Expert view: Public health interventions must meet people where they are - in the workplace
For too long the workplace has been overlooked as an environment in which public health skills and principles can be applied.
The most effective public health interventions meet people where they are. We spend a great deal of our adult lives in and around the workplace.
With growing pressure on the NHS and more people than ever leaving the workforce with chronic conditions, we need to urgently think about how we use our workplaces to build health.
Everyone in the UK should have the right to a healthy workplace, but as it stands, all things aren’t equal.
The Royal Society for Public Health’s research last year showed that 10 million (47%) people across the UK workforce don’t have any access to any kind of workplace health support.
Additional analysis showed that 13 million people work for employers where managers are not given training in how to promote health and wellbeing. This situation is particularly stark for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
When these figures are contextualised against the record numbers of people leaving the workforce due to ill health and the subsequent cost (over £100bn) to the economy, it’s clear that something has to give.
To help level the playing field, policy change at national level is required.
We have been calling for a universal national Health and Work Standard, setting a minimum level of support which employees should be entitled to. The government should also explore ways to incentivise employers to invest in their workforce in the short term.
Legislation is only part of the picture. The shift to healthier working environments won’t happen in Westminster, it will be in workplaces across different sectors and industries. And it is HR professionals and wider leadership teams that have a pivotal role to play in ensuring that our collective ambitions for healthier workplaces become a reality.
As well as drawing on the extensive expertise in the profession, there is a huge opportunity to truly bring public health initiatives to the workplace.
Simple interventions like the Making Every Contact Count (MECC) approach could make the millions of everyday conversations that happen between managers and employees so much more impactful.
Health checks can identify employees at higher risk of developing heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes.
Taking a proactive approach to monitoring absenteeism and presenteeism and then implementing a strategy to mitigate them will increase productivity.
We know this won’t be news to any of us. However, we need to continue banging the drum for healthy workplaces. As a country we have everything to gain from closing the workplace health gap.
