Healix’s head of clinical development Sally Campbell looks at how employers can better support staff with female-specific health benefits.
The average employee will spend over a third of their life at work, including some 204 days of overtime according to the Association of Accounting Technicians. Spending so much time in the workplace means it needs to be a healthy and enjoyable environment, so being part of a company that truly puts its staff wellbeing first is vital.
Awareness weeks like World Cervical Cancer Prevention Week can serve as great reminders for employers of the need to ensure all staff are well looked after. Yet, certain health issues need to take account for female workers in particular.
The workplace and the typical office-based 9-5 routine have historically been designed with men in mind. This is might have made sense decades ago when men were often the family breadwinner, but that is absolutely not the case now. Women make up an increasing proportion of the working population – according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), nearly 72 per cent of women aged between 16 and 64 were in work, up from 65 per cent in 2011.
However, it is still true that women tend to have more responsibilities outside of the workplace. ONS released data in the midst of the lockdown in 2020 showed that women spent 77 per cent more time on childcare than men overall, accounting for 78 minutes more per day. This highlights the need for things like caring responsibilities for children, elderly parents and other family members to be much more evenly balanced between men and women, but it also proves just how vital a flexible workplace is in allowing women to maintain their careers alongside these additional jobs, without neglecting their own health.
With so many demands on their time, it’s often easy for women to put off routine testing such as cervical screenings because there are many other demands on their time. The biggest issue with missing screenings is the potential for a health problem to go undetected and left untreated. Making it a priority for the business to support its female staff in going to these tests, whether that’s allowing them to go on company time or including private healthcare options in any healthcare benefits will go a long way in ensuring women feel supported and encouraged to prioritise their health. Not only that, but it also ensures the presence of valuable female talent at work remains, increasing diversity of thought and potentially improving profitability too.
To further exacerbate this, the pandemic has forced people to think about their health in a much more proactive way and many have started to reconsider their healthcare plans, insurance, and the benefits they receive from their employers. It’s no longer enough to offer work socials or trendy offices – if companies don’t act on this, staff will vote with their feet.
There are steps employers can take to mitigate this, though. Introducing tailored healthcare benefits that target specific worries or concerns for each individual, including having a specific women’s health offering, can increase employee engagement, leaving them feeling more valued and respected within the business. Services from certain providers help employers cater specifically to female staff with benefits that are often excluded by traditional private medical insurance (PMI) policies.
Women can, and should, access help through these offerings for issues like endometriosis, menopause and fertility treatment. They can be reluctant to bring these sorts of things up in meetings with their manager, especially if they are male, but providing help and guidance from a third party in a confidential way means they feel supported by the workplace without feeling embarrassed.
It is also possible for employers to offer specific tests or screenings to help prevent gender-specific illnesses. According to Cancer Research UK, there are indications that cervical cancer is on the rise among certain age groups and the pandemic has resulted in many women missing both breast and cervical screening. Implementing the means for staff to go and get these tests done encourages them to prioritise their health, normalises the conversation on these topics and helps all staff feel more comfortable in their working environment.
Workplace health has always been important, but awareness weeks such as the one for Cervical Cancer, along with the pandemic, highlight just how valuable it is for employers to have comprehensive policies in place. But in many cases, it’s no longer viable to just have a standard PMI provision. Taking care of staff health properly means addressing the fact that everyone will have different needs – women, in particular, will have very different requirements to men. Having women’s health provision as part of an overall healthcare benefit ensures all staff can prioritise their health, making them happier, less stressed and more engaged at work. That, in turn, will provide return on investment for businesses too.
