Maximising efficiency through employee health checks
Posted on 17th July 2023 at 11:55
Did you know that potential employees are increasingly checking out what health and wellbeing benefits employers are offering before they apply for your vacancy?
What is your company's approach to keeping your people healthy, happy and productive?
Knowing you check in with your people and ask them about their physical and mental wellness can make all the difference to attracting and retaining some great people for your team.
As a small business owner or HR lead for a company, you know that taking care of one of your most valuable assets, your workforce, is essential. Looking after the health concerns of your representatives is fundamental not just for their own wellbeing but also to keep up productivity and state of mind inside the work environment. Here, we delve into various aspects of employee physical and mental health checks and their significance.
We will explore how identifying potential health problems early on can prevent serious conditions from developing, as well as discuss the types of tests available for onsite screenings. Additionally, we will examine behavioural adjustments based on screening results that encourage healthier lifestyle choices and impact productivity levels within the workplace.
We'll tackle privacy concerns surrounding employee health evaluations and how we at Verve Healthcare maintain confidentiality for the individual while at the same time giving you, the employer, an overall dashboard so that you can see and address any themes arising.
The importance of staff health checks
Staff health checks on a regular basis are essential if you want productive and healthy employees, allowing employers to recognise any potential health issues quickly while minimising costs associated with absenteeism, sickness, and presenteeism. By monitoring the physical and mental wellness of employees, companies can reduce annual costs relating to sickness, absenteeism, and presenteeism while saving valuable time lost to ill heath in addition to keeping staff happy and engaged.
Identify potential health problems early on
Early detection is key to preventing serious conditions from developing. Regular health screening helps identify issues such as mental or emotional stresses, physical conditions or even financial conditions (Verve Healthcare can assist with all of these). Maintaining current health assessments will aid employee journeys to timely treatment and preventive action can significantly boost an individual's quality of life.
Preventing serious conditions from developing
Mental health: With increasing awareness surrounding mental well-being in the workplace, it's essential to include mental health reviews for stress, anxiety, depression, or other psychological concerns.
National guidelines: Companies should follow national guidelines regarding specific tests required based on job duties - for example, construction workers may need regular hearing tests while finance professionals might require vision screenings due to extended computer use.
Bespoke interventions: Verve Healthcare specialises in tailoring interventions according to each employee's unique needs by using our surveys and health check questionnaires, which themselves were developed by health professionals.
Having a comprehensive employee health assessment program within your organisation - especially if you're operating within industries like finance, law, construction, or service professions - you can maximise the environment to keep your employees are safe and healthy. In turn, this will lead to a more productive workforce that is less likely to take sick leave or struggle with presenteeism.
If the Verve Healthcare surveys detect an emerging problem, we can get the individual to the most appropriate health intervention for them. Depending on your Verve Healthcare plan, this may include employee health monitoring and evaluations for addressing issues such as elevated blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and LDL cholesterol levels, potentially helping to prevent serious conditions from developing. Onsite health screenings provide comprehensive services to help ensure employees remain healthy and productive in the workplace. thus improving the aggregate health of the workforce.
Prioritising employee health is key to a productive workforce. Regular health checks can identify issues early on and prevent serious conditions from developing.
Onsite health checks for employees
As well as our online health surveys, we are happy to work with employers for occupational health services as required - this is particularly useful for larger companies or for workers who are non-desk based, such as those working in construction or catering. Screening onsite for potential health problems can be an effective way to prevent illness and injury among employees. These screenings provide valuable information that clinicians can use to help individuals a positive health approach to conditions effectively while demonstrating support for employee wellbeing. By offering comprehensive onsite healthcare services, companies can set a supportive culture that promotes their workforce to remain healthy, happy, and productive.
Types of core health tests for employees available for onsite health checks
Blood pressure checks: Monitoring can help in early detection of hypertension or other cardiovascular disease.
Blood glucose tests: Identifying potential diabetes risks allows employees to take preventive measures before the condition worsens.
Mental health assessments: regular mental health surveys could help identify stress, anxiety, or depression and promotes a healthier work environment and support overall well-being. Having an overview across your workforce can also highlight potential hot spots in departments or teams so that you can address them as part of your overall wellbeing strategy.
Vision and hearing tests: Ensuring optimal sensory function could enable employees to perform their job duties most efficiently and also highlight where you as an employer might need to adapt.
Alcohol tests: Monitoring alcohol consumption can be crucial in industries where safety is paramount, such as construction or transportation sectors.
Physical health checks: these can range from workplace desk assessments to worked-up whole-body assessments for joint and muscular problems. You might find an occupational health assessment or occupational health screening is also needed.
Benefits of regular health checks
Incorporating regular health checks into your company's wellness program offers numerous advantages including:
Easier access to medical care: Having Verve Healthcare workplace health checks can lead to easier access for staff members to schedule appointments as appropriate.
Faster intervention: If a screening identifies potential concerns, immediate steps can be taken to address the issue before it escalates into a more serious condition
Increased employee engagement: Demonstrating genuine concern for staff wellbeing by using tools such as health check questionnaires, fosters loyalty and commitment, leading to higher job satisfaction levels and improved retention rates.
Better productivity: A healthy workforce is less likely to take sick leave or be absent from work - ensuring optimal output across all departments within your organisation.
Greater health awareness in general: Being asked about your health means that you yourself are more likely to notice changes you could make for your overall wellness.
By implementing a health assessment program of regular employee health evaluations, you can create a culture of wellness that benefits both your employees and your business as a whole.
Onsite screenings of employees health are an invaluable tool to identify health risks, promote the wellbeing of a workforce and can help reduce absenteeism, improve morale, and increase productivity. By understanding the results of these tests, employers can implement behavioural adjustments that will further enhance employee wellness.
Regular health checks are an effective way to prevent health and wellbeing issues escalating into a problem. Incorporating Verve Healthcare's regular evaluation of the health of employees into your company's wellness program offers numerous benefits including faster intervention for potential concerns, increased employee engagement and better productivity.
Behavioural adjustments arising from health checks
Having a company-wide focus on health and health assessments can lead to behavioural adjustments for employees that significantly improve overall well-being. For example, if an individual learns about high blood pressure, they may adopt healthier lifestyle habits like regular exercise or better nutrition choices - ultimately improving their quality of life both inside and outside office hours. By incorporating preventative care measures into the workplace, employers can encourage employee journeys to a more positive control of their health and wellbeing.
Encouraging healthier lifestyle choices through feedback
One aim of health surveys is to encourage healthier choices in lifestyle and provide employees with personalised health reports based on their results enabling them to take a more positive lifestyle approach. At Verve Healthcare, we present our information in a clear and understandable manner so that people are aware of any potential risks and understand the steps they need to take for improvement. Employers can offer additional resources such as wellness programs or access to professional medical advice for further support.
Employers can:
Mental health: Provide resources for stress management techniques, mindfulness exercises, mental health screens or counselling services.
Nutrition: Help make healthy lifestyle choices by offering healthy meal options at work cafeterias or hosting lunch-and-learn sessions with dietitians to help identify and correct possible poor diet choices.
Fitness: Encourage a range of events to promote physical activity by offering discounted gym memberships or organising company-wide fitness challenges. This may alleviate a lack of exercise among employees.
Sleep hygiene: Educate employees about the importance of good sleep habits and provide tips for achieving restful nights.
Impact on productivity levels within the workplace
A healthy workforce is more likely to be productive since improved well-being often leads to increased energy levels, better focus, and fewer sick days. We see companies that invest in screening the health of their employees, even basic health checks, have a return on investment through reduced healthcare costs and increased productivity leading to improved financial benefit for the company. Businesses can reap a number of rewards by including comprehensive health assessments in their workplace wellness plans, such as supporting the health of personnel and aiding their organisation's success.
By implementing screening results into the workplace, employers can help to reduce future health issues, encourage healthier lifestyle options amongst their employees and ultimately increase productivity levels.
Regular employee core health test monitoring can lead to behavioural adjustments and healthier lifestyle options, improving overall well-being both inside and outside of work. Employers can encourage these changes by providing overall feedback based on health survey results and offering additional resources such as wellness programs or access to professional medical advice. A workforce living healthier lives is more likely to be productive, leading to reduced healthcare costs and increased productivity for the company.
Confidentiality is assured during employee health checks
As a healthcare company, born from a parent company that specialises in NHS GP care, we know exactly what we are talking about when it comes to confidentiality. All Verve Healthcare's health check surveys are carried out to the same degree of confidentiality that you would expect from any doctor/patient relationship. Employers also have access to an overall dashboard that they can use to spot any potential themes arising and address them on a company-wide basis, and we work hard on those reports to ensure that individuals are not identified.
The importance of employee privacy with health check requirements
It is imperative when implementing a preventative health survey program to reassure your staff members of the steps we take to protect their personal health information. As part of your company's onboarding with us, we outline the purpose, process, and life time benefits to the employee of health checks while ensuring that personal information remains confidential.
Best practices for addressing and managing privacy concerns
Be really clear about everything: We outline our approach to health screening and how people's data is held, including how to access their own online portal. We use the same or similar systems to the ones that the GPs in our parent company SELDOC use to collect, store, use and protect data. Having this high level of assurance and being able to demonstrate commitment to maintaining confidentiality helps build trust among employees.
Limit access to results: An individual's health record is theirs. We also provide an overall dashboard to help employers spot any potential themes so that they can address them at a company level - for example, if we see a lot of people all reporting the same bad back issue then we can advise the company that they should focus on measures that address that particular theme.
Anonymise data: When sharing aggregated data on workforce wellness trends within your company health report, we ensure that all details are removed so individuals cannot be singled out based on their test outcomes.
Maintain secure storage: We store all health check records securely, adhering to national rules for protecting sensitive medical information. We regularly review our data storage practices to stay compliant with evolving regulations.
Use trained health professionals: Everyone managing employee health checks within Verve Healthcare are well-trained on privacy policies and procedures, as well as relevant laws and regulations.
Taking time to alleviate privacy concerns will help shape the benefits of regular employee health checks for both individual workers and the company as a whole. The benefits of employee health checks include early detection of health issues, preventive care, and keeping employees safe and healthy, which can reduce sick leave and ensure that employees are able to perform their job duties to the best of their abilities. Additionally, addressing mental wellbeing through mental wellbeing programmes can help employees receive the medical care they need while also ensuring that they are fit to perform their job duties.
Employee health checks must embrace individual privacy and health concerns. To address these concerns, Verve Healthcare restricts access to results to the individual. We assure the same level of confidentiality as you would expect from any doctor/patient relationship. We protect your health and your health data.
FAQs Employee Health Check
What is the difference between health screening and a health check?
The term 'health screenings' imply that you would be screened in or out of something. Some employers might use this to make sure that a person is fit for the work that they need to do, or can carry it out in a safe manner.
At Verve Healthcare, we use a health check rather than a health screen. We use these inclusive checks to keep employees healthy, happy and productive in their roles.
What is the benefit of a health check?
Health checks offer several advantages, including early detection of potential health issues, promoting healthier lifestyles, reducing absenteeism and associated costs, and demonstrating support for employee well-being. These initiatives contribute to a more productive work environment and improved overall employee satisfaction.
What is covered in a Verve Healthcare employee health check?
We work with the employer to determine what is in their employee health check, tailoring it as appropriate. Typically, the health check will look at how an employee is feeling emotionally, whether they are experiencing any areas of stress, and impacts on their physical wellbeing. We can work with an employer to tailor a benefits package that encompasses all the employee health screening services they need.
What are some examples of health checks beyond the regular surveys?
Verve Healthcare's regular surveys are online-based. However, because of our background in healthcare delivery, we are able to set up whichever services a client company might wish to commission. Other examples of health checks include blood pressure level monitoring, cholesterol testing, tests for blood sugar to aid diabetes screening, blood count, blood tests, blood profile, mental health assessments, body fat, heart rate, vision tests and hearing exams. Depending on industry-specific risks or individual needs/preferences, additional tests like drug/alcohol testing or ergonomic evaluations may be relevant.
Can you ask a potential employee about their health?
In general, employers should avoid asking job applicants about their medical history; employee health screening may compromise equity of access for a role and makes assumptions. However, post-offer pre-employment medical examinations can be conducted if required by law or necessary for specific job functions provided all candidates undergo similar evaluations.
Why are employee health benefits important?
Employee health benefits play a significant role in attracting talent while retaining current employees by offering access to healthcare services and lifestyle advice that improve life time physical and mental well-being. This results in increased productivity levels as healthy workers tend to have higher energy levels and take fewer sick days off from work.
Conclusion
In conclusion, implementing regular employee health checks, overseen by a health professional, can benefit both employees and employers. By identifying potential health problems early on and encouraging healthier lifestyle choices through behavioural adjustments, businesses can improve overall employee well-being while reducing costs associated with sickness and absenteeism. Onsite health screenings for preventive care and daily temperature checks as part of extremely contagious disease prevention measures are just a few ways to demonstrate support for employee workplace wellbeing.
At Verve Healthcare, we understand the importance of prioritising employee health check initiatives in the workplace. That's why we recommend partnering with us to provide comprehensive healthcare solutions that meet the needs of your business and employees. Let us show you how to create a healthier workplace environment with the help of our comprehensive healthcare solutions.
Contact Verve Healthcare to start improving your employee health screenings program now! Our services provide a range of elements, including temperature checks, alcohol tests, and mental health support, all in line with national guidelines for early detection and medical care. Let's work together to keep your employees safe and healthy while they perform their job duties.
This content will only be shown when viewing the full post. Click on this text to edit it.
Share this post: