Whether your organisation is a small-, medium-sized or large enterprise, the goal of every business is to ensure an optimum level of productivity and profitability. Employees are the key business asset within organisations as they are essential to meeting business goals. This knowledge demands that employees are treated with the highest level of care and protection. While it is understandable that businesses might lack the expertise to ensure the health and well-being of their workforce, there are occupational health specialist provisions to meet this need.

Occupational health is an aspect of medicine that is concerned with the relationship between health and work. Occupational health teams advise and recommend to organisations measures that can be taken to ensure the physical and mental health of their workforce. By utilising relevant workplace, health and safety legislations, they can advise on how to manage any risks in the workplace that are likely to give rise to work-related ill health.

Below are three reasons why organisations should engage the skills of Occupational Health Professionals:

1. Good health benefits businesses and better workplaces have better financial results. Therefore, it is of paramount importance for organisations to engage with workplace specialists, such as occupational health, to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their workforce as well as minimise the risk of developing occupational diseases or sustaining work-related injury.
2. Soaring sickness absence levels. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), nearly 149 million days were lost to sickness or injury in 2021, an average of 4.6 days per worker. These current statistics show an increase in sickness absence levels in the past decade. Further, the ONS found that the sickness absence rate in the UK in 2021 rose to 2.2%, from a record low of 1.8% in 2020, making it the highest it has been since 2010 when it was also 2.2%. These statistics suggest that most of the improvement made in sickness absence levels over the past decade has been lost.
3. The cost of sickness absence to individuals, businesses and society. The Government’s Black Review of the Health of the working age population highlights that managing sickness absence costs the economy approximately £100bn each year. Evidence also shows that the longer people are off sick, the less likely they are to make a successful return to work. There is only a 50 per cent chance of someone making a successful return to work after being off work for six consecutive months.

Final Thoughts

Given the above challenges, it is essential for organisations to develop and monitor their health and wellbeing goals for their workforce. Having explicit business goals is not enough, a good business should also develop its health and well-being goals for its workforce in order that business goals can be attained. Occupational Health Specialists can help to take this burden off the organisation’s shoulders, meaning that you can continue to focus on business needs while OH manages the health and well-being of your workforce. You use the contact details below to explore the health and wellbeing of your workforce with an OH specialist today.

 

Dr Toyin Adewunmi

Director and OH Specialist

Emerald Organisational Health & Wellbeing Solution Ltd

E: t.adewunmi@emerald-oh.co.uk

W: emerald-oh.co.uk