The majority of British workers would be open to monitoring and sharing health data with their employers, as long as they were provided with the device to do so, a YouGov survey has revealed.
The third annual AXA PPP Health Tech & You State of the Nation survey showed that of over 1,200 people questioned, 57% would be open to wearing a company paid-for fitness device during working hours to monitor their health and wellbeing.
Of those 57%, half of them would be happy to share any device data about their health and wellbeing with their employer, with the idea that employers could then use this data to find ways to improve the health and wellbeing of the workforce.
Monitoring health and wellbeing
The monitoring of one’s health is something that has seen a big increase in the last five years or so. Countless smartphone apps exist to help people monitor their diet, fitness, the number of steps their taking each day and more.
This all creates a huge amount of personal data, but academics in the data field are in doubt over whether this information is being used to the best effect by individuals alone.
Workplaces could be the best place for the mass adoption of health tech in the UK, helping to improve and maintain employees’ health through company wellness programmes.
Dr Chris Tomkins, Head of Proactive Health, AXA PPP healthcare, said: “The increased use of health tech within the workplace could so easily be a win-win for both employer and employee.
“For the first time it is possible to support an individual throughout their journey from better understanding of their health to actual improvements through smart digital platforms.
“Furthermore, there are often staff schemes with open platforms that enable individuals to use and share information from their own personal devices, ensuring their contribution is recognised.
“Of course, some individuals are naturally concerned about how their data is used and employers are keen to have a clear separation between themselves and such personal data.
“Therefore, both employer and employee could benefit from the expertise of using an independent third-party provider who can ensure privacy.” he said.
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
I’m amazed that such a high proportion of workers over-estimate their employer’s manage this data responsibly and to have sufficiently robust IT systems to prevent it being hacked/inadvertently released.
I see only risks to this and almost no benefits.
Sort of, fly’s in the face of privacy of Medical Data regardless of Data Protection, Civil Liberties, Human Rights as the last people you would expect not to use it against you are dot gov, DWP and your employers !!! Still a huge “mind the step gap” between PC Professional and Personal Ideologies especially, now in a world that is basically morally and ethically bankrupt where dot gov has used our money to bail-out the banks who were, let me think for a moment, deregulated and the given freedom to create a shed-load of junk-bonds by someone, Gordon when at… Read more »