. Should the company have an income protection advisor in place then they can offer support services.

5) Increase physical activity and improve diet

Britain’s chief medical officer said recently that obesity should be treated as a national priority. This is no surprise considering statistics show that 26% of men and 23.8% of women in the UK population are obese. This is an increase from 13.2% of men and 16.4% of Women in 1993 (HSCIC’s report Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet, 2015).

Employers should take a proactive approach to tackling employees’ overall health and wellness. One way of doing so is to provide access for employees to undertake physical activity and provide education and training in the importance of diet, nutrition and physical activity.

Healthy employees are productive employees. Think about:

Providing fitness classes on site and subsidised gym membership. Encourage lunch time walking and running groups, and attendance at charitable runs or walks throughout the year. This will raise money for good causes and also motivate employees to partake jointly in physical activity. Corporate challenges can be motivational and the gamification aspect of the challenge leads to a healthy level of competition
Fruit in the office.
Meat free Mondays.
Healthy options in canteens.
Review offering in vending machines to make them healthier.
Advice on a healthy diet.
Cycle to work schemes.
Provide activity trackers such as Fitbug and Fitbit.

This article was written by Beate O’Neil, head of wellness consulting at Punter Southall Health and Protection.