The health of nations

A healthy workforce is a sound investment that will pay dividends in the future, says Nic Paton.

Dramatic findings from the Metropolitan Police and wellbeing consultancy Vielife revealed in this week's Personnel Today show the scale of the benefits employers can reap from investing in wellbeing programmes.

Clearly, looking after the health of employees makes a lot of sense. Just last month, BT announced that it was launching the UK's biggest workplace health programme, Work Fit, in response to statistics showing that, on average, one employee was dying of a heart-related illness every two weeks.

It is not alone. In the banking sector, companies such as Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have created posts for 'health and wellbeing managers', sitting within the HR function. The British Heart Foundation, too, has just launched a 1.6m Well at Work campaign, co-ordinated by the Department of Health (DoH), to examine how companies can better intervene to encourage employees to live and work more healthily. And last week, the government announced a new Health, Work and Wellbeing strategy, which pulls together the different strands of work going on in this area.

The real challenge
While short- and long-term sickness is an ongoing (and increasing) cost that needs to be addressed, the real challenge for employers is the health and wellbeing of the majority of workers - at their desks or on the shop or factory floor.

As Dr John Cooper, head of corporate occupational health at Unilever and a pioneer in the area, puts it: "There has been a significant shift in focus from work-related illnesses to improving health so that employees can perform better." This shift comes against a backdrop of growing concerns about the state of the health of the nation as a whole, with obesity, diet and fitness rapidly moving up the political and public agenda.

Earlier this month, for example, the World Health Organisation made the grim prediction that the UK will see deaths from diabetes soar by 25% over the next decade because of our growing weight problem. It also forecasts a surge in other chronic ailments such as cancer and heart disease.

Four years ago, the National Audit Office estimated that obesity was costing the NHS at least 500m a year, and the wider economy more than 2bn a year in lost productivity.

Then there is the age issue. Fifty years ago, one in 10 of the UK population was aged over 65. Currently, it is one in six, and in 30 years it will be one in four of the population. In the same period, according to government statistics, there will be a negligible rise in the number of 20 to 64-year-olds. In a nutshell, tomorrow's workforce will be older, fatter and less healthy.

For employers, investing in the long-term health of workers is a no-brainer.

A closer look at the Vielife research shows people with 'poor' health are 20% less productive than those with 'good' health - the equivalent of losing a day a week simply because your workers are less healthy.

Results from Vielife's programmes on diet, sleep, stress and general health and fitness with companies around the UK have shown reductions in absence of 9.3%, productivity rising 8%, staff turnover improving by 25% and a 14% decrease in 'overt' stress. As Vielife's managing director, Clive Pinder, says: "You spend money maintaining your plant or your vehicle fleet, or you paint the office every five years, so why not do the same for your people?"

"There is clear evidence that the health of your workforce directly impacts on your business performance. What used to traditionally be an occupational health or health and safety issue is now becoming much more a mainstream HR function," he adds.

Changing workplaces
Workplaces have changed, too, with a much more office-led, computer-based culture making musculoskeletal disorders and mental health issues (notably stress) by far the most common reasons for absence.

Extending this health at work debate into the realm of nominally 'healthy' workers is a major change. A look at last autumn's public health White Paper, which highlighted the role a healthier workforce could play in improving the UK's economic performance ("investing in health and wellbeing should be a key component of investment in staff", as it said), shows the blurring of the line between the public and workplace health agendas.

Among the initiatives proposed in the DoH's Choosing Health White Paper were the development of pilot projects promoting better health and wellbeing at work and the creation of an Investors in Health standard, much like Investors in People, by 2007.

The DTI, too, has been emphasising to employers the link between healthier workplaces and better productivity. Last month, at the launch of a DTI-commissioned study into high-performing businesses, employment minister Gerry Sutcliffe said there was a clear correlation between firms that reduced absence and improved motivation and those that performed better.
Sutcliffe's counterpart at the European Commission, Vladimir Spidla, adds: "Nowadays, companies have to consider that a highly-motivated workforce is more than ever a competitive strength. Quality jobs are not just a luxury."

Another driver for healthier workplaces is to gain an edge by being a socially responsible employer of choice. Take the Prison Service, which was heavily criticised earlier this year by the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee and last year by the National Audit Office for its sickness absence rates. Its latest figures, published in Personnel Today's sister title Occupational Health, have shown a dramatic reduction (down 4.7%) in the past year.

Maximising performance
Part of this success has been down to a realisation that improving reward systems across the board, such as salary sacrifice initiatives and 'prison officer of the year' schemes, can help to reduce absence too, says John Berry, head of maximising performance.

One of the challenges for HR is that it is virtually impossible to make a difference to an employee's workplace health without in some way impinging on their personal health and lifestyle. This means there has to be clear communication with employees about the benefits of such initiatives and buy-in throughout the organisation.

The other big challenge for HR is demonstrating return on investment (ROI). Employee health and wellbeing initiatives sound worthy, but rarely produce an instant or easily measurable ROI.

Dudley Lusted, head of corporate healthcare development at Axa PPP, says: "You talk to HR managers and they are really up for all this stuff, but then senior management will look at them as if they are barking mad."

HR needs to make the case that workplace health is not simply about legal compliance, absence or dealing with a minority of ill or injured workers, Lusted insists. It is something much more fundamental - how you manage your business and what sort of performance you want to achieve now and in the future.

5 reasons to act now
1) As the West's population ages, health issues will become more widespread and problematic
2) A healthier workforce can create a virtuous circle of lower absence, freeing time and money spent on absent workers to make workers healthier
3) Showing you care about a worker's (and their family's) health is a valuable retention and corporate social responsibility tool
4) A healthy workforce is generally more productive and easily managed
5) It need not cost the earth (BT's programme cost 40,000) but, if successful, can make substantial savings


What the statistics say