Why Investing in Employee Health is Good for Your Business
Posted by: electime 7th November 2019
Businesses in the UK lose a lot of production because of people being off work ill, and many of these absences are due to work related illnesses or injuries. The Health and Safety Executive information shows that in 2017/18, 30.7 million working days were lost. Stress accounted for 15.4 million of these lost days; the next closest being musculoskeletal injuries which were to blame for 6.6.million days. The cost to companies is enormous and if you are experiencing these problems as an employer, here are a few suggestions that might help you to reduce the amount of production you are losing through sick days.
Encourage Healthy Eating
If you have a canteen in your workplace, ensure that there are plenty of healthy options on the menu. Provide a fridge for those that want to bring lunch from home as things such as salad are much nicer if they have not warmed up before they are eaten. Show the way with healthy snacks at meetings and that you are following a good eating regime too.
Encouraging a healthy diet will help to fight off some of the common everyday illnesses that cause people to lose a few days from work.
Get Them Exercising
Exercise is great for both mental and physical health. You should get them moving around as much as possible. If they have to walk to the other side of the workplace to communicate with someone face to face, this is much better for them than sending an email or picking up a phone. You could start and sponsor sports teams from within your workforce or arrange for a fitness coach to come in at a regular time each week to help them. The fitter they are, the less stressed they will be and the fewer days they will lose to illness.
Arrange fun days out for them so that they are not just sitting at home watching TV. There are many different types of enjoyable things you can do including walking, swimming, watching a sports match or maybe a day at the races. You can see just how exciting this can be by reading the Jessica Harrington blog. Days like this also encourage comradeship among your employees which usually means they work better together.
Introduce Good Practices
Musculoskeletal injuries are usually caused by heavy lifting in the wrong way or constant twisting and turning that damages muscles. Anyone that is involved in lifting should be trained in the correct way to do it without causing themselves injury.
Make sure each workstation has enough room for people to locate the things they need with having to keep twisting and turning to get things. This can cause trouble with back muscles among others, and can take a long time to heal. Wrists are particularly vulnerable to muscle injuries. If someone works with a lot of vibration through their hands, or is on a keyboard all day that is not positioned correctly, this can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome that can require surgery to put right.
There is no doubt that a healthy and happy workforce is more productive, and it is in the best interests of your business to keep them that way.
