A new report by the CBI and Medicash has just been released. These two organisations have come together to look at the specific issue of health in the workplace, as well as other aspects centering around it, including absenteeism and presenteeism. The report is quite detailed and you can find a copy of it to read at this link here. We thought we’d look carefully at the report and summarise the key aspects.
Bearing in mind that the CBI is at the heart of this report, it’s no surprise to find plenty of advice for employers on managing aspects of employee health. One staggering aspect of all this is that absenteeism costs the country around 14 billion a year. This is an incredible burden for the country to take on, and while some people are genuinely ill, obviously, absenteeism is something that can be avoided through proactive approaches from employers.
Reducing absenteeism
The report outlines some areas of advice for employers to consider when it comes to ensuring that absenteeism is reduced. The main findings of the report centre on proactivity. This means taking care of employees and their well being through incentive programs, as one example, and other measures such as ensuring that employees have more ownership and responsibility in the workplace to make them feel more engaged in what they do.
Its measures like these that have a direct impact on a business’s bottom line, because the more engaged employees are, and the happier they are in the workplace, the more productive they will be.
But the report goes a little further and suggests help for managers in the workplace. This puts the responsibility on managers to either seek or be given training in early detection of health problems. By detecting health problems earlier in their employees, managers can easily alert their superiors, and put into place absence prevention programs.
More proactive action in the workplace
If the absence is unavoidable, and continues, then the manager should be able to act more proactively to put systems in place so that either the employee is helped back to work or the business is able to take steps towards minimising the negative impact on revenue.
On the whole the report is positive and supportive of both sides, employee and employer. We are heartened to see such a report being created, especially with the CBI behind it. We are happy because it shows that the issue of health in the workplace is something that both employers and employees can work on, and that employers can become proactive with, even though it may seem a little bit challenging to deal with health in a positive and responsible manner.
Unsurprisingly, communication features heavily in the report. At The Life Coach Station, we have found that communication is the door opener when it comes to improving health in the workplace, and to making more positive situations possible for employees.