Taking Employees’ Health and Wellbeing Seriously

For employers, taking health and safety seriously isn’t optional, it’s a legal obligation. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for health and wellbeing. With rising levels of presenteeism, stress and mental health problems in people at work, it’s time that health and wellbeing in the workplace are taken just as seriously.

In the last 6 years alone, there has been a 24% increase in the number of working days lost to stress, depression and anxiety. Worryingly, less than half of employees said they would feel able to talk openly with their line manager if they were suffering from stress. These statistics alone suggest that a lot more needs to be done. The good news is, with the right corporate health and wellness strategy in place, you can help to tackle this rising issue head-on.

The link between Mental Health & Physical Health

There is a direct correlation between mental health and physical health. When a person isn’t feeling at their best physically, they aren’t at their best mentally, similarly, if a person is struggling with their mental health, it can take a toll on their physical health. A recent study carried out by the Mental Health Foundation found that those with a long-term health condition are two or three times more likely to develop mental ill-health. What’s more, improved mental wellbeing actually reduces the risk of cardiovascular and other diseases.

Whether a person is struggling with a long-term health condition, or they are feeling under the weather; both will impact their performance at work. A person is more likely to be distracted, find it difficult to concentrate and overall will perform less productively. To help this, it’s beneficial for organisations to provide employees with access to mental and physical health checks and care.

Tackling Corporate Wellness Awareness

To take steps towards treating workplace wellness more seriously, raising awareness of the available wellbeing services and solutions is key. After all, awareness and education is key in prevention. A great way to get the entire organisation involved is to actively engage in awareness days such as Time To Talk Day and Mental Health Awareness day. By supporting these types of days, you’re showing to your employees you’re taking the issues that these days represent seriously.

It is key that organisations understand how a negative state of mind and poor health impacts on an employees output and performance. That being said, recent research reports that 56% of employers said they would like to do more to improve staff wellbeing, but don’t feel they have the right tools to do so. With the right partner such as LycaHealth, you can create a corporate health & wellbeing strategy. Using a friendly and consultative approach, we’ll work with you to find the best value solution that fits your business and your budget.

Using On-Site GP services

To show your employees your organisation is being proactive in taking health and wellbeing seriously, you’ve got to do more than talk the talk, you need to walk the walk! One way you can do this is by setting up on-site GP services as part of a wider corporate health & wellbeing strategy. These health and wellbeing services are delivered on-site, in a suitable room, to create a comfortable environment for staff to attend. You can offer access to GP appointments to talk about health concerns, prescription and medication services, sexual health screening as well as mental health support and treatment (including rTMS).

By using this service, you are able to provide employees with easier access to healthcare and support. And if required, put further workplace adjustments in place to better support them within their role. Here at LycaHealth, our corporate on-site GP scheme is easy and free to set-up, you only pay for the hours that your on-site clinic is open. If you would like to find out more about how you can improve health and wellbeing levels in the workplace, get in touch with our team today.