Healthy Workers

Work places want healthy employees. It makes sense, a healthy workforce is a productive one. Private medical insurance helps. 14% of UK companies offer company health insurance which covers employees when they are ill.

As the recession bites there is a dual pressure now on employers. They need to cut costs but they also need employees to be as healthy as possible so that they are fit and active for work. In other words companies need a good return of investment.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) say that there is extra emphasis now on employers helping their staff to stay well and come into work.

Charles Cotton, advisor for performance and reward with CIPD said,

'I think there is still a concern out there that encouraging employees to be healthy is not their role but I think that attitude will change now that businesses realise the proportion of their companies' revenues that are being spent on healthcare benefits.'

Research published in employee benefits magazine said that employees are much more interested in return on investment for their health cover provision than they were five years ago and 91% of the employees surveyed said they used sickness absence levels as a measure. The research however said that it is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of wellbeing initiatives. They suggest that companies who use employment engagement interviews are finding this a successful way to find about their employees behaviours and attitudes.

Reports vary on the current levels of workplace medical insurance. The research published in Employee Benefits magazine suggests there is no decline in uptake but on the other hand recent reports from analysts Laing and Buisson suggest a small decline in the business private health insurance market. For employers health insurance is a valuable perk, coming second only in popularity to pensions.