Making employees healthier really is a win-win for everyone

Creating additional value for businesses and their employees has never been more needed, writes Pippa Andrews, director of corporate business, Vitality

It’s no secret that declining mental and physical health is a major challenge in the UK, in particular for businesses and the UK economy.

In fact, the UK’s productivity loss has more than doubled due to poor employee health and wellbeing between over the past decade, data gathered by Vitality’s 10 Years of Britain’s Healthiest Workplace recently revealed.

In 2023 alone, the average UK employee lost approximately 50 days productive time due to absenteeism and presenteeism and productivity loss alone has cost the UK economy an astronomical £860bn between 2014 and 2023.

Addressing the ‘participation gap’

The good news is that businesses are more aware than ever of the need to tackle these issues head-on.

Almost three-quarters of businesses now report that employee health and wellbeing is discussed at least annually at board level, whilst 85% discuss it at executive committee level.

The priority, therefore, is keeping healthcare and workplace wellbeing on the agenda, at a time of rising costs and economic uncertainty.

Also evident is that many businesses struggle with a ‘participation gap’, where staff aren’t engaging in the health and wellbeing support made available to them.

Britain’s Healthiest Workplace research revealed that while employees are, on average, aware of 70% of the interventions available to them, they use just 25% of them.

Shifting expectations

That’s not to say that employees don’t expect their employer to play a more active role when it comes to their health and wellbeing.

Indeed, some 63% of workers believe that their employer should be doing more to support their health and wellbeing, the research also found.

Meanwhile, products like private medical insurance (PMI) are increasingly seen as a must-have employee benefit, increasingly influencing people’s career decisions and supporting staff retention.

In this environment, it’s becoming increasingly important that we deliver on value, while helping to address the most pressing health challenges facing businesses and their staff.

For example, we know that tackling employee mental health – a leading cause of absenteeism and presenteeism - is a key priority.

Elsewhere, obesity and type-2 diabetes are key drivers of healthcare costs, and obesity rates are on the rise amongst UK employees.

Against this backdrop and the ongoing challenges facing the NHS – one of the major factors driving demand for private healthcare – PMI products have evolved in recent years to better meet the changing needs of employees.

The broader range of everyday healthcare services now on offer, with an emphasis on prevention and early intervention, alongside more traditional PMI benefits, are resonating much more and helping to drive better health outcomes.

It’s therefore vital that health insurers continue to respond to the changing healthcare landscape to enable organisations to not just provide access to timely care when it is needed, but also provide support that actually makes employees happier, healthier and more productive.

Harnessing the power of engagement

Unlocking productivity gains from a healthier workforce is as much about driving higher levels of employee engagement with workplace wellbeing initiatives that focus on positive behaviour change – reducing lifestyle risk factors - as it is about offering access to private healthcare when staff fall ill.

Whether this is through a rewards-based behaviour change programme that incentivises physical activity and mental self-care or step challenge initiatives that allow organisations to inject some much-needed fun into workplace culture, the pay-offs benefit everyone.

Ultimately, there doesn’t need to be a trade-off between investing in workplace wellbeing and the bottom line.

Britain's Healthiest Workplace helps show that employees with Vitality Health Insurance are 11% less likely to suffer from depression, 8% more likely to reach exercise guidelines and 13% less likely to report low job satisfaction.

They are also 17% more likely to agree that their employer plays an active role in supporting their health and wellbeing.

Best of all, the improved health metrics of employees with Vitality health insurance equate to 2.5 additional days of productive time per employee per year.

This is a tangible gain that could help to offset some of the estimated 20% hit to their wage bills organisations witnessed during 2023 through lost productivity, according to Britain’s Healthiest Workplace research.

So, helping businesses to make their employees healthier really is a win-win simply because it delivers shared value for all: for employees, their employer and the UK economy.