Eight out of ten people believe firms are not doing enough to support the physical and mental wellbeing of their employees, according to a new survey.
The survey by Westfield Health shows 86% of people believe companies are not doing enough to help staff deal with work-related stress, anxiety and other mental health issues.
It also reveals that seven out of 10 people believe the NHS does not have the funding to provide wellbeing services, such as health check-ups and cognitive behavioural therapy.
In addition, six out of 10 people would like to see the Government do more to promote the physical and mental health of workers.
And almost three quarters of people said they would like to see more of their National Insurance contributions go towards employee wellbeing programmes.
“It was recently reported that Britain’s productivity is 16% behind the other G7 nations,” said Westfield Health’s commercial director, David Capper.
“With Brexit just around the corner, it’s time to ask the question what part could a healthy, happy workforce play in helping UK businesses close this gap in productivity.
“From sleep to nutrition and mental health to physical fitness, there are so many elements that contribute to your overall wellness, happiness and healthiness,” added Mr Capper.
“As business leaders, we need to create a culture where our people’s health and wellbeing is prioritised to drive confidence, capability, inspiration and ultimately prosperity.”
Dr Anouska Carter, a principal researcher from the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University added: “Poor lifestyle choices in an aging population is crippling the NHS, due to an increased incidence of such conditions as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. The prevention of chronic disease and maintenance of good health, require complex lifestyle behaviour change interventions that are based on sound scientific principles.”
“There is an urgent need for a new approach to stem the rapid increase in chronic disease.
“Workplaces have the opportunity to offer the ideal setting for a preventative approach to health and wellbeing, with adults spending most of their waking hours at work,” added Dr Carter.
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Health and wellbeing is high on the agendas of both the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. In Wales, Healthy Working Wales – through the Corporate Health Standard (CHS) and Small Workplace Health Awards (SWHA) – embraces thousands of workers and recognises hundreds of employers who have demonstrated a commitment to the health and wellbeing of their staff. In Scotland, Healthy Working Lives has similar ambitions. Sadly, there is no equivalent programme in England. Some local authorities – Liverpool and London, for example – have launched their own programmes but at the national level there is a huge gap waiting to be filled. Until there is wider recognition of the importance of health and wellbeing in the workplace in England, following the examples set in Wales and Scotland,the benefits to companies, individuals, the economy and the wider community will be missed. It’s high time for action!
A big part of the problem with Type 2 diabetes is poor guidance from the NHS/Government on diet. Having type 2 diabetes I was sent in a NHS diet course, which given what I know now was absolute rubbish and following the NHS advise made my condition far worse. Within 6 weeks of no longer following their advise I have managed to half the blood glucose levels and can not cut down on the medication
Interesting and coincidentally mirrors the same number of DSE operators at risk of presenteeism due to eye-strain (Asthenopia) to a lesser or greater degree with 58% reporting Computer Vision Syndrome or Screen Fatigue and 48% going-on to experience other stress related RSI’s like WULD’s / MSD’s apart from the exacerbating affects on their wellbeing and 20% or 30 days a year lost productivity due to operation of sub-optimally accessible screen interface simply requiring a very basic visual risk assessment and customising accessibility options for the operators accessibility and comfort.
Accessibility has always been a question of efficiency, performance and productivity, in addition to, Digital Health & Literacy in the workplace and education as, eye-strain (Asthenopia) is known to affect some 50-90% of the population and is significantly exacerbated by prolonged, longer than an hour or two at most accepting average time on-screen now something like 9 hours a day and, CVS, Screen Fatigue surprise, surprise has been recognised as a Global Pandemic for years let alone on digital future horizons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws5IuBFSnUE
https://digileaders.com/the-business-case-for-accessibility-and-inclusive-design/
Digital Leaders and Partners Abilitynet are the flip side of accessibility in terms of the IOT on the one hand and intranet screen user operator on the other although, for some unknown reason, those in the workplace and education with a duty of care have continued to ignore or even be in denial that the on-going risk to efficiency or health and safety resulting in presenteeism and ill-health is not a health or safety critical issue as they drift toward tokenism and solely tick-box compliance.
More people are getting interested in health, diet and fitness but the vast majority of the population either have no interest or the knowledge to eat healthily or make good food choices. Healthy choices still seem to be more expensive than convenience foods. Obesity is on the rise in schools and workplaces. These are the places where people can be given this info and allow them to make better choices. Healthy options need to be made more affordable than junk food. School and workplace canteens need to provide healthier options too.