Workplace Health
Creating a healthy workplace
Why is Workplace Health important?
The workplace is a setting where many people spend the largest proportion of their time and therefore can play a key role in contributing to the health of their employees and in turn the health of their organisation.
A health promoting workplace:
- Provides an environment which protects health
- Provides opportunities and support for the promotion of healthy lifestyles
- Organises work to promote good health
Benefits of a Healthier Workplace:
- Increased productivity
- Improved absenteeism and ability to return to work after illness
- Enhanced reputation - Helping to attract and keep employees
- Reduced workplace injuries and insurance and compensation claims
- Improved work-ability among older employees
- Creating a positive corporate image
- Reduced industrial injuries
- Improved morale and health of the workforce
- Improved staff retention
Workplace Health Facts
- In the UK, 1 in 5 accidents in the workplace are alcohol related.
- At any one time one in six smokers are trying to give up
- Only about 35% of men and 25% of women in England are physically active enough to benefit their health, but 80% of people think they are active enough
- 1 in 5 people report feeling extremely stressed at work
- Four out of every five people develop back pain that lasts more than a day at some time during their life.
- If the present trend in obesity continues, by 2010 1 in 4 people will not fit into a standard office chair.
Cost of ill health to your organisation
- Sickness absence costs UK employers around £12.2 billion each year. Between 2% and 16% of the annual UK salary bill is spent on sickness absence.
- The cost of making responsible adjustments to keep an employee who develops a health condition or disability will almost certainly be far lower than the cost of recruiting and training a new employee.
- Stress-related conditions and musculoskeletal disorders are now the most common reported causes of sickness absence from work in the UK.
- An estimated 34 million days a year are lost in England and Wales through sickness absence resulting from smoking related illness.
- Physical inactivity has major health consequences – including obesity, coronary heart disease and cancer – and in England is estimated to cost the wider economy £8.2 billion per year.
- Alcohol misuse among employees in England costs up to £6.4 billion a year in lost productivity through increased absenteeism, unemployment and premature death.
If you are interested in looking at and improving the health of your workplace or have ideas about workplace health in your organisation please contact Rachel.
Rachel's contact details:
Rachel Marriott
Workplace Development Officer
Cornwall & Isles of Scilly PCT
Health Promotion Service
KernowBuilding, Wilson Way Pool,RedruthTR15 3QE
Tel: 01209 313419
Rachel.Marriott@CIOSPCT.cornwall.nhs.uk
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