Flexible working hours is one of the top most important workplace initiative to the majority of British workers, according to new research from Mintel.
In a new report into the occupational health sector, full- and part-time workers were asked what they would consider to be most the important workplace benefits if they were given the opportunity to tailor their own company health initiatives and benefits. While as many as two-thirds of workers ranked more than 20 days holiday as the most important initiative, flexible working hours were considered equally important, with a significant 65 per cent of all Brits looking for this option.
Sick pay (63 per cent) and a pension scheme (62 per cent) made up the remaining top four most desired workplace initiatives, the report explained.
According tot he research, other benefits which workers considered important included private medical insurance (38 per cent), dental insurance (29 per cent) and health screening or health checks (26 per cent). Meanwhile, a quarter (24 per cent) of British workers highlighted free or subsidised gym membership as a priority, around one in ten (11 per cent) looked for fitness classes at work while 8 per cent looked for weight loss or management advice or programmes.
Lewis Cone, senior research analyst at Mintel, said: “From 30 June 2014, every employee was given the right to request flexible working hours after the government extended the right previously reserved for carers and those looking after children. According to Mintel’s research, a large proportion of people rate this initiative highly, though a number of companies still do not grant this request or inform their workforce of their right to request such working hours.”
In terms of health issues, as many as three in ten workers have experienced back pain in the past 12 months, while one in four have experienced stress. What’s more, around one in ten workers has suffered from musculoskeletal problems, for example neck strains and repetitive strain injuries.
In terms of available health initiatives or benefits at work, almost half (46 per cent) of workers said they had not been offered a work area assessment or adjustment, while 58 per cent had not been given access to stress management support or advice. But when asked about desired health initiatives or benefits at work, less than a fifth (17 per cent) of consumers said they looked for work area assessment and adjustments, stress management support or advice (17 per cent) and access to a company doctor (17 per cent).
Mintel estimates the UK occupational health market to have grown by 3.7 per cent between 2013 and 2014, up from £702 million in 2013 to £728 million in 2014. The market is made up of outsourced, ‘in-house’, NHS and government operators, all of which have grown to some extent over the past five years. But it is outsourced specialist occupational health providers who accounted for the majority of growth – increasing by an estimated 17 per cent, or £51 million, between 2010 and 2014. Outsourced specialist occupational health was valued at £348 million in 2014.
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.
