4 Tips for Better Employee Health
Providing health insurance to your staff is often used as an incentive during recruitment, and this is often a tax-efficient strategy for an employer. However, often overlooked is that the fact that a healthier workforce has been shown to be more productive, while a healthy working environment can actually lower your healthcare insurance costs. It also means reduced absenteeism due to poor health and stress.
Implementing some hacks for keeping employees healthier can mean cheaper health insurance, plus reduced absenteeism and other employee health related costs (such as lowered productivity). Below are 4 tips for your organisation to achieve better employee health with limited investment.
Providing Healthy Snacks and Meals
Many organisations offer subsidised snacks and beverages to their employees. Often most of these snacks and beverages are high in sugar (think sweets, soft drinks, etc).
Research has shown that excess consumption of foods with high sugar content can be detrimental to your health. When employees have cheap or even free access to such types of snacks each and every workday, it is very likely they will over-consume them.
Today, many organisations have cleared their cupboards of cookies, crisps and other unhealthy snacks and have replaced these with fruit and other healthy foods.
To improve employee health, stop offering unhealthy snacks and beverages, but instead subscribe to a food basket delivery service and focus on water, tea and coffee over high sugar drinks.
You may also want to consider offering free or very low-cost wholesome meals to your employees.
Prevention of Health Problems
Have your employees get a yearly health checkup. In most cases, health conditions that are detected early on are easier and cheaper to manage. A lingering health condition that isn’t detected and treated for years will cause more harm to the employee and cost the employer in lost productivity, absenteeism and replacement.
Better Ergonomics at Work
Improving ergonomics at work helps to keep employees healthy by reducing the chances of developing musculoskeletal problems from due to poor posture and unhealthy movements. A small investment in a better office chair, adjustable or standing desks, monitor stands or the reorganisation of workspaces can have a great impact on employee health and productivity.
When it comes to organisational healthcare it’s important to look beyond just the cost aspect, and to keep an eye on the full picture. Generating more revenue is more important than cutting costs and healthy employees are what drive the health and revenue of any business.
Culture of Health
Research shows that people who take responsibility for their own health on average live longer and have a healthier life. If your organisation can create a culture of health, your employees will be healthier and perform better.
Encouraging employees to engage in healthy activities is a very low-cost way of improving employee health. Organising active team events, sponsoring teams to enter a volunteer charity run or facilitating workout breaks all help to create a company culture of health. Such activities will also improve relationships between employees and loyalty to the company.
