As our Occupational Health Week, in association with Health Shield, draws to a close, it is time to reflect on some of the trends and issues currently shaping this area of the benefits market.
In recent years, health and wellbeing strategies have evolved to become about much more than just physical health, instead addressing several components of wellness, including mental health, financial health, emotional wellbeing and social wellbeing. So, what role do traditional occupational health benefits have as part of this new, holistic approach?
Occupational health services can provide valuable support for both employees and organisations. These initiatives can include outsourced remote services led by a provider, onsite services offered through a supplier or the benefits and HR team, or a combination of both.
For individuals, these initiatives can often improve their overall health and wellness. Early intervention, in particular, can help those off sick return to work at the most appropriate time.
Meanwhile, businesses can benefit from a reduction in absence rates and turnover, as well as a boost in engagement and productivity, while also being safe in the knowledge that they are meeting legal requirements.
While there is no doubt that occupational health initiatives are advantageous, businesses must be able to measure their value. This can not only secure buy-in from senior leadership, but also enable the support offered to employees to be effectively targeted.
These programmes can generate significant information which, when combined with other data, can provide valuable insight into health issues. This can enable organisations to ensure they are getting best value from their offering and, in turn, inform wider health and wellbeing strategies. This data can also identify other potential problem areas, such as workplace presenteeism.
So, has much changed when it comes to occupational health programmes? What are the latest developments and trends when it comes to these services, and how are employers responding to the wants and needs of their workforces? Our articles this week will explore all this, and more.
Whatever stage you are at and however you implement occupational health strategies in your organisation, Occupational Health Week was designed to help take this to the next level through exclusive insights and opinions uncovering best practice in this area. These included:
- What are the latest developments in occupational health?
- The role of occupational health in a holistic wellbeing strategy
- How to measure the value of occupational health initiatives
- Yorkshire Water provides mental health first aid within occupational health package
- Silverbean uses occupational health to support its wellbeing strategy
- Lothian’s occupational health service provides valuable employee data
- Dr James Chandler: Occupational health is a valuable employer investment
- Ruth Wilkinson: Proactive occupational health helps create sustainable business
- Jennie Doyle: Employees are an organisation’s most important asset
- Dr Sayeed Khan: Valuable occupational health services need better marketing
Kavitha Sivasubramaniam
Editor
Tweet: @kavithasiva_EB