How preventative healthcare can make a difference at your organisation
Preventative healthcare is where an individual or company takes action to reduce the risk of avoidable illnesses.
However, not all illnesses are avoidable, and preventative healthcare prioritises early detection, such as screening for diseases like diabetes and cancer to enable treatment to begin at the earliest possible stages.
Other examples of preventive healthcare include:
- Lifestyle improvements: Including being more active, eating more healthily, and getting more sleep.
- Vaccinations: Taking advantage of the available vaccinations, including seasons options like the flu jab.
- Self-care: As well as becoming healthier, it’s essential to know our bodies so that we’re able to identify changes.
- Regular check-ups: When we reach a certain age, we’re encouraged to have more regular tests and check-ups. With at-home testing kits, we can now take the initiative to regularly check on our health at any age.
The better we know our bodies and the earlier we can detect issues, the sooner we can get on the road back to health.
Why is everyone talking about preventative healthcare?
Why is preventative healthcare taking up so much space in HR industry publications?
As Pluxee UK shares in its blog, Are Healthy Employees More Productive?, sickness absence rose from an average of 5.8 days to 7.8 days per employee between 2019 and 2023 – a 34% increase.
Absenteeism costs the UK economy tens of billions of pounds annually, and it doesn’t end there.
More employees are leaving the workforce than ever before due to long-term sickness and health conditions.
There are two factors to consider when weighing up whether preventative healthcare can make a difference:
- Employee health and wellbeing, and
- Expense to the business.
Employee health and wellbeing
Not all absences are due to ill health.
Mental ill health causes more long-term employee absenteeism than any physical condition.
Financial stress can exacerbate physical and mental illness, so when considering how to support employee wellbeing, it’s essential to take a holistic approach.
Ultimately, every step you take to improve employee health will help reduce absenteeism.
Business expenses
Absenteeism costs employers and the economy, but that’s not the only risk.
Presenteeism – working while unwell – can be more costly than absenteeism.
Employees may take longer to recover because they’re not getting the rest they need, productivity is lower, and there’s more potential to make mistakes – not to mention spreading illness throughout the office.
Here's how preventative healthcare can reduce business overheads:
Reduce healthcare plan costs: Private health insurance (PMI) is increasing, costing businesses more to run their schemes each year. The more employers can do to encourage employees to live healthier lifestyles, and more preventative options available, the less likely they are to make an expensive claim which increase premiums.
Reduced recruitment costs: UK employees are leaving the workforce due to ill health in record numbers. Every employee who leaves because they’re too sick to work will need to be replaced, costing anything from £30,000 each time or more. Early diagnosis could drastically reduce the number of people unable to work by catching and treating diseases before they get too serious.
Pluxee UK’s Employee Benefits and Wellbeing Strategy Guide helps you define your employee health strategy, detailing the role of financial, mental and physical wellbeing benefits in embedding preventative healthcare solutions into your business.
Importance of making healthcare accessible
PMI is commonly the most offered preventative healthcare benefit for employees since it enables them to get access to medical support more quickly than they could through the NHS.
PMI can be expensive, and with premiums rising, it may not be an option for all employers.
There can also be caveats that could exclude some conditions, meaning not all employees have the option to enrol.
In a podcast released last year, Pluxee UK explores the role digital healthcare platforms have in making a private online GP service accessible to all employees.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Pluxee UK
Pluxee UK, is a leading employee benefits and engagement partner that opens up a world of opportunities to help people enjoy more of what really matters in their lives.
