Workplace affects health and wellbeing, say staff
Employers should focus on creating engaging and pleasant workspaces for staff to improve employee wellbeing, a new report has argued.
The Interserve-led study was carried out in conjunction with organisational change specialists, Adventures with Agile, Designing and delivering effective workplace experiences – a practical guide, suggests adopting ‘workplace guardians’ to curate workspaces which support wellbeing and productivity.
The report follows an industry study published at the end of last year which revealed that 90% of UK staff believe their workplace is the cause of poor health.
The survey of 2,000 employees by Benenden identified several health-related trends, with depression, sleep issues, work-related stress and eye problems being among the most common workplace health concerns.
Charles Alberts, senior consultant at Aon Employee Benefits, said: “We all recognise that work impacts health and health impacts work, so reducing any negative impact that work may have on someone's health can deliver tangible results."
"Interventions do not need to be complex, it could be as simple as reducing someone's workload, allowing greater flexibility with the times they work, ensuring their workstation is correctly set up, or creating a culture where taking regular breaks is encouraged rather than frowned upon.”
According to the Beneden survey, 50% of respondents said they felt depressed at work, 44% said they were ‘regularly stressed’ and 58% of respondents said work worries kept them awake at night. 91% also reported feeling tired at work.
Physical health concerns were also found to be a real issue for many, with 84% complaining of backache, 42% suffering with eye strain and 27% admitting having regular migraines.
The research also found that presenteeism continues to be an issue, with nearly half of those polled saying they went to work despite illness.
Workplaces need to encourage more active lifestyles
At the same time, many respondents said their workplace did not do enough to encourage a healthy and active lifestyle. 54% said they were unable to go to the gym due to ‘work commitments’ and 75% said their employer did not actively encourage staff to live a healthy lifestyle.
There were also significant gender differences when it came to illness. Women tended to suffer more with aches and pains (50% of women, 40% of men) whilst women worried about work more (64% of women compared with 52% of men).
Alberts added: “The impact the workplace has on health can easily be overlooked when designing a health and wellbeing strategy. It would be a missed opportunity not to address areas where the workplace could have a negative impact on the individual (removing the risks) whilst taking steps to encourage behaviour change (proactive risk reduction). Yet whilst the workplace is an ideal environment in which wellbeing can be promoted, it is important to take a holistic view and recognise that there are often more than one causes of problems, both in and out of the workplace.”
This article was provided by Aon Employee Benefits.
