21 per cent of employers are not supporting the prevention of ill-health in their employees by providing available assistance such as early intervention support, according to research by Grid.
According to the research, employers may be missing out on more readily available assistance as prevention, and early intervention support become more varied and comprehensive. Diagnostics, health screening, access to GPs, rehabilitation, apps to improve health behaviours, and lifestyle advice on nutrition, sleep, health, and fitness are all readily available through employee benefits and can prevent serious conditions from developing.
Employers who do provide health and wellness support to help prevent employees from becoming ill said they find flexible working initiatives (28 per cent), emotional support such as counselling (17 per cent), and initiatives to help manage stress and mental health (16 per cent) to be the most beneficial. Mental health first responders, private medical insurance, and employee assistance programmes were deemed beneficial.
Many employers provide some form of health and wellness assistance. Some may believe that this only refers to providing access to treatment, but it must also include access to prevention. The research found that offering expedited treatment is only one aspect of caring for employees; however, the best support should begin before treatment is required, which may mean that no treatment or even absence from work is required. The research concludes that if employers truly want to provide the best support to their employees, health and wellness benefits must also include prevention and early intervention.
Grid spokesperson Katharine Moxham says: “When employers offer employee benefits that have preventative support built-in, they’re demonstrating that they care about their staff’s long-term health and wellbeing. It also means that their employees will have the best chance of being able to access whatever new supportive developments arise in the future.
“Employers who do not offer a comprehensive range of preventative support should really be asking themselves why not, as they are now very much in the minority and may struggle to compete on the recruitment front with others that take a much more comprehensive approach to ill-health prevention in their companies.”
